Lee County, Illinois - The whole text, 1881 (part 1 of 24)

Preface

In presenting the History of Lee County to the public the editors and publishers have had in view the preservation of certain valuable historical facts and information which without concentrated effort would not have been obtained, but with the passing away of the old pioneers, the failure of memory, and the loss of public records and private diaries, would soon have been lost. This locality being comparatively new, we flatter ourselves that, with the zeal and industry displayed liy our general and local historians, we have succeeded in rescuing from the fading years almost every scrap of history worthy oi preservation. Doubtless the work is, in some respects, imperfect; - we do not present it as a model literary effort, but in that which goes to make up a valuable book of reference for the present reader and future historian, we assure our patrons that neither money nor time has been spared in the accomplishment of the work. Perhaps some errors will be found. With treacherous memories, personal, political and sectarian prejudices and preferences to contend against, it would be almost a miracle if no mistakes were made. We hope that even these defects, which may be found to exist, may be made available in so far as they may provoke discussion and call attention to corrections and additions necessary to perfect history.

In the writing of the general coiinty history Di-. Cochran has had the advice and constant counsel of many of the early settlers of the county, to whom the manuscript was submitted and by them approved ; and while there may be some mistakes, it is thought that it would hardly be possible, after so many years with nothing to depend upon for many of the facts but the memories <jf the early settlers, that it is as nearly correct as it could pussibly be made. Certain it is that at no time in the future could such a work be undertaken with circumstances so favorable for the production of a reliable record of the early times of Lee county.

The township histurics, by E. S. llicker, Prof. J. H. Atwooil, C. F. Atwood, and others, will be found full of valuable recollections, wliicli but for their patient research must soon have been lost forever, but which are now happily preserved for all ages to come. These gentlemen have placed upon Lee county a mark which will not be obliterated, but which will grow brighter and broader as the years go by.

The biographical department contains the names and private sketches of nearly every person of importance in the county. A few person, whose sketches we should be pleased to have presented, for various reasons refused or delayed furnishing us with the desired information, and in this matter only we feel that our work is incomplete. However, in most of such cases we have obtained, in regard to the most important persons, some items, and have woven them into the county or township sketches, so that, as we believe, we cannot be accused of either partiality or prejudice.

List Of Portraits Discovery And Early History

In sketching the history of Lee county we must take the reader back to the early days of the northern part of the State of Illinois, embraced in tlie great territory lying northwest of the Ohioriver. This territory', embracing northern Illinois, was discovered by Jacques Marquette, and Louis Joliet in 1673. Marquette was a French Jesuit missionary, and Joliet was a Quebec fur-trader. These men had penetrated the wilderness of Canada to the upper lakes, each engaged in his appropriate occupation. The French, missionary, while at La Pointe, received information through the Illinois tribes who had been driven by the Iroquois from their hunting grounds on the shores of Lake Michigan to a region thirty daj's" journey to the west, that there existed a "great river" flowing through grassy plains on which grazed countless herds of buffaloes. The same information had. been received by Dablon and Allouez, two missionaries, who were exploring Wisconsin from the Miamis and Maskoutens. This information resulted in the appointment, by the governor of Canada, of Joliet to explore the "Great River." Pierre Marquette was chosen to accompany liiin, "for in those days religion and commerce went hand in hand." Joliet fitted out the expedition, which consisted of "two canoes and five voyageurs, and a supply of corn and smoked meat; and May 27, 1673, the little band left St. Ignace for their perilous voyage through an unknown country, preoccupied by wild beasts, reptiles, and hostile savages." Coasting to the head of Green Bay, they "ascended the Fox river ; crossed Lake Winnebago, and followed up the quiet and tortuous stream beyond the portage ;" launched their canoes in the waters of the Wisconsin, and without their Indian guides they swept down this stream until they caught sight of the hills which bound the valley of the "Great River," and at nightfall landed, to eat their evening repast on the banks of the broad Mississippi, for which they launched their canoes one month before. They floated down tlie mighty current to the Arkansas, where they were compelled to return because of the hostility of the Indians, who on the lower Mississippi were furnished with rifles by the Spaniards.

Having determined to return to the north, on July 17, one month from the discovery of the Mississippi, they launched their canoes and started on the returning voyage ; and reaching the mouth of the Illinois river they ascended this stream until they came to a small village, then known as Kaskaskia, about seven miles below Ottawa. Here they procured guides, who conducted them up the stream to the head of the Des Plaines. when b}' an easy portage they entered the Chicago river, and thus reached Lake Illinoise (now Lake Michigan), and were the first white men to visit what is the present site of the city of Chicago, more than two hundred years ago. From that point they passed up the western coast of Lake Michigan northward, i-eaching Green Bay late in the month of September, after an absence of four months, and having traveled more than twenty-five hundred miles. Here Joliet separated from his traveling companion, Pierre Marquette, and ''hastened to Quebec to announce to the governor the results of the expedition ; but almost in sight of Montreal, in the rapids of La Chine, his canoe upset, a portion of his crew were drowned, and he himself narrowly escaped, with the loss of all his papers."

Joliet never returned to this territory ; but engaged in the fur trade with the Indians of Hudson's Bay. After receiving from bis government, "in consideration of his services, a grant of the islands of Mignan and Anticosti, he engaged in the fisheries,'' and subsequently explored the coasts of Labrador. "He was made royal pilot for the St. Lawrence, and also hydrograi)her at Quebec. He died poor, about 1699 or ITUO, and was buried on one of the islands of Mignan."

Marquette, however, through love of humanity and devotion to the cross and the work of the Master, returned to the Illinois valley late in the following autunm to preach to the benighted people of that region. Leaving Green Bay in October of 1674, he with two voyageurs started for the Chicago river, up which stream they ascended to a point about six miles above the present locality of the city of Chicago. Here he built a hut to shelter him from the storms of winter, in which he remained until the following spring, when he performed his last acts of devotion to his favorite cause - the mission of the cross to the children of the forest - and with which were associated the romantic sadness and sweet peace of the closing scenes of the life of this noble man. Through the exposures of th' expedition to the Mississippi and Illinois the previous summer, ' contracted a disease which proved to be fatal. Having suffered much from hemorrhage he was illv prepared for his return to the mission field. His fi-ail constitution suffered much from the exposures of the voyage to Chicago, being late in autumn. The cold October winds swept the lake and tossed them on a rough sea and drenched them with cold rains. Their rude tents and camp-fires were insi;fcient to give protection in the cold, damp October nights. The hemorrhage from which he had previously suffered, returned and the good man seemed conscious that he was making his last voyage in time, and that the day was not far distant when he would cross that river from beyond which there is no return. In their lonely hut he and his two voyageurs spent the winter, surrounded by the wild beasts that roamed over the prairies and wandered through the forests from the waters of the Ohio on the south to the snowbound regions of the north ; and from their hut could be seen in their native wilderness the buffalo, the deer, the bear, and the wild turkey. The historian says, "with the return of spring his disease relented, when he descended the river to the Indian village below Ottawa, where he gathered the people in a grand council, and preached to them concerning heaven and hell, and the Virgin, whose protection he had specially invoked. A few days after Easter he returned to Lake Michigan, when he embarked for Mackinac, passing around the head of the lake beneath the great sand-dunes which line the shore, and thence along the eastern margin to where a small stream discharges itself into the great reservoir south of the promontory, known as the 'sleeping bear.' Marquette had for some time lain prostrate in the bottom of the canoe. The warm breath of spring revived him not, and the expanding buds of the forest did not arrest his dimmed gaze. Here he requested them to land. Tenderly they bore him to the bank, and built for his shelter a bark hut. He was aware that his hour had come. Calmly he gave directions as to the mode of his burial, craved the forgiveness of his companions if in ought he had offended them, administered to them the sacrament, and thanked God that he was permitted to die in the wilderness." The darkness of the night settled over the scene, and ere the dawn of the morning light the noble spirit of Pierre Marquette had crossed the river that flows between this and the brighter worlds beyond. Thus closed the life of him who accompanied the first exploring expedition which discovered the territory of this commonwealth, and he was the first christian misjsionary to raise the standard of the cross to natives of the north- He died on May IS, 1675, and was buried on the bank of 'ue stream that bears his name. His remains were subsequently re-

The xext white man to tread the verdant soil of tliis territory was a Frenchman residing at Fort Froiitenac (now Kingston), by the name of Rene-Robert Cavelier Sieur De La Salle, commonly known as La Salle. He was born at Rouen, France, in 1643, of an "old and affluent family." He left his native country and arrived in Canada in 1666. He learned through the Seneca Iroquois that there was a river called the Ohio which flowed to the sea at a distance of many months' journey. Having resolved to explore this stream, he sold his possessions in order to procure the necessary funds to carry out his plans. Connecting his enterprise with other parties, they left La Chine with a party of seven canoes and twentyfour men, attended by two canoes filled with Senecas, who acted as guides to the party ; in all, a fleet of nine canoes, which ascended the St. Lawrence to Lake Ontario, and along the southern shore of that water to tiie mouth of the Genesee; then passed ]S'iagara under the sound of the great cataract to the village, where, in September, 1669, he separated from the seminary party, who started with him, and alone plunged into the unknown wilderness of the west. Passing Onondaga he reached an affluent of Ohio twenty or twenty-five miles from Lake Erie, and followed down thiss tream to its junction with the Ohio, which he descended to the falls of Louisville, where his voyageurs deserted him, which compelled him to abandon his explorations and return to Canada. The following year, 1670, he passed the head of Lake Michigan and penetrated to the waters of the Illinois, by which he reached the Mississippi, which he descended to some miles below the mouth of the Ohio. But little is known of the route over which he returned to Canada. This expediti(->n, however, prepared him ft)r his future enterprise in the locality of Illinois, which has perpetuated his mime in history for succeeding generations.

In contemplation of a return to the Illinois country, La Salle designed the building of a vessel for a voyage around the lakes ; and in the spring of 16S0 the "Griffin" was launched at the mouth of Cayuga Creek ; and on the 7th of August her sails were spread and she started on her voyage, being the first vessel that ever plowed the waters of the notrhern lakes. On reaching the islands at the entrance of Green Bay he disembarked all his stores and sent the " Griffin " back ladened with furs with orders to return to him ; but he never saw her again, and it still remains a mystery as to what her fate was, or what became of her crew. La Salle, however, was not to be deterred from his purpose by even the loss of his favorite vessel, but having swept down the western shore of Lake Michigan, passed the montli of the Chicago, and rounded tlie liead of the hxke to the mouth of the St. Josepli, wliich he called the Mianiis, and landed on the 1st of November. On the 3d of December he left the waters of Michigan, and with fourteen men and four canoes he ascended the St. Joseph to the present site of South Bend, Indiana, where he crossed a portage of five miles to the waters of the Thealike, or Haukiki, now Kankakee, conveying their canoes and cargo, by which they descended the Kankakee, down through the swamps, and meandered out into the great prairies to the valley of the Illinois, and reached Peoria Lake on the 30th of January, 1680. He constructed a fort on the southern bank of the stream below the lake, and named it Creve-coeur. This was the first civilized occupation of Illinois." After commencing the building of a vessel for the waters of the Mississippi valley. La Salle returned for an outfit to Canada, a journey of fifty-five days, and reached Fort Fronteuac May 6, 1680. Soon after his departure from the new settlement on the Illinois, which he left in charge of Lieut. Tonty, it was destroyed by a band of Iroquois. He returned in the autumn of the same season, and finding all laid waste he returned to St. Joseph, where he spent the winter ; and in the following spring returned to Canada, leaving the St. Joseph in May, 1681, passing Mackinac, where he rejoined Tonty, and proceeded to Fort. Frontenac, where he accumulated the necessary resources, and late in the season returned to the Illinois with twenty-three Frenchmen, eighteen Mohegan warriors and their ten women and three children. The expedition consisted of fifty-four persons, and their journey, from Fort Miamis on the lake to Fort Creve-co?ur on the Illinois, was beset with hardships and perils. "It was in the dead of winter when they set out. La Salle placed the canoes on sledges, and thus they were conveyed around the head of the lake to Chicago, thence across the portage to the Des Plaines and even to Peoria Lake, where open water was reached." Here they launched their canoes, and passing the lake they swept down the Illinois to the Mississippi, and on the 6th of April reached the Gulf of Mexico, where they erected, on a "dry spot," near the mouth of the Mississippi, a column to France and decorated it with the French arms. The last of the summer they returned to Illinois, and stopping at a point on that stream known as the " Starved Rock,'' La Salle began at once to fortify that bluff, which has become famous in the history of Illinois. This fort he named St. Louis, which crowned the summit of a natural fortress. "At the base of the clifl:' he gathered about him the Indian inhabitants who were sheltered in log cabins and bark lodges. The resident aboriginal inhabitants in the region amounted to about 4-.000 warriors or 20,000 souls." We must here turn aside from this great man, and refer the reader to "'The Discovery of the Great West," by Francis Parkman, for the study of his character and wonderful career in the wilds of America.

From the building of Fort St. Louis the French continued to occupy Illinois. As early as 1720 they had a chain of forts extending from Canada to the mouth of the Mississippi.

In 1762, by the treaty of Fontainbleau, all the territory east of the Mississippi with the reservation of the island of Xew Orleans was ceded to the British, and the territory west of the great river, including New Orleans, was granted to Spain. In 1765 the British took formal possession of the country through the military authority of Capt. Sterling, a British officer who was sent to exact allegiance from its inhabitants.

The cession of this region to Great Britain and tiieir occupancy of the territory caused dissatisfaction among the natives, who were unwilling: to abandon their hunting-grounds, to which manvof tliera were attached as the inheritance of their fathers. They determined to drive the invaders from their soil, and under Pontiac, an Ottawa chief, who was an ally of the French, had seen much service and was famous as a great warrior. "He organized one of the most formidable combinations that the English on this continent were ever called upon to encounter. Having embraced in the league all the tribes from the lakes to the Carolinas and from the Mississippi to the Alleghanies, he conceived the idea of attacking simultaneously all the English forts throughout the west, stretching from Mackinac to Cumberland, and numbering not less than sixteen. He assigned particular tribes to perform a particular work, and on the appointed day the assault was made and all but three of the forts succumbed. Pontiac himself led the assault on Fort Detroit, but his scheme having been divulged by a squaw the night previously, was unsuccessful."

Pontiac being disappointed in his attempt returned from further warfare, and leaving his native haunts in the vicinity of Detroit, he lodged on the banks of the Mississippi, near Cahokia, and here he was assassinated by an Indian of tlie Peoria tribe. This assassination is laid to the charge of the English, who resorted to this method to remove a formidable enemy. It is presumed that his remains rest near the place where he met his fate. The treacherous murder of the great chief created great hostility against the tribes of Illinois from tliose of the north, and the former were well nigh exterminated by the latter.

Discovery And Early History

to conciliate the Indians. He descended the Ohio as far as Shawneetown, and thence proceeded to Vincennes, when, after pausing a few days, he ascended the Wabash 210 miles to the Ouiatonon, or Weastown as it was called by the Americans, and thence crossed over to Detroit."

In 1776 the relations of the colonies with the mother country were severed by the Declaration of Independence. This territory was held under the state authorities of Virginia. At this time the French were still occupying the posts all along the Mississippi, and had manifested a want of sympathy with the revolution struggle ; as they had affiliated with the natives for nearly a century and had intermarried into the various tribes, had done but little to improve the country but were satisfied to live in a rude and uncivilized state, and looked with but little favor upon any change of government or civilization that would tend to disturb their manner of life. That they might be made feel and acknowledge the sovereignty of tlje United States, the governor and council of Virginia sent an expedition of two hundred men, who enlisted for three months, under the command of George Rogers Clark, a Kentucky backwoodsman, to occupy this territory. Clark embarked with his force at Pittsburgh, and descended the Ohio river to within forty miles of its mouth, where he landed, and after concealing his boats "he marched across the country to Kaskaskia, where the first surrender was made without i-esistance ; their example being followed by a general surrender and acknowledgment of the sovereignty of the United States by taking the oath of allegiance to the constitutional authorities of the government."'

In October of that year (1776) the general assembly of the State of Virginia constituted the county of Illinois, which embraced all the territory north of the Ohio river. In this relation it remained until 1783, in which year that " state passed an act authorizing the cession to the United States of this territory', and during the subsequent year the deed was executed.''

At a session of congress held in New York an ordinance was passed June 11, 17S7, titled "An ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States Northwest of the Ohio. " This act forever excluded slavery from this part of the country, which has proved to be a very important measure, in having much to do with the future of this great nation ; for had this vast territory been open to the introduction of American slavery it would have been quite different with the progress and freedom which now characterize the political and social economy of the nation ; and no people have greater cause to be grateful for the wise enactment than those who live on the fertile soil of the vast prairies of the northwest.

There were at this time but few Americans in this territory. Virginia having found it impracticable to maintain an outpost at so great a distance in a wilderness, the men were "quartered on the French residents, but ultimately were compelled to shift for themselves. And a few Americans who had accompanied this expedition found their way into the French villages along the Mississippi and remained."

In 1781 an expedition started from Maryland consisting of five men, James Moore, Shadrach Bond, Robert Kidd, Larkin Rutherford and James Garrison, who, taking their wives and children with them, pushed out into the western wilds. They crossed the Alleghanies to the Ohio river, down which the}' passed to the Mississippi ; thence up that stream to Kaskaskia, where they separated and settled in difl[erent localities of that part of the territory. The first three settled on what was known as tlie "American Bottom," while the other two pushed on to Bellefountaine.

In the 3'earl7Sl a small colony from the State of Massachusetts, under the direction of Gen. Rufus Putnam, settled on the Ohio at the mouth of the Muskingum river, on the present site of Marietta, Ohio. It is claimed that this was the first organized English settlement in this vast northwestern territory, and that Marietta is tlie oldest town of the same origin northwest of the Ohio river.

"Prior to the year 1788 there were about forty-five improvements made by Americans, which entitled each to 400 acres of land under a subsequent act of congress, which was passed in 1791."

The General Assembly of Virginia, on the 30th of December, 1788, passed an act authorizing the division of the Northwestern Territory into republican states. In recognition of this the congress of the United States, on August 7, 1789, passed enactments providing for its government, and in 1791 there were but sixty-five Americans who were capable of bearing arms.

First Civil Oovernvient. - In 178S Arthur St. Clair located at Marietta, Ohio, to exercise official fum-tidiis as governor of the territory, to which administrative position he had been appointed. Here he organized a territorial government, and in 1790 he proceeded to Kaskaskia on the Mississippi and effected a county organization, which he named St. Clair. It was under this official act that Illinois- was first placed under civil jurisdiction. The first territorial legislature met at Cincinnati in September 1799, at which time William Henry Harrison was elected the first delegate to congress.

On the 7th of May, 1800, the territory was divided by an act of congress, into two separate governments. At this time the population of Illinois, which numbered about three thousand souls, were of French ancestry, and occupied the southern part of the state.

Under this governmental provision the territory remained but nine years, when, in 1S09, Illinois was set apart to herself under a territorial government ; and in 1812 a legislature was convened and a delegate to congress chosen.

The organization of the Illinois state government was authorized by an act of congress passed on the 18th of April 1818 ; and on the 18th day of December following Illinois was admitted into the Union as the twenty-second state.

Military Posts. - At the organization of the Illinois state govei'nment, the northern region of the state was not opened to settlements, in which state it remained until after the Black Hawk war, in 1832 ; being occupied by the Chippewas, Ottawas, and Pottawatomies of the Illinois and Milwaukee. The government had, as early as 1804, established a military post at Fort Dearborn, on the present site of the city of Chicago. This fort was garrisoned with a company of infantry, who maintained amicable relations with the natives until after the declaration of war, in 1812, when the Indians became restless and gathered in the vicinity of the fort with evident signs of hostility. Under orders from the war department, Captain Ileald negotiated with the Indians that he might withdraw from the fort, leaving for them the "provisions and munitions in the fort." But, true to the Indian character they ambuscaded the command when two miles from the fort, but two or three escaping to recoi'd the fate of their comrades. Four years following, in 1816, the fort was rebuilt and garrisoned by two companies of infantry, who gathered the bleaching bones of those who fell in the massacre four years before, and carefully interred them with ajjpropriate ceremonies.

Mineral. - The first discovery of coal ever made on the American continent was by Father Hennejjin, a Jesuit priest, at Fort Creve-cceur, on the Illinois, in 1879. He not only indicated on his map a "coal-mine,'" but wrote in his journal that "there are mines of coal, slate, and iron." The next discovery recorded was ninety years later, in 1765, by Col. George Croghan, when as Indian commissioner for the government he visited Illinois. He wrote in his journal, " On the south side of the Ouabache (Wabash, probably below Covington) runs a high bank in which are several fine coalmines." This precedes the discoveries of the Pennsylvania coal beds, and strange as it seems the honor of the discovery of this fossil product was left to the great prairie state of Illinois.

Geographical Position. - Lee county lies between il and 42 degrees north latitude, and its longitude is 12 degrees and 30 minutes west of Washington. It is in the northern quarter of the State of Illinois in the third tier of counties from the northern boundary of the state ; the eastern border of the county being near the median line north and south between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river, and sixty -two miles west of Chicago. It is divided, north and south, by tlie third principal meridian, leaving Ranges 1 and 2 east, and Ranges 8, 9, 10 and 11 west of said line.

Lee county embraces 792 square miles, and is bounded on the east by De Kalb ; on the south by La Salle and Bureau ; on the west by Whiteside, and on the north by Ogle county. The extreme length of the county east and west is thirty six miles, and the extreme width north and south is twenty-two on the western boundary line, and eighteen on the eastern line. A variance arises from an angle in the northern boundary line fourteen sections east of the northwest cor er of the township where it turns to the south one mile, thence east on the section line to the northeast corner of the count}', throwing the northern tier of sections from the point above mentioned into Ogle county, though it geographically belongs to Lee county. The northern boundary line also makes a deviation to the north and south, following the ''grand detoure" of the river, throwing all the land north of the detour into Ogle county.

The southern boundary beginning with Range 8, between Townships 18 and 19, runs east to the third principal meridian, where it turns three miles north on said line, then east to the south east cnriier of the county. For convenience in civil purposes it is divided into twenty-two civil townships.

In physical geography Lee is unsurpassed by any other county in the state. It not only presents the quiet beauty of rounded outlines of the prairie, but the rugged grandeur of river bluffs and rocky fastnesses. There are beautiful landscapes clothed with grassy plains, interspersed with pleasant groves and forests of useful timber, generally of a few hundred acres in extent, breaking the usual monntony of the prairie landscape at very frequent intervals, and affording a supply of fuel and fencing material. The count}', however, is principally prairie.

The surface of the land in the county varies from the low swamps of the south to the Rock river bluffs of the north. In the soutliwest corner of the county we meet with the Winnebago swamp which extends in a belt two and three miles in width across Hamilton township from the southwest to the northeast into the north part of

East Grove and the south part of Marion township, and sends a branch west through the southern portion of Harmon township. This swamp is fed from the drainage of Inlet swamp, which is situated east of the center of the county embracing a portion of tlie west of Viola township, the southeast corner of Bradford and the northeast of Lee Center. The drainage of this into the Winnebago is through Inlet creek which flows to the southwest, watering the Inlet grove in Lee Center, passes to the south of the city of Amboy, and spreads its waters into the latter swamp ; it is fringed in its meandering course by groves of timber. A.S we go to the east from the Winnebago swamp the land becomes rolling and of a sandy loam soil of beautiful prairie dotted with groves to the eastern boundary of the county. The Paw Paw grove, south of the village bearing that name in Wyoming township, and Malugin's grove ten or twelve miles east of the city of Amboy, are the largest in that part of the county, each covering from one to two thousand acres. These furnish much valuable timber for fuel and fencing purposes.

South of Amboy city we meet with a tract of timber-land embracing eighteen or twenty square miles. Along Rock river in the northwest quarter of the county is found the Largest timber supply. Among the most valuable woods found there may be mentioned : oak of diiferent varieties, hickory, sugar maple, ash, poplar, etc. . of abundant supply for present demands. Lee county, however, cannot boast the luxuriant growth of timber found in other sections of the country, as on the Ohio and AV abash rivers. Dr. Foster, speaking of the northern part of the state, appropriately adds : " The absence of a forest growth is no detriment to its development, since beneath the surface at accessible depths are stored inexhaustible sujjplies of fossil fuel, and the borders of the upper lakes are fringed with forests of pine affording the best quality of lumber, which can be delivered in the Chicago market at comparatively cheap rates. The soil which sustains these pine forests contains only three or four per cent of organic matter and is unfit for agriculture ; while the prairie soil contains organic matter sufficient for fifty successive crops." It is, therefore, more to the material interests of the county to draw her supplies of lumber from other sources than to divert her fertile acres from the growing of grain and other products of husbandry.

Origin of the Prairies. - "This is not due," says Foster, "so much to the mechanical texture, or chemical composition of the soil, but to the unequal distribution of moisture. They are the phase in a gradation between the densely wooded belt, where the moisture is equally distributed, and the inhospitable desert, where it is almost wholly withheld. The excess of moisture which is precipitated on the plains during the spring and summer months, and the consequent deficiency which ensues during the fall and winter months, are conditions not favorable to the growth of trees. Leaving the thickly wooded crests of the Alleghanies, and traveling westward to the base of the Rocky mountains, the observer will witness the gradual disappearance of those noble forms of arborescent vegetation which are dependent for their growth on an abundant, equable supply of moisture, and their final replacement by otlier forms, like the cactus and ai'teniisia, which flourish where the moisture is almost wholly withheld."

Beginning on the east line of the county, five sections north of the southeast corner and in the vicinity of Paw Paw, we find the beginning of a ridge which extends westward two townships, where it bears to the southwest through Sublette township, at which point is the greatest altitude between Mendota and Dixon, sloping oH" to the Winnebago flats. There is a depression on the face of the land, entering the county on the east and about midway north and south, which runs westward through Willow and Viola townships, then bearing to the south it extends to the southwest corner of the county, where we find the greatest depression. As we advance northward we cross a ridge which passes from the eastern boundary along the northern third of the county westward to the median line 7iorth and south where it meets a like ridge extending down from the iiDrth, then bearing southwest it becomes less prominent as it reaches the western border of the county, between tlie low lands of the Winnebago swamp on the south and the tributaries to Rock river on the north. As we advance to the north in the western third of the county we come to the high lands and biufl's of Rock river, covered with timber and jiresenting many attractions in connection with the meandering waters of this beautiful and historic stream.

On the banks of Rock river and in the vicinity of Dixon are natural observatories, from which the eye is greeted with such grandeur of scener}- as inspired the poetic mind of the honored Bryant, whose visit to this county is recorded in the following pages. Of those most prominent may be mentioned the Clarks blulis, on the south side of the river and about three miles below the city of Dixon ; and the "Hazlewood'' blufis, on the faim of '"Gov." Axa. Charters, wiiich lies west of the ri^er and about two miles north of the cit}-. The forests and rocky fastnesses of the region of Rock river have been so preserved in their rude native character, as not only to be attractive to the eyes of men wjio appreciate the charms of nature, but to the fowls and wild beasts of former davs. Tiie hunter's rifle occa- sionally brings down the gray wild-cat, and his hounds bay after the retreating wolf which has chanced to wander down from the forests of Wisconsin.

William C. Bryant, the poet, writing a letter after his visit to Rock river, in 1841, described his ride throngh Lee county as follows : "As we descended into the prairie we were struck with the novelty and beauty of the prospect which lay before us. The ground sank graduall}^ and gentlj' into a low but immense basin, in the midst of which lies the marshy tract called the Winnebago swamp. To the northeast the sight was intercepted b}' a forest in the midst of the basin but to the northwest the prairies were seen swelling up again in the smoothest slopes to their usual height, and stretching away to a distance so vast that it seemed boldness in the eye to follow them. We reached the Winnebago swamps, a tract covered with tall and luxuriant water-grass, which we crossed on a causeway built by a settler who keeps a toll-gate, and at the end of the causeway we forded a small stream called Winnebago Inlet. Crossing another vast prairie we reached the neighborhood of Dixon, the approach of which was denoted by groves, farm-houses, herds of cattle, and enclosed corn-fields checkering the broad, green prairie."

The general slope of this county is, with that of the most of the state, to the southwest. The greatest depression in the count}^ is. as above given, in the southwest corner, known as the Winnebago lands, which are doubtless the bed of an ancient lake, and ere long will be valuable lands. The greatest altitude in the county is reached on the Rock river heights, in the northwest corner of the county.

The drainage is generally good through many tributaries to Rock river on the north and Inlet creek on the south. The northern third of the county is drained by the smaller streams which tlow from the dividing ridge, above referred to, which extends from the northeast to the southwest, emptying their waters into Rock river. These tributaries flow to the northwest, cutting their course through the blufl:s to mingle with the latter stream. The central and southern part of the county are drained by creeks and brooks which pour their waters into Inlet swamp and Green river. The largest of these iS Willow creek, which rises in De Kalb county on the east, and crossing near the middle of the east line of Lee, continues westward until lost amid the grass and rushes of Inlet swamp. A few miles south of this creek, about the village of Paw Paw, in Wyoming township, is an elevated tract of land which becomes the dividing ridge between the headwaters of Green river and Kite creek, which rises in the southeast corner of Lee county, and running south through Beaureau it empties into the Illinois within the borders of Putnam county. The central-west of the township is drained by the Three Mile branch and the Five Mile creek. The former heads in the vi('inity of I^achusa, and meandering westward, passing Dixon three miles to the south, as its name indicates, it empties into R(jck river near the county line. The Five Mile creek rises near Eldena Station, west of the center of the county, and flows westward to the county line and pours its waters into the Kock river within the borders of Whitesides county. Its waters are shaded much of its way by the forest timber that fringe its banks. These streams are of much value to the inhabitants through whose tields they flow.

The township of Palmyra, in the northwestern part of the county, is travei-sed by Sugar creek, which crosses the extreme corner of the county, passing through the beautiful Sugar grove, which stands near the center of the above township, and after emerging from Lee county empties into Rock river.

Hivers and Navigation. - The principal stream in Lee county is Rock river, which crosses the northwest corner, separating Palmyra and Dixon townships from the other portion of the county. It first reaches the county from the nortii, twelve miles east of the western boundary, and flows one mile south, then turning to the west it makes a detour back to the north, and passes west of the first point one-half to three-quarters of a mile. Then making another grand detour to the north and west, returns and enters Lee county nine miles east of the northwest corner. From this point of entrance it bears to the east on its southern course for two or three miles, then sweejjs oft to the southwest, cutting its waj- through the rocks and blutts, making a gentle curve here and there on its way, as if to add to its attractiveness and beauty, and emerges from the county, crossing the western Ifne nine miles south.

The beauty and attractions of this river are not equaled by any other stream in the state. The Rock River valley has been the theme of the richest prose and the sweetest poetry. It has awakened the poetical genius of a William Cullen Bryant, and a Margaret Fuller Ossoli. The former, when on a visit to Rock river in 184rl, feasted his eyes on the grand scenery presented to his view, as he -stood on Hazlewood looking out on the silvery stream, as it flowed majestically through the forest and plains, and murmured at the base of the rocks and bluft's. On his return home he wrote, on the 21st of June, as follows: "I have just returned from an excursion to Rock river, one of the most beautiful of our western streams. It flows through high prairies and. not like most streams of the west, tliroHgh an alluvial country. The current is rapid, and the pellucid waters glide over a bottom of sand and pebbles. Its admirers de- clare that its shores unite the beauties of the Hudson and of the Connecticut. The banks on either side are high and bold ; sometimes they are perpendicular precipices, the bases of which stand in running water ; sometimes they are steep, grassy, or rocky bluffs, with a space of alluvial land between them and the stream ; sometimes they rise by a gradual and easy ascent to the general level of the region, and sometimes this ascent is interrupted by a broad, natural terrace. Majestic trees grow solitary or in clumps on the grassy acclivities, or scattered in natural parks along the lower lands upon the river, or in thick groves along the edge of the high country. Back of the bluffs extend a fine agricultural region, rich prairies with an undulating surfoce, interspersed with groves. At the foot of the bluffs break forth copious springs of clear water, which hasten in the little brooks to the river. In a drive which I took up the left bank of the river I saw three of these in the space of as many miles. One of these is the spring which supplies the town of Dixon with water; this spring is now overflowed by the dam across the river; the next is a beautiful fountain rushing out from the rocks in the midst of a clump of trees, as merrily and in as great a hurry as a boy let out from school ; the third is so remarkable as to have received a name. It is a little rivulet issuing from a cavern six or seven feet high, and about twenty from the entrance to the further end, at the foot of a perpendicular precipice covered with forest trees and fringed with bushes.

"In the neighborhood of Dixon a class of emigrants have established themselves (in IS-il), more opulent and luxurious in their tastes than most of the settlers of the western country. Some of these have built elegant homes on the left bank of the river, amidst the noble trees which seem to have grown up for that very purpose. Indeed, when I looked at them I could hardly persuade myself that they had not been planted to overshadow older habitations. From the door of one of these dwellings I surveyed a prospect of exceeding beauty. The windings of the river allowed us a sight of its waters and its beautifully diversified banks to a great distance each way, and in one direction a high prairie region was seen above the woods that fringed the course of the river of a lighter green than they, and touched with the golden light of the setting sun.

"I am told that the character of Rock river is, throughout its course, much as has been described in the neighborhood of Dixon ; that itSj> banks are high and free from marshes, and its water rapid and clear, from its source in Wisconsin to where it enters the Mississippi amidst rocky islands.'' which give it a purity which but few waters of its size possess. The river being largely fed by inexhaustible fountains, it never falls so low as most streams do in the dry summer season, and the waters that are ever flowing are cool and refreshing, making it the best stock-watering stream in the state.

Adding much to the charming beauty of the Kock river are her numerous islands which divide her waters, and being carpeted with green, tender grass, interspersed with beds of wild flowers, are as beautiful as a cultivated lawn. Some are shaded with forests, while the brows of the precipitous shores are fringed with trees of smaller growths, from whicli the plain stretches across the valley to the blufi^s, presenting a scene most picturesque. There are not less than twenty-five of these islands in the river's course through Lee county. One a short distance above the Dixon bridge is set with forest trees, and were it not for the occasional overflows it could be made a spot of pleasant resort during the hot days of the summer months. At this writing, April 20, it is covered with several feet of water, and presents the view of a beautiful forest set in a crystal lake.

But as attractive as Kock river is in her ordinary mood, she is not always as serene and gentle as poets have written of her, but at times in her fury has challenged the boldness of a Byron rather than the gentleness of the classic poetry of a Bryant, who through his admiration for the beautiful river eulogized her as not subject to high flows as many of her sister streams. She has at times been profligate with property and life.

On March 20, 18i7, a rise of water with floating ice carried away the north half of the toll bridge, which had been flnished some time during the winter, causing an outla}- of ^2,000 to make repairs. And in ,Iune, 1S.51, the river overflowed its banks with two feet of water on the public road around the Grand Detour, where on the 18th of that month a stage crossing the flow was precipitated into ten feet of water, drowning all the horses, and with the almost miraculous escape of human life thus imperiled. Referring to this freshet the city papers congratulated the citizens of Dixon on the fortunate escape of the dam from the fate of most of the dams on the river, in the following strain : "Tlie dam at this place lias thus far successfully withstood tlie tremendous rush of the high-water current, and we think it will still do so. Other dams of Rock river we learn have been compelled to yield." On February 14, 1857, the water rose to the tojis of the bridge-piers which stood below the railroad bridge, and lifting up the solid ice which had formed around the piers carried the entire bridge structure up with it from its resting places, but the ice not breaking up it was let down again, but not without dam- age, as it had to be rebuilt. About ten days later the toll bridge at the foot of Ottawa street was carried away by the high water and floating ice. And on June 3, the following year (1858), the papers of Dixon made the following announcement: " Rock river at this time is higher than we have ever known it. Both the wagon bridges at this place have suffered in consequence of the flood. The free bridge, but a small portion of which was carried away, will be repaired immediately. Steps will be taken by our citzens to build a new bridge in place of the one swept away at the foot of Galena street." In the following February (1859) the breaking up of the ice by a heavy freshet carried away the dam and the new toll bridge. The editorials of the 20th of the same month said : " The dam became so clogged with floating ice that the weight caused it to give way, descending ice and dam together, against the new bridge erected only four months since ; it swept away two bents at one crash, and later two more were taken. The bridge will be repaired immediately in order to have it ready for the next descent, but in the meantime the northsiders, by going three miles and paying 25 cents, can reach town over the free bridge." Two months later, April 23,, two factories and a saw-mill at the north end of the bridge were under-washed by the rushing waters from the dam, and when the buildings were slowly moving toward the water, which was twenty feet deep, the machinery was removed, and tire set to the buildings to save the bridge below from the fate of the one that had been swept away so recently.

March 7, 1868, the high waters with floating ice swept away the free bridge and battered down one pier of the railroad bridge, precipitating two spans into the river. It also washed out 120 feet of the south end of the dam.

At the present writing Rock river is recording another epoch in her historic fame. The tide is rushing down like a mighty ocean, overflowing her banks at a depth, it is claimed, much greater than ever known. The water is fifteen feet above low-water mark, and two feet above the highest, with a velocity in the current of six to seven miles per hour.

The Dixon Telegraph says: " The freshet which now rages down the Rock river is one of the most remarkable ever known. At the present writing (April 20) the water in the river is nearly two feet higher than the highest water mark registered by the oldest inhabitant, and the flood is still swelling, and ' Where will it stop?' is the anxious inquiry of every one. Water street, below Galena, is covered; and Col. Dement was compelled to move his horses from the stable, and has since commenced moving out of his residence. On the north side about twenty families were compelled to leave their houses; the flats below Bridcje street are completely inundated, and people are working in boats to secure barns, sheds, and other out buildings from being carried down the river. The water sweeps over the street at the nortli end of the bridge over two feet deep." Green River. - This stream rises in the Inlet swamp east of the center of the county, as has been described, and flowing to the southwest througli a beautiful grove in Lee Center township, meandering on to the south of Amboy city to the great Winnebago swamp, emerging from the county at the southwest corner, from which point it continues ou through Bureau and Henry counties to mingle its waters with those of Rock river a few miles east of the city of Rock Island. This stream with its tributaries traverses the entire length of the county, through the Winnebago basin, which begins in the county eastward and gently recedes to the southwest, extending far beyond the boundary of Lee county.

Natural History

Timber. - The emigrants to this county, as in most of northern Illinois, had not to contend with a universal primeval forest, as in many portions of the west. There were no great forests to hew down with the axe, and by patient toil for a generation t(; clear up a farm for their sous to inherit ; but they found, interspersed over a fertile prairie, groves of timber of almost every variety common to this latitude ; soft and sugar maple ; black walnut and butternut; yellow and white poplar; oak, of white, black and other varieties; of ash we find the white and black varieties; hickory of the principle varieties; lin or basswood, gum, ironwood, cherry, crab-apple, wild plum, thorn, hazel, etc.

Flowers and plants of great variet}', embracing the timber and prairie flowers of almost every kind and hue found in the latitude, decorate the grassy prairie, tlie rocky bluft's and borders of the streams. Among the prairie plants may be mentioned one that has proved an annoyance to many an unsuspecting traveler, is what is commonly known as the "Wild Parsenip." The great poet William 0. Bryant says of this plant: "Let me caution all emigrants to Illinois not to handle too familiarh' the "Wild Parsenip,' as it is commonl}' called, an umbelliferous plant gri)wing in the moist prairies of this region. I have handled it, and have paid dearly for it, liaving such a swelled face that I could scarcely see for several days."

ing the prairies in great herds; while the stately elk, the timid deer, and fleet antelope roamed over the plains and through the groves. The tender, juicy grass of the plain, the cool shades of the groves, and the refreshing waters of the fountains and streams that abound in this country, make it a jJaradise for the wild grazing herds. But these have retreated before advancing civilization beyond the great waters of the Mississippi, while some of their number have left their bones to bleach on the prairies and mingle with the soil of Lee county, though their kind are now far removed from the reach of the hunter's rifle. Of carniverous beasts were the bear, the prairie and timber wolf, the wild-cat, the lynx, and the panther. The bear and the panther have disappeared from the habitation of the old pioneers of the county. In addition to these may be mentioned a variety of smaller animals, such as the beaver, the otter, the mink, and the muskrat, of the amphibious animals; the woodchuck, the red and gray fox, the raccoon, the opossum, the skunk, and the brown and white weasel. These are valuable for tlieir fur. The smaller animals are the prairie squirrel, gray and sti-iped, Norway rats, moles, and the invincible mouse.

Fowls. - The native fowls of Lee county embrace almost every species from the bald-eagle down to the humming bird. Among the game fowl may be mentioned the wild swan, goose, brant and duck among the water-fowls that throng the rivers, ponds, and lakes ; the plover, snipe, woodcock, prairie chicken, pheasant, quail, wild pigeon, turtle dove, and meadow lark. To these may be added water-fowls that attract but little attention by the epicurean ; such as the sand-hill crane, and his smaller neighbors ; the king fisher, etc. Of forest l)irds are found the bluejay, the robin, the bluebird, the peewee, and many others usually found in this latitude. The Virginia nightingale, commonly called the "redbird," seldom appears in the forests in this vicinity ; and the same may be said of many birds of beautiful plumage and sweet song that are found in the more southern sections of the state. A variety of rapacious and vulturous birds are also found ; the bald eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, the crow, and a number of different kinds of the hawk species. The crow has appeared in the more modern years of the county's history. It was formerly unknown in this part of the country. The plaintive notes of the whip-poor-will are occasionally heard at nightfall coming from the shady grove.

In an early day the water-fowls visited the waters of Lee county in great numbers. It was one of these annual visitors that awakened the poetical genius of Bryant when he wrote that excellent and classic poem :

To A Waterfowl

Pisciculture. - Nature did inucli in stocking the streams of Lee county with a variety of fish; and some of choice quality. Among the native tribes are found the pike, the pickerel, the several varieties of perch; of bass, both rock and black; the cat and buffalo; of suckers are caught the black, the white and red-horse. From the great numbers of these latter which, in an early day, passed up the rock river in the spring and returned in the fall, the state has received its vulgar name of the Sucker State. The modern improvements on the river, dams, drainage from manufactories, and the seine, have reduced their number.

Geological Formations

The geological formations of Lee county are of more than usual interest, both to the mechanic and artist. There is found the finest building fock, and the purest for manufacturing quicklime ; and fossil rock capable of the highest polish, presenting a face variegated and beautiful. The scientist may find almost every formation from the lower silurian system up to the alluvium forming the basis ol the fertile soil of this region of country.

In the vicinity of Rock river may be found the St. Peter's sandstone which out-crops on the river above Grand Detour. We find the Trenton or buff, and blue lime ; Galena limestone, without mineral deposits as at Galena ; Cincinnati group ; green and blue shales, with surface deposits ; sands, clays, soils, and gravel beds.

Quarries of the finest building rock are found along the Rock river for miles below and above Dixon. Those below are of lime and sand, and work easily when just removed from the quarry, but harden on exposure to the atmosphere, a quality very desirable in building rock. A blue limestone quarry is situated three miles north of Dixon, west of the river, on Alex. Charter's farm ; and a little below this is Strong's quarry of the same kind of rock. The same is quarried on the east side of the river two miles northeast of Dixon ; and going twelve miles east of Dixon, along the northern border of the county, it crops out at Ashton, where some of the finest quality of building stone is quarried. A quarry is also opened on the farm of R. M. Peile, Reynold township. Lee Center furnishes building stone for the necessarj^ supply of all demands in the central part of the county.

An extensive lime kiln and quarry, known as Dement & De Puy's quarry, are located on the south side of the river above the water-power, and under the College hill.

The geology of Lee county is rich with scientific interest, and abounds in some localities with fossil deposits. Two or three miles northeast of Dixon, and east of Rock river, are quarried the finest specimens of fossil rock, composed of shells of various varieties, and 80 imbedded together as to form a texture as compact as marble, and capable of as fine a polish.

The geological deposit of primary importance is the quarternary system, which embraces all the superficial material, including gravel, sands, clays, and soils. These are the more recent accumulations, which cover the older formations and lay the foundation and give origin to the soil from which we derive our agricultural resources. "This system may be properly separated into four divisions, to wit: post-tertiary, sands, and clays, drift clay and gravel, loess and allu- vium. The post-tertiary sands occupy the lowest portion in the series, and consist of beds of stratified yellow saud and blue clay of variable thickness, overlaid by a black or chocolate-colored loam soil, containing leaves, branches, and trunks of trees in a good state of preservation. This is an ancient soil which has been covered by the drift deposits, consisting of blue, yellow or brown clays, containing gravel and boulders of various sizes," water-worn fragments of rocks, which have been carried down from the northern shores of the great lakes. Above this we sometimes meet with beds of gravel.

Tlie subsoil over the northern part of the state is predicated upon the drift deposits, but it differs from them essentially in its character, and probably owes its origin to other and more recent causes than the drift agencies. It is generally composed of fine brown clay, which differs in its appearance from the clays of the drift. Hence we may infer that its origin is due to some cause subsequent in its action to the accumulation of these deposits, and uniform in its effects over formations essentially different in their constituent materials. In the first volume of the report on the Illinois survey Prof. Lesquereux has given the following on the formation of the prairies, which explains the origin of the brown clay and the subsoil above it. He says : " It is evident that the black soil of tlieir surface (the prairies), as well as the clayey sub-soil, whatever the thickness of these strata may be, have been formed in place by the agency and growth of a peculiar vegetation. In stagnant water, whenever water is low enough to admit the transmission of light and air of sufficient quantity to sustain vegetable life, tlie bottom is first invaded by confervae, and especially by characese, and a peculiar kind of floating moss (hypnum aduncum). These plants contain in their tissue a great proportion of lime alumina, silica, and even of oxide of iron, the elements of clay. When exposed to atmospheric influence the characeae become covered with an efflorescence of scarcely carbonized or jjure iron. Moreover, this vegetation of the low, stagnant waters feeds a prodigious quantity of small mollusks and infusoria, whose shells and detritus greatly add to the deposits. The final result of the decomposition of the whole matter is that fine clay of the sub-soil of the prairies which is indeed truly impalpable when dried and pulverized and unmixed with sands."

While it seems entirely satisfactory to recognize the origin of the soil of the prairies from the growth and decay of vegetable matter in shallow ponds and marshes, with the animal remains that abounded in them, there are, however, traces of currents of water and floating ice generally from the north, though it is claimed by good authority that there were counter currents. Boulders are found in different parts of the country, distributed over the surface of the ground, which have been carried down by the moving ice and deposited as strangers on the prairie soil. A good place to study these stones is on the bluifs southeast of Rock river, about one mile above Dixon, and on the east slope of a ravine that drains into that river opposite the island.

Along the bluffs of Rock river may be found the loess deposit, which is described as " a fine mechanical sediment that seems to have accumulated in a quiet lake or other body of fresh water. It is composed of brown, buff or ashen gray marley, sands, and clays, and contains numerous land and fresh-water shells of the same species with those inhabiting the land and waters of the adjacent region."

Along the Rock river valley and in the Inlet and Winnebago basin we meet with alluvium, as well as along some of the smaller streams. This consists of sand, clay, and loam, irregularly stratified with greater or less organic matter from the decomposed animal and vegetable substances that are imbedded therein.

The soil of Lee county is fertile, well drained, and adapted to agriculture and stock growing. A number of the citizens of the county are engaged in the latter, and have many broad acres set in clover and blue-grass, which grow most luxuriantly.

Early History

Prior to the Black Hawk war. - For the early history of the territory now embraced in Lee county we are called back to the early days of Dixon's Ferry. It was the establishment of this enterprise, as the first improvement of the country, that invited to the banks of Rock river the early pioneer settlement, that laid the foundation for the future development of an intelligent and prosperous community, and the building of the city of Dixon. The circumstances leading to the discovery of this locality have been noticed in their proper relations to the discovery of Lee county.

Prior to the establishment of the ferry at this place, the broad, fertile prairies and the beautiful groves of Lee county were left to the wild beasts and wandering tribes of aborigines. The Galena mine-- having been opened, there was a rush of emigration to that locality from the southern settlements along the Illinois river, by the Rock Island route. But a Mr. 0. W. Kellogg taking the more direct route from Peoria - then Fort Clark - drove his team across the country, in 1827, traversing the wild prairies, fording streams, and camping at night without any shelter save the stariy expanse above, which seemed like a vast crystal canopy resting down upon the boundless prairie sea wliich surrounded hitn on every side. Reaching Rock river he crossed the stream at a point a few miles above the present site of the city of Dixon, probably at the head of Truman's Island ; passed between what is now known as Polo and Mount Morris ; thence west of West Grove, from which point he turned north to Galena. This prairie path-finder opened the route afterward known as " Kellogg' s Trail." This path was soon occupied by many fortune seekers, who disregarded the fertile soil over which they were passing, and in wliich mines of wealth were stored that would be inexhaustible for generations to come. Soon, however, it was discovered that this was not the most direct communication between the lower settlements and the mines, hence in the spring of 1828 John Boles, bearing to the west of Kellogg's Trail, crossed Rock river at the present site of Dixon, not far fn^m the location of the Galena street bridge, possibly a few rods below this point. This path, known as "Bole's Trail," became the common route between the above points.

The crossing of the river prior to the establishment of the ferry was attended with difficulties and perils. The method is described by John K. Robinson in the following manner: "The method of crossing the river with teams before the establishment of a ferry was primitive and simple. On arriving at the place of crossing the wagons were unloaded and the loads carried over in canoes by the Indians. The wagon was then driven with the side to the stream and two wheels lifted into a canoe, then shoved a little out into the river ; another canoe received the other two wheels, when the double boat was paddled or poled to the other side. Tlie horses were taken by the bridle and made to swim by the side of the canoe, while the cattle swam loose. Then commenced the lifting out of the wagon and reloading, after which the journey was renewed, and all hands happy that the task of crossing the river was completed."

" Once James P. Dixon, well acquainted with the hardship of crossing, arriving on the banks of the river with the mail wagon called to the Indians for their assistance, but received no answer. Vexed at their delay, and at their arrogance when they did assist, he boldly unchecked his horses so as to give them a chance to swim, and crossed the river with tiie mail and wagon in safety."

This incident illustrates some of the inconveniences to which tlie early pioneers were subject. The Indians were not reliable as ferrymen in the manner as above described, being frequently absent, or ill disposed to render immediate assistance ; and it was only when the river was low that it ci>uld be forded. To relieve the traveling public of this annoyance, and to open an avenue of pecuniary gain, Mr. J. L. Bogardis, of Peoria, attempted the establishment of a ferry at this point some time in 1827, or early in 1828. The enterprise, however, was a failure ; for the reason that the Indians, who had been accustomed to pilot the strangers across the river in their primitive style, were unwilling that the white man should create a competition in the business over which they held a monopoly ; and therefore they swooped down upon the two workmen, who had the boat for the ferry well on the way, and burning the superstructure they ordered the men back to the place from which they came. The workmen made a hasty retreat, leaving the red-men in possession of the situation, including a shanty 8x10 feet, which they had erected on the bank of the river.

In the spring of 1828 Josep Ogee, a French Indian half-breed and interpreter, settled here, erected a cabin on the bank of the river, and established the first ferry without molestation from the Indians. Ogee's wife was a Pottawatomie woman, and his relations and customs were allied with their own people, so that he was permitted to abide in peace and conduct his ferry until the spring of 1830, when he sold to John Dixon, whose name the city of Dixon bears to-day. Mr. Dixon had induced Ogee to build the ferry to accommodate the United States mail, which he was carrying from Peoria to Galena. On the 11th of April Mr. Dixon arrived at the ferry with his family and took charge of the transportation of the traveling public across the river. He was regarded by the Indians as the "red-man's friend," whom they called "Na-chusa;" which is a contraction of N"adah-churah-sah, and signifies, " head-hair- white ;" referring to Mr. Dixon's white, flowing locks, which came prematurely.

The first tavern opened in this vicinity was in 1829, by Isaac Chambers, who built a house for public entertainment in Buffalo Grove, through which he had cut a road for the new trail from the ferry to Galena, two miles distant from the Bole's Trail, which it intersected some distance north of the grove. This was the first white family in this part of the country. That the reader may have a just idea of the hardships of those days, and the primitive style in a pioneer tavern, we give an extract below from the pen of John K. Pobinson, an eye witness to many of the things of which he writes, who came to the county in 1832, and became conversant with the facts here related :

"From 1829 to 1835 the travel crossing Pock river at the present site of Dixon was extensive. In early spring the emigration to the lead mines was one perpetual rush - like in character to the gold fever of later years. It swept over Rock liviT iu swarms of from five to twenty teams a day through May and June ; then again there was a mighty stream southward during September and October. Among tlie many passing through we had of ministers : John Sinclair, John T. Mitchell, and Erastus Kent, all honored as faithful men and able ministers ; judges : Thomas Ford, afterward governor of Illinois, and Young; lawyers: Mills and Sheldon; and blacklegs whose name is legion. Accommodations were furnished the travelers as far as the beds, bedding, and table room of the "tavern" would reach. Between the two houses forming the long, one-story portion of the building was a ten or twelve foot hall, with a doorway at either end, facing the north and south. Entering the hall from the south , on the west was the fimily sitting-room, on the east was the travelers' and hired help's room, each room eighteen feet square. The furniture of the west room consisted of two beds, quite a number of chairs, and m table extending clear across the room, where the meals were taken in cold weather ; in warm weather the meals were taken in the hall. The east room contained four beds, one in each corner. When driven to extend this bed-room, the "shake-down" was resorted to, which was of common occurrence. A buffalo robe or bear skin spread on the soft side of the floor, with a blanket or (juilt for covering, made a bed good enough for an^'body. The floor was olten covered in both rooms, and the hall filled to overflowing, with these hastily and easily prepared beds. Floor room was not always of sufficient proportion to accommodate thu entire party ; the remainder encamped all about the premises, there was room enough out doors for all. Owing to the base of supplies being so distant - Peoria ninety miles, and Galena sixty-five miles - we were often driven to extremities. No weather or bad roads satisfied hunger or stayed travel. Armies, feeling this gnawing, grow restless and insubordinate. Our own family and travelers gave vent to human nature without stint. Few could take in the difficulties of having the wlmle of a large caravan to feed. The Inlet stream was unbridged and frequently swimming, and in that dircctimi our supplies were often crossed under water before they reached us. Our horses were tauglit swimming and became proficients in that calling. I have been employed a little below the present road crossing Inlet creek, swinmiing horses and wagons across one way and back the other, for more than two hours at a time, and once safely swam a four-horse team attached to a wagon loaded with lumber across the stream at the imminent ri^k of myself and team. Mail stages were three times submerged and ruined in Inlet. Northward, Apple river and both Plumb rivers

Early Htstoky

Father Dixon did his trading with the Indians as a matter of necessity. He had lived at Peoria and learned the character of the average trader and determined to deal more justly with the Indians than had been done. He ingratiated himself with them as their adviser and friend, strongly urging them to a civilized life and habits of sobriety, diligence and honesty. The store-room in which he traded with the Indians was in the east building (the two-story house), where he sold powder, lead, shot, wampum, tobacco, pipes, shrouding (a coarse cloth), blankets, guns, beads, needles, awls, knives, spears, muskrat and otter traps, calicos, etc., and but one thing at a time. Why 'i The Indian is a thief always and everywhere. In return he had their furs, dressed deer skins, moccasins, and fancy articles made by the female portion of his traders. These found a ready market in Galena, Peoria, and St. Louis.

Directly after taking up his permanent home at Dixon's Ferry, and while coming down the river from the place of ferrying. Father Dixon heard his Indian name excitedly called out. Turning around he saw a naked savage within 100 feet of him running toward him and gesticulating angrily with a muskrat spear which was made of a sharpened 5-8 inch round iron rod, from two to three feet in length, fastened to a wooden handle from four to six feet in length, making a formidable weapon. To defend himself unarmed was impossible ; to flee cowardly. He took in the danger, but his manhood refused to carry him out of danger, as his fleetness would have enabled him to do. He boldly faced his adversary, but before the Indian had an opportunity to throw his spear his arms were securely grasped by some of the Indian spectators, who interfered for Dixon's safety. After the drunken debauch was over the Indian asked an interview with Father Dixon, which he refused him until the band to which the Indian belonged interceded for him. Much ceremony suits the Indian ; the talk commenced, when the Indian, whose name was Dah-shun-egra, acknowledged his murderous intention ; " that bad whisky made bad Indian," and asked forgiveness. He asked Father Dixon what he would have done if he had thrown the spear and missed his aim. In reply Father Dixon said : "Had you thrown the spear and missed me, the spear would have passed by me and I should have reached it lirst, and should have killed you on the spot with your own spear." His coolness in the hour of danger, and this open avowal of a determined man to defend himself and repel force by force, were qualities that the savages could

While Mr. Dixon carried the United States mail the streams were unbridged, not even '"corduroyed;" swamps undrained ; roads almost impassable ; houses few and far between. Snowstorms were more severe and the cold more intense than in later years. In the winter of 1830-1 (the winter of the deep snowl the snow averaged three feet deep from New Year's Day to the 15th of March. No track was kept open from one settlement to another, and it was with great difficulty that roads were kept open even in densely settled districts. Fifteen to twenty-seven miles was the usual distance between the homes along the route. On one of the longest routes during this memorable winter Mr. Dixon and some of the stage passengers were so benumbed with the cold as to be unable to get out of the stage without assistance.

In the year 1829 a post-office was established at Ogee's Ferry to accommodate the traveling public, and a Mr. Gay was appointed postmaster. In September, 1830, Mr. Dixon superseded Mr. Gay, by government appointment, and in the following year the name of the post-office was changed, as the ferry had been, to Dixon's Ferry. The few settlers who had located in the vicinity of Rockford came to Dixon's Ferry for their mail matter, and being the only ferry crossing for many miles up and down the river, Dixon at this early day was a central point of interest for thirty or forty miles north and south, and from Chicago, a small frontier post, to the Mississippi ; and in the time of the Black Hawk war it became the rendezvous of the United States troops. It was the central depot for supplies, and afforded the most advantageous point for military mameuvering.

" At this time," says the " Ilistorj' of Dixon,'' published in 1880, " the banks of Rock river at the present site of Dixon were gently sloping to the water's edge, covered with grass, not abrupt as at present. Teams were loaded wherever the ferry-boat struck a suitable place on the shores. The ferry-boat was propelled by the old-fashioned 'setting' pole,' attended with any amount of fatigue. It was one of the schools of ]>atience in its day. A rope ferry, similar to the one now at Grand Detour, succeeded the primitive institution in 1835. A rope was stretched across the river from the tops of strong posts placed on either bank of the river at Galena street, and with the lee board as motive power more rapid and far easier transportation was secured."

The Black Hawk War

About eighteen or twenty miles south, and not far from the present Lee county line, in the south part of the county, another pioneer by the well known name of " Dad Joe " Smith had located at a very early day, the date of which we cannot give definitely, but it was, however, prior to the Black Hawk war, and of sufficient length of time for him to become familiar with the Indians of the country to secure his safety during the Black Hawk campaign. Having secured the safety of his wife and children he remained at his home at "Dad Joe's Grove " and attended and gathered his crops during the entire war unmolested. He had fought in the battle of the Thames ; came to this county with the first emigrants and " settled in the shadow of this grove," and commenced opening a farm. At the time of the advance of Atkinson's army he served as a guide. He also served as a spy under command of Zachary Taylor. He was an early settler, and of such long standing that he was rather looked upon as a kind of patriarch in the countrj', and to distinguish him from other Joe Smiths - perhaps a son bearing his father's name - he received the venerable appellation of "Dad Joe." Mr. J. K. Robinson said of him: " He was one of the good, J0II3' men, who had made their homes along the route of the earl3' thoroughfare between Peoria and Galena. 'Dad Joe ' had an uncommonly loud voice. It was often remarked in that day ' We knew they were all well at Dad Joe's, this morning, for we heard him calling his hogs just twenty miles away.' "

In the spring of 1832, at the settlement at Buffalo Grove, ten miles up the Galena road, were located Isaac Chambers, 0. W. Kellogg, Mr. Reed, and a Mr. Bush, and their families. Mr. John K. Robinson had joined John Dixon at the ferry where he settled, and "Dad Joe" twenty miles south on the I'oad. These were the way stations on the great thoroughfare of travel from the southern settlements to the Galena mines on the north, and were as oases in the desert to the pioneer traveler.

The Black Hawk war broke out in 1832, when Dixon's Ferry, where the city of Dixon is now located, became the rendezvous of the United States troops and the raw levies that were raised for the defense of the frontier, as it proved to be a central position for the speedy and successful manoeuvreing of troops and their supplies.

"A treaty had been made in 1804 with the Sacs and Fox Indians, in which those powerful tribes ceded to the United States all their lands lying east of the Mississippi, and agreed to remove to lands west of that river. Black Hawk and other chiefs not being present when the treaty was made, refused to be bound by it." It is but just that the noble warrior, Black Hawk, be lieard respecting this treaty, and the relation of his people to the origin of the war which followed. In his account given to Antoine Leclair, United States interpreter for the Sacs and Foxes, and published in the "Life of Black Hawk," by J. B. Patterson, of Rock Island, in 1834, he said :

" One of our people killed an American and was confined in the prison at St. Louis for the offense. We held a council at our village to see what could be done for him, which determined that Quiishquii-me, Pa-she-pa-ho, Ou-che-qua-ka, and Hii-she quar-hi-qua should go down to St. Louis, see our American father, and do all they could to have our friend released by paying for the person killed, thus covering the blood and satisfying the relations of the man murdered. This was the only means with us of saving a person who had killed another, and we then thought it was the same way witli the whites. The party started with the good wishes of our whole nation, hoping they would accomplish the object of their mission. The relatives of the prisoner blacked their faces and fasted, hoping the Great Spirit would take pity on them and return the husband and father to his wife and children. Quash-qua-me and party remained a long time absent. They at length returned, * * * and gave to us the following account of their mission :

"On their arrival at St. Louis they met their American father and explained to him their business, and ui'ged the release of their friend. The American chief told them he wanted land, and they had agreed to give him some on the west side of the Mississippi and some on the Illinois' side opposite the Jeffreon. When the business was all arranged they expected to have their friend released to come home with them, but about the time they were ready to start their friend was let out of prison, and he ran a short distance and was shot dead. This is all they could recollect of what was said or done. They had been drunk the greater part of the time they were in St. Louis.

" This is all myself or nation knew of the treaty of 1804. It has been explained to me since. I find, by that treaty, all our country east of the Mississippi and south of Jeffreon was ceded to the United States for one thousand dollars a year. I will leave it to the people of the United States to say whether our nation was properly represented in this treaty, or whether we received a fair compensation for the extent of country' ceded by those four individuals. I could say much about this treaty but will not at this time. It has been the origin of all our difficulties."

firm the treaty of peace, and ' ' Here, ' ' says Black Hawk, ' ' for the first time I touched the goose quill to the treaty, - not knowing, however, that by that act I consented to give away my village. Had that been explained to me I should have opposed it and never would have signed tlieir treaty. "What do we know about the laws and customs of the white people ? They might buy our bodies for dissection and we would touch the goose quill to confirm it without knowing what we were doing. This was the case with myself and people in touching the goose quill the first time." Black Hawk also claimed that they did not cede their village to the government. This village was situated on the north side of Rock river, at its mouth, on the point of land between this river and the Mississippi. Their corn-fields extended up the Mississippi for two miles, where they joined the Foxes on the north. Hock Island was the summer resort for their young people, tlieir garden which supplied them with berries and fruits, and the rapids of Bock river furnished them with the finest fish. "A good spirit had care of it, who lived in a cave in the rocks immediately under the place where tlie fort now stands (1834) and has often been seen by our people. He was white, with large wings like a swan's, but ten times larger. We were particular not to make much noise in that part of the island which he inhabited for fear of disturbing him ; but the noise of the fort lias driven hira away and no doubt a had spirit has taken his place."

It is not to be thought strange that those native tribes would be unwilling to leave this beautiful and I'ich country, the home of their fathers for more than a hundred years. And besides Black Hawk clnimed, as did also Quash-qua-me, who conducted the treaty, that their Rock Island village had not been sold, as claimed by the government. On this they predicated their claims and all their troubles.

The whites, however, occupied their village, and Black Hawk says "they brought whiskj' into our village, and made our people drunk, and cheated them out of their horses, guns and traps!" It may be noted here that the first temperance crusade in this country was headed by Black Hawk, chief of the Sacs. He says : "I visited all the whites (in the village) and begged them not to sell whisky to my people. One of them continued the practice openly. I took a party of my J'oung men, went to his house, and took out his barrel and broke in the head and turned out the whisky." He then adds: "Bad and cruel as our people were treated by the whites, not one of them was hurt or molested by any of my band. I hope this will prove that we are a peaceable people, having permitted ten men to take possession of our corn-fields, prevent us from planting corn, burn and destroy our lodges, ill-treat our women, and heat to death our men without offering resistance to their barbarous cruelties. Tlie whites were complaining at the same time that tee were intruding upon their rights! They made themselves out the injured party, and we the intruders ! and called loirdly to the great war-chief to protect their property ! How smooth must be the language of the whites when they can make right look like wrong and wrong look like right !"

This brave and proud warrior would not surrender his village until the last hour, when the United States soldiers were on the ground for the purpose of forcing him to terms. The night before the day appointed by Gen. Gaines to remove them, the chief and his people crossed the Mississippi and encamped below the mouth of Rock river. Black Hawk went to their agent and requested that a house be built for him. and a field plowed in the fall, as he desired to live retired. This being promised, he went to the trader and obtained permission to be buried in the graveyard in their old village. "I then returned," said Black Hawk, "to my people satisfied." He had not remained long in quiet retirement when in 1831 the restless chief and his band (known as the Britisii Band of Sac Indians) crossed the river to their old homes at the mouth of Rock river, but after preparations of war were made for his extermination he negotiated a treaty and returned to the west side of the Mississij)pi, receiving liberal presents of goods and provisions from the government, and promised never to return without the consent of the president of the United States or the governor of Illinois.

Here he remained quietly until the following year, when discontent was created by the bad counsel of British officers on the upper Mississippi ; aTid on April fi. 1832, he again recrossed the Mississippi with his entire band and their women and children, and soon commenced his march up the river, intending to take possession of the Kishwaukoe country on the upper Rock river, claimed to have been given him by the Pottawatomies.

Black Hawk's policy was to ascend the Rock river in peace, until he had the expected reinforcements from the Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatomies, and Winnebagoes, from the upper Rock river and lake region, as he had been told. Ascending the river to Prophetstown, he received an order from Gen. Atkinson (White Beaver) to return or he would pursue him and drive him back. The chief refused, sending word to the general if he wanted to fight to come on, and moved on up river.

Mr. John Dixon, then proprietor of Dixon's Ferry, was advised of the approach of the Black Hawk band of Indians, and would have abandoned his home, and sought safety elsewhere, but his faith in humanity was of that kind that " Hopeth all thiiii^s, of all men " - even the Indians. A leading Winnebago chief, Pachinka (Crane in English), had told liim that the Winnebagoes held possession of the lands through which the Sacs would have to move, and that they would not dare injure the white friends of his nation. So Father Dixon was here when the savage army passed early in May. He so arranged his f;imily and hired help as to ascertain the force of the hostiles. This he accomplished without exciting their suspicions His estimate gave them 600 men. The band encamped at a spring a few hundred yards above the ferry, now submerged by reason of the dam.

The war chief had not forgotten the kindness of Mrs. Dixon during the preceding winter, when he, a chief from Eock Island, and the prophet from Prophetstown, met in council with the Pottawatomies at Dixon's Ferry, when Black Hawk negotiated for the occupancy of Spotted Arms' Town near the present site of Eockford. During their stay the chiefs at the council tire were regularlv invited as guests to Mrs. Dixon's table. She served them as waiter, and even sat down and ate and drank with them. Black Hawk not only reminded her of his appreciation of her kindness, but called the attention of the other chiefs to her care for them.

"On May 12 Governor Eeynolds was at Dixon's Ferry, with about 900 mounted riflemen, under command of Gen. Whitesides awaiting the arrival of Gen. Atkinson's forces of the regular armyi coming up the river with army stores, provisions, and the general impediments of a moving army.

"Immediately after the arrival of the forces at Dixon's Ferry Gen Whitesides sent a party of four men, a guide and interpreter, under command of Capt. John Dement (then state treasurer), to Shabbona's Grove, just within the borders of the present county of De Kalb to warn the friendly Pottawatomie chief, Shabbona, who lived there upon a small reservation with his family and a few followers, not to allow Black Hawk to come upon his lands to live."

Having lost their way they were, toward the close of the second day out, approaching a grove to the northwest of Shabbona's Grove which they were seeking, when Peter Manard, the interpreter of the party, who was familiar with Shabbona and his people, approached the grove m advance of the party expecting to meet the friendly Pottawatomies. Crossing a small stream he entered the grove, where he tound an unoccupied lodge. Alighting from his pony, he was trying to strike a tire preparatory to an encampment for the night, when Capt. Dement, who was approaching the grove at another point, descried some Indians in the timber trying to conceal themselves in the thicket ; leaving his Jiart}' to watch the movements fif the savages, he rode down the grove to see what had become of Manard, whom he found in possession of his h)dge, happily anticipating a good smoke in his efforts to strike a fire ; but at tlie word from tlie captain he mounted and joined the party. The Indians soon rushed from the grove with yells and menaces of war. The scouting party fearing the presence of superior numbers galloped away over the prairie ; but discovering that only two or three Indians were following them they reined up their horses when the Indians came up, laughing and pretending friendship.

From these Indians they learned that Black Hawk and his band were encamped on a stream but two miles away, and that the}' were going over to Mud lake to hunt. They invited the captain and his party to lodge with them for the night, promising to feast tliem on fresh venison. The captain declined their hospitality, preferring a long horseback ride in the night, though weary from the long travel of the day. He turned toward Shabbona's grove to mislead the red-men should they attempt to follow or intercept them, and when beyond their view the party headed toward Dixon's Ferry and rode all night, reaching Inlet grove in early morning. After halting a short time at this point they continued their march to Dixon's Ferry, and reported the result of their expedition to the commanding general.