Livingston County, Illinois - Chapter 1: Introductory, 1909

Chapter 1: Introductory

- COAL DISCOVERIES AND MINING - LIMESTONE - SOME INDIAN HISTORY - FATHER JESSE WALKER. FOUNDS AN INDIAN MISSION IN LIVINGSTON COUNTY TERRITORY - SOME BLACKHAWK WAR INCIDENTS - GENERAL TOPOGRAPHY - VERMILION BIVER AND DEER PARK - SOIL - LIVINGSTON COUNTY AS AN AGRICULTURAL REGION - CORN PRODUCT - THE EARLY SQUATTERS - FORESTRY - PONTIAC AN EARLY WOODING STATION - CHANGES IN VERMILION TIMBER REGION,

The geological formations are not unlike those common to the central portion of the state with the important difference that in this county, coal and stone are found in abundance, although the earlier settlers were in ignorance of the fact. In the earlier days the residents lived in or adjacent to the timber, and no fuel was needed other than the forest supplied.

In the latter '50s coal was discovered cropping out of the ground in Reading Township. The coal was gotten out of the ground by the owner of the land, and it was sold at $1.00 a load - big or little.

The county was beginning to be rapidly populated in the early '60s, two railroads passing through it, and it was self-evident that there would not be enough timber left in the county at the rate it was being consumed.

In 1862, Henry L. Marsh, of Fairbury. began the sinking of a shaft on his tract of land, a mile west of Fairbury. After three attempts, a five-foot vein of coal was struck in 1863 at a depth of 180 feet. A few years later, two more shafts were sunk in that village and also one at

Pontiac. Shafts were also sunk at Forrest, Chatsworth, Odell, Cayuga and Dwight, but they proved failures. There are mines now in operation at Pontiac, Fairbury, Cardiff, Cornell, Coalville and in Reading Township, south of Streator, from which thousands of tons of coal are being taken out daily.

Ledges of limestone, suitable for building purposes, are found on Indian Creek, southwest of Fairbury, and in some parts along the banks of the Vermilion river. In the vicinity of Pontiac, calcereo-siliceous stone is found. In sinking the mine at Fairbury, a dark sandstone of peculiar color was found. The front of one building in that city was built with it, but it did not withstand the storms,

Some Indian History

When Martin Darnall first settled with his family in this county in the fall of 1830, there was a band of Kickapoo Indians located near Selma, in McLean County. During the previous year, the tribe came over into Livingston County, and pitched their tents in what is now known as Oliver's Grove, south of Chatsworth. They numbered 630 men, women and children. Their intercourse with the earlier settlers was friendly, and there is no account of any white man having been killed by them within the limits of the county. The Indians raised some corn, beans, Potatoes and tobacco, but the area under cultivation was small, as the crop was grown in patches here and there. They were great traders, and ready to swap at any time, and quick to see when they obtained the best of a bargain. During the winter of the deep snow (1830), they, as well as the few settlers, suffered severely from the intense cold and scarcity of food. Their council house was a large one, in which they always assembled when they had any business

Father Jesse Walker, a pioneer Methodist minister, then located at Ottawa, established a mission among 'these Indians. He came out oc casionally and held meetings with them, making the trip on horseback, and appointed and ordained a missionary minister of their own tribe, who always held religious services on the Sabbath when Father Walker was not there. They used some kind of characters - cut or printed - on a small board, as a prayer book. Every one of them had this same kind of a "book,' and they held it almost as sacred as they did their own lives, always using it before retiring to bed at night. It was their universal custom to return from their hunting grounds on Saturday evening of each and every week, and to be in attendance at church on Sabbath morning. Their usual custom on the Sabbath was to prepare for a public dinner in the morning, which, by the way, was always a boiled dinner. This was placed in their camp kettles, hung in a long row through the center of the grounds where their meetings were held. Fires were built under them, which kept the kettles boiling while the Indians held their service. During the hours of service, the Indian men were seated on one side of the dinner kettles, the women, or squaws, on the other, the children at one end, and the minister stood at the other end. Thus the congregation was arranged while the minister was performing his duty. During all this time, there were two of the Indian men who stood near the children, to see that perfect order was kept. After the services were all over, the dinner kettles were set off, and all partook of the dinner thus prepared. It was served out in wooden bowls and trenchers, with ladles, spoons, etc., of the same material. The dinner generally consisted of venison, "coon, opossum, turtle, fish, or any kind of meat they had, and corn, beans and potatoes, all cooked together in the same kettles and at the same time, generally leaving a quantity of soup.

On the breaking out of the Black Hawk war in 1832, Livingston County was a border county in this part of the State. There was great fear of Indian raids. It was known that Black Hawk's emissaries had solicited the Kickapoos to join him in the attacks on the whites. On May 24th they were waited upon by a deputation of whites, several being present from McLean County, for the purpose of ascertaining their intentions. Those present at the meeting from this county were Martin Darnall and the McDowells, William Popejoy, Abner Johnson, Uriah Blue, Isaac Jordon and John Hanneman. At this meeting, Franklin Oliver, after whom the grove was named, presided. The Indians treated the whites with great courtesy and made a feast for them. The leading chiefs told them they had been importuned to join Black Hawk, but had declined; but that some of the young warriors wanted to go on the warpath, while the older chiefs were endeavoring to hold them back.

In the evening, the visitors witnessed some strange religious ceremonies by the Indians who had been converted to christianity. "All were seated on the ground, except the leader, and they sang and exhorted for a long time. At last the leader took his seat and then occurred a singular ceremony. An Indian stepped forward and asked to be whipped for his sins he had committed during the week, and he drew his garment over his head, exposing his bare back. Fourteen stripes were given him by these Indians, with smooth hickory rods about three feet long. The stripes were received without a movement to Indicate pain. This example was followed by fifty others, who received fourteen to twenty-eight stripes laid on with such force than any one of them left a mark. The stripes were administered by three Indians. When fourteen stripes were called for, the first Indian gave seven, the second four, and the last, three. When twenty-eight stripes were called for, the first Indian gave fourteen, the second seven, and the last, seven. When each applicant for stripes had been whipped, he turned around and shook hands with the men who bore the rods. 'The interpreter told the whites who were looking on that these stripes were given because of disobedience to the commands of the Great Spirit during the week."

The whites, however, distrusted their pacific intentions. On their return home from the council, the members of the deputation stopped at the McDowell cabin in Avoca, which had been erected but a few weeks previous, and took dinner, and they advised the settlers either to abandon their homes or erect fortifications. There were but two rifles and little or no ammunition in the whole settlement, and this scheme was impracticable. The following day, all the men of the settlement held a council and it was decided that they return to Indiana, from which they had emigrated. On the following morning (May 26th) some volunteered to go to the timber for wood. When the teams and volunteers returned, within about half a mile of the camping ground, two Indians appeared on the ridge. Some of those at the camp were So badly scared at the appearance of the Indians, thinking perhaps they (the Indians at the village) were gathering for an attack on the whites, that they were leaving without giving time for the wood party to come up - some, however, declared their determination to have their breakfast, Indians or no Indians. The party was too small for fight, although they had been traveling without their wives and little ones, that they would not have been disposed to run on such a scare. But the feelings of our frontier men were as strong, if not stronger, for the protection of the feebler portion of their families, than nowadays. They, however, waited for the wooding party to come up, and although the camp was still in commotion and many fears expressed for the safety of the party, they concluded to get and eat their breakfast. It was soon ascertained, however, that the two Indians were friendly Kickapoos, who had come to bid their white friends farewell. On the evening of May 28th, the entire population around Avoca camped in and around the McDowell cabin, preparatory to the march the following morning. In the party were the families of Hiram McDowell, Abner Johnson, Uriah Blue, Nathan Popejoy, Isaac Jordon and John Hanneman, and their families - some thirty in all. The following morning, the whole company, consisting of seven families in six wagons, and pulled by ox-teams, left for Indiana. On the second day of their march, a daughter was born to the wife of Isaac Jordon. The next day the mother and child were left at the home of Philip Cook, of Cook's Grove, and the remainder of the party pushed on to their native state.

Martin Darnall, A. B. Phillips and James Spence found it necessary to remove with their families to Mackinaw for safety. They remained there until peace was declared. Mrs. Darnall's father had had some experience with the Indians in Kentucky. He was captured by Indians, and was held in captivity for seven years, during which time he suffered almost untold hardships. Upon three separate occasions he was compelled to run the gauntlet, and upon occasion was black- ened and condemned to be burned at the stake, but while pinioned, a few moments before the fire should have been lighted, there stepped forward a man who offered a price for his life, and he was released from the stake,

The McDowells and the Avoca contingent returned some time in November. Franklin Oliver did not leave, but went among the Indians whenever he pleased and without fear of molestation. It is said of Mr. Oliver that at the Kickapoo village there was a squaw who had a bright little pappoose which she called Joe. Taking an interest in the little chap, Mr. Oliver requested her permission to give him another name. She consented, and handed him a piece of buckskin, on which he wrote "Joe Oliver." In February, 1869, the celebrated chief was one of an Indian delegation which met in Washington.

Livingston County is bounded on the north by LaSalle and Grundy counties; on the east by Kankakee and Ford; on the south by Ford and McLean; on the west by McLean, Woodford and LaSalle counties. It embraces ranges 3 to 8, east of the third principal meridian; and townships from 25 to 30, north of the base line of the State, being thirty-six miles from east to west, and twenty-four from north to south, with an addition of eighteen miles (east to west), by nine and three-fourth miles (north to south), constituting the southern portion of the eastern half of the county. It contains twenty-seven full congressional townships, namely: Reading, Newtown, Sunbury, Nevada, Dwight, Round Grove, Long Point, Amity, Esmen, Odell, Union, Broughton, Nebraska, Rooks Creek, Pontiac, Owego, Saunemin, Sullivan, Waldo, Pike, Eppards Point, Avoca, Pleasant Ridge, Charlotte, Indian Grove, Forrest and Chatsworth; and three fractional townships, to-wit: Belle Prairie, Fayette and Germanville.

Livingston County is one of the largest, richest and most fertile and productive counties in the State. The forty-first parallel of latitude passes through the second tier of townships in the northern part of the county. The area of the county is 1,026 square miles. In size, it ranks fourth in the state, the counties of LaSalle, McLean and Iroquois being slightly larger.

southeastern portion of the county and is fed by the following tributaries: South Branch, Indian creek, Turtle creek, Wolf creek, Rooks creek, Mud creek, Long Point and Scattering Point creeks, most of which have their rise in the county. All of these streams are living water, fed by springs, affording ample water for stock, and splendid drainage for all parts of the county.

In the early days of the county, the Vermilion and the larger branches were well stocked with fish, of which the pickerel, bass and catfish were the predominating varieties. Since the county has become thoroughly settled and the sloughs along the river drained out, the pickerel have entirely disappeared, being supplanted by the German carp and different species of bass which were planted by the State Fish Commission.

The Vermilion is a tributary of the Illinois, emptying into that river about one mile above LaSalle, in LaSalle County, cutting the south part of that county from southeast to northwest. It is a rapid stream, with high bluffs and narrow bottoms. The scenery along its banks, from its source to the mouth, is very grand and imposing. The strata which compose its banks are rich in fossils and the geologist and lover of nature will be well paid for a trip along its rugged banks. After the river enters LaSalle County, there are many points of interest along its route. The famous grotto of Deer Park is on the right bank, a mile or two from its mouth. It is in the St. Peter's sandstone region, which shows itself on the Vermilion. It is cut in the bluff, on a level with the river at low water, winding somewhat like the letter S, and extending some one hundred rods or more. The sides are perpendicular and, at the extreme end, about ninety feet high. At that point, the sides project or shelye over about seventy feet on each side. In wet weather there is a pretty waterfall, and at times a clear pool of water and fine spring. The opening at the top is about one hundred feet, and is fringed with pines and other trees. It is a great curiosity and a very popular place of resort, and is visited annually by many citizens of this county.

The soll of this county is a deep black alluvial loam of almost inexhaustible fertility, with a porous subsoil of clay and gravel. The drainage is effected by the Vermilion river and its branches. The county is completely covered with beautiful and productive farms. Farming lands in the county range in price from $125 to $250 per acre, according to the location and improvements. Farm lands, even at these prices, are considered a safe investment, as few farms are now being offered for sale.

In the later '50s land in Livingston County could still be bought for one dollar and twentyfive cents an acre. It took care of Itself. By renting it, it speedily paid for itself. The thrifty souls in those days, foreseeing the result, bought acre after acre and, adding one tract to another, speedily laid the foundation for an Immense fortune. There was a tradition current then that the raw prairie would not raise crops, that the soll was sour and that it was unadvisable to locate far from the streams, both on account of the non-fertility of the soil and so as to be near the fuel supply. Settlers from the Eastern states had this belief, and before they could buy prairie soil they would dig a portion of the soil out and then throw it back into the hole. If it more than filled the excavation, they judged that the land was fertile and they purchased. If it did not, they went elsewhere.

In those days agriculture was not taught in the schools and colleges of this country and "seed and soil specialists" were unknown. And then, too, money in this county commanded two per cent a month. The sums loaned on farm lands were not large, but there was a pretty constant call for money at this rate. A man could afford to pay even this when he was getting his land for a dollar and a quarter an acre.

Livingston County is the greatest corn producing county in the State of Illinois. More acres are planted and more bushels are raised than in any other county in the State. It likewise surpasses all others in acreage of oats. It has few, if any, equals in the world, in the production of these valuable cereals. It has more arable land than any other county in the State. The total area of culivated land in the county is about 600,- 000 acres, of which two-fifths is annually devoted to the raising of corn. The acreage of corn in the county in 1907 was over 285,000 acres, and the yield was nearly 12,000,000 bushels. Besides all that was used for home consumption, there was more corn shipped out of Livingston County in 1907 than the amount raised in the following 16 States and Territories: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Utah, New Mexico,

Arizona and California. And it wasn't a very good year for corn, either, the rainfall during the season being quite heavy and frost earlier than usual.

Of oats, there were in the county over 195,000 acres, nearly one-third of the area of cultivated land, the largest acreage of oats of any county in the State. The yield was over 7,000,000 bushels. At thirty-five cents pér bushel, the value of the oats produced was nearly $2,000,000. Over threefourths of the cultivated land in the county is devoted to raising these two cereals. One-eighth of arable land is devoted to hay and pasture. Beef cattle to the number of 5,000, valued at $200,000, and 25,000 hogs, worth $300,000, were marketed during the year. '

Poultry raising is extensive in the county, exceeding any other county in the state. The business is profitable, the product of two good hens being equal to the receipts of an acre of oats. Over nine million eggs and about 300,000 chickens are annually marketed.

A large portion of Livingston County was, in the early settlement of the state, composed of low, wet land, known as swamp land. The present productiveness of the county is largely due to the extensive use of drain tile. There are laid in the county nearly 12,000 miles of drain tile, an amount exceeding any other county in the state, surpassing any other county of its size in the

Forty years ago, only 220,732 acres of land in the county was being cultivated, 38,540 being in wheat, 140,977 in corn, 41,215 in other grains.

THE "SquaTrers." - The first settlers were generally denominated "squatters." They were said to "squat" on any piece of land that suited their fancy. If they remained until the land came into market, and went to the land office at Danville to enter it legally, they were always allowed the first choice in securing the claim they had chosen. It was unsafe for speculators to purchase and endeavor to hold such a claim. The squatters were a kind of law unto themselves, and dealt with such persons in a summary manner, seldom, if ever, allowing them to occupy a claim thus obtained. These measures, vigorous as they were, almost always secured them the homes for which they had labored, and, considering the times and the known greed and rapacity

Anyone familiar with the Vermilion river region sixty years ago, will recall the heavy timber setting which lined the banks of the streams and the bottom lands. At the period named, there was no finer favored timber section in the State of Illinois. The banks of the Vermilion and its tributary streams were thickly set with giant trees, the growth of centuries, especially those of the harder species - oak, ash, sugar tree, etc. On both banks of the Vermilion was the home of the oak, more especially, and from these lofty elevations their massive, shapely, sturdy forms were lifted high in the air, their spreading branches would meet over the center of the stream, and then in their summer glory of verdure forming a leafy canopy, defying the penetration of the sun's rays except in glintings here and there. To make this point very plain and emphatic, the banks of the Vermilion on which the business portion of Pontiac is now situated, were thus crowned with giant oaks, and the banks on the south side of the river, now the finest residence section of the city, were oak-crowned, the growth of centuries. All is gone now, except here and there an occasional specimen in some residence lot.

For forty years, the early settler along the Vermilion river and its tributaries found ample timber for his wants of fencing and buildings. In the early settlement of this county along the streams, log cabins were the only houses in use, and for many years they were built entirely from the material taken directly from the forest, in the following manner: Trees were chopped down, logs measured off to the length desired for the size of the cabin, generally 16 by 18 or 20 feet, and the number was governed somewhat by the height of the cabin, which was generally ranging at from eight to twelve logs high. They were drawn together with oxen, by hitching to one end of the log and drawing it on the ground. Large trees were cut and sawed in four-feet lengths, split into bolts, then rived into clapboards for the purpose of covering the house. Other large trees were cut and split into broad puncheons, then leveled on one side and flattened at the ends, so as to lay them down for floors. Then the entire settlement of men were called together to raise the house, which was generally done in one day, men going from two to twenty-five miles to raise the cabin. Then came the process of chinking and daubing the cracks or spaces between the logs. The chimneys were made of what was called "cat and clay," made of sticks and mortar, with straw mixed in to hold the mud together around the sticks of which the chimneys were built. The cracks of the house between the logs were daubed or plastered over the chinking, so as to make them tight and shut out cold weather and rains. Doors were made of clapboards or puncheons hung with wooden hinges and fastened with a wooden latch, a string fastened to the latch, put through the door and hanging on the outside to pull down and unfasten the door.

In 1854, the "iron horse" with its "breath of stream" and "heart of fire," entered the county from the north. His heart of fire said "feed me," and all the early locomotives were wood burners. His rumbling feet said, "Build me a road-bed of ties and construct that bridge pretty quick." And, as they were then, - are now, and seemingly ever will be - of wood, and as the early bridges and trestle work and piles were of necessity of wood, the oak-crowned banks of the Vermilion gave up their glory. Swept with more than cyclonic force by axe and saw, the giant trees fell to earth. The shapely trunks were wrought into timbers for bridges and ties and the remainder into wood to feed the "heart of fire." Tossed from the banks, the fragmentary giants lined up in the lumber yards, and ricks of wood planking the tracks for miles.

When the Chicago, Alton and St. Louis Railroad entered Pontiac in July, 1854, the little hamlet was made a wooding station for the engines, and remained so until coal was brought into general use for this purpose along in the late *60s. Thus, for over ten years, every engine along the line of the road between Chicago and St. Louis would stop at Pontiae for wood, all cut from the banks of the Vermilion near the line of the road. A large wood shed was erected by the company along the tracks of the road between Livingston and Prairie streets for this purpose, where the farmers would bring in their four-foot wood ana throw it into the shed to be cut up into one and one-third lengths ready for the fire box. William Googerty and his son, William Googerty, Jr., were the contractors to supply the road with wood at this point, and they held it as long as wood was used for fuel. While it lasted, it was the only "industry" in the hamlet at the time.

Two band saws, run by horse-power, were kept running almost constantly night and day, and it was the means of giving many people employment, which in those days was hard to find.

The next railroad to use the timber along the banks of the Vermilion river was the Fairbury, Pontiac and Northwestern, now the Wabash. The line was first built from Streator to Fairbury, a distance of thirty-two miles, and every tie and culvert was made from the oak trees which lined the river from Streator to Fairbury.

But this was not all. From the time that Martin Darnall first sunk his axe into a tree in Indian Grove in 1830, preparatory to the erection of his cabin, down to the present time, a lapse of nearly eighty years, the forests along the Vermilion and its tributaries in the county supplied the lumber for various uses. For twenty-five years from the first settlement down to the time of the first railroad, most all the houses in the county, including the first court house, were built from lumber taken from the banks of the Streams. There are some houses in the county still standing today in a good state of preservation, the frames of which were bewn from the timber along the banks of the different streams. Most all the rude furniture of the early settlers was made from the trees and the first furniture stores in the county manufactured all their product, including coffins, from the beautiful black walnut, oak, etc., which abounded in great quantities.

The timber was the only source of the fuel supply for the early settlers on the prairies, until coal was discovered in large quantities in Reading township, protruding from the banks of the Vermilion river along in the early "60s.

In the early days, the huge maple trees supplied the sap from which the settlers made their sugar. Both the hard and soft variety of this beautiful tree was found in abundance then, but only a few are standing today. About the finest specimen now can be seen on what is known as the Algoe farm in Amity township. The black walnut is fast disappearing and is now being eagerly sought by the buyers for the large furniture factories throughout the United States. Great quantities of the trees are chopped down every year in this county, the logs of which are shipped to the factories to be made into different articles of furniture. The hickory trees, which grew in abundance along the banks of the Vermil- ion, have disappeared almost entirely. About twenty-five years ago, this variety of tree was attacked by a variey of bugs which killed them by the thousands.

Walking for miles along the Vermilion and its tributaries today, and seeing these now denuded banks with no more fringe of brush than of hair on a billiard ball, and remembering how it used to be, makes one sigh at the destructive forces so easily set going for gain, and no effort made in any direction to restore the waste places.

Reaching from the Ford County to the LaSalle County line, a distance of nearly sixty miles, stretches the Vermilion river timber line from one-quarter to two miles wide - once a magnificent forest all the way - deducting therefrom the surface of the river. This immense timber tract has been invaded extensively during the past twenty-five years by the constant pressure of farms into the river bottoms, the rich warm soil making it profitable to take chances on high water, as three crops out of five will more than equal in yield the ordinary five crops on the prairie farms. Nearly one-half of this timber bottom land has been brought under the plow, and every year adds to the farm area. As the plow comes in the timber goes out, and it is now no uncommon sight to see corn growing right on the banks of the river, where grew a margin fringe of stately elms, oaks, walnuts and maples but a few years ago.