Madison County, Illinois - Chapter 6, 1882 (part 3 of 3)

The Rev. William Jones was one of the earliest teachers in what is now Fort Russell township. A man named Wyatt taught in this part of the county in 1817, and in 1818 Daniel A. Lanterraan had a school in which thirty-three children were in their primers at the commencement of the term. He was paid twelve dollars a year for each pupil. The books used were Webster's Spelling Book, the New England Primer and Pike's Arithmetic. To advance far enough in arithmetic to understand the rule of three, was considered having a good education. The scholars came from a distance of three miles. The school-house was built of logs, and was twenty by twenty-four feet in dimensions. On the side, half a log had been cut out for a window. Over the aparture greased paper was tacked, and a fence had been built on the outside to keep the cattle from destroying this substitute for glass by licking it with their tongues.

In the neighborhood of the present Edwardsville there were no good schools till 1818. About that time Hiram Rountree taught twoyears at the old Ebenezer school-house and had a school of eighty pupils.

The first school in the neighborhood of the present town of Troy was taught by Greenberry Randle in the year 1811. The curriculum of studies could not have been very extended for the " master " stipulated that he should be called on to give no instruction in arithmetic farther than the " Double Rule of Three."

Early Mills

The want of convenient mills was one of the most serious disadvantages with which the pioneer settlers had to contend. Of the early contrivances for manufacturing meal the most rude and primitive was what was known as the " Armstrong mill," used in the fall of the year, and which could be made by any family. This consisted of a plate of tin, pierced with numerous hobs, so as to make one side very rough, bent in the shape of a half-circle, and nailed to a clap board about three feet long by six inches iu width.

By rubbiug an ear of corn, just out of the milk, on the rough tin, meal was made, thou^^h in a very shiw and hiborious manner. The person operating this mill, by the time he had ground, or grated, enough meal for the dinner of a dozen persons, would be apt to conclude that " arm-strong " was a very appropriate appellation.

An improvement on this was the band mill. This was made of two mill-stones, one above the other. A hole was made in the upper stone in which was placed a staff of wood, which ran through a hole in a plank above. One or two persons took hold of this statt' and turned the upper stone with as much velocity as possible. There was no hopper, but through an eye in the upper stone the mill was fed with corn in small quantities.

To make a mortar, wherein to beat corn into meal, the pioneers took a large, round log, three or four feet in length, and, by cutting or burning, made a cavitj^ in one end, capable of holding, perhaps, a peck of corn. The log was then set perpendicularly io the ground, and the cavity filled with corn. A weight attached to the sweep was then used to crush the corn. The weight was forced down by the hands, and was raised again by the spring of the sweep-pole.

In the baud-mill the horse-power consisted of a large, upright shaft, some ten or twelve feet in height, with eight or ten long arms, let into the main shaft and extending out from it fifteen feet. Auger holes were bored at the end of the arms, in tlie upper side, into which wooden pins were driven. This was called the big wheel, and was, as has been seen, about thirty feet in diameter. The raw-hide belt or tug, was made of skins of beef cattle, cut into strips three inches in width ; these were twisted into a round cord, or tug, long enough to encircle the circumference of the big There it was held in place by the wooden pins. From the big wheel the belt crossed and passed under a shed to run around a drum, or " trunnel head," to which was attached the grinding apparatus. The horses, or oxen, were attached to the arms by means of raw -hide tugs, and being driven around in a circle, the machinery was set in motion. To grind twelve bushels of corn in a band-mill was considered a good day's work. Instead of using the band, power was sometimes communicated from one wheel to the other cogs.

Several of these baud mills were erected in the Goshen settlement. Before their coming into use the pioneer settlers usually procured their supplies of meal at Cahokia. Wheat flour at that time was but little used. Previous to the year 1807, several pioneer mills were built within the present limits of the county, one of which was a band mill, erected by the Preuitts, on the edge of the prairie, a few miles east of the present site of CoUinsville. On the Cautiuc creek, south of CoUinsville, a man named Talbot had, first, a horse mill, and afterward a water mill. Cornelius built a water mill on the same creek below. Elliott had a horse mill about three miles south of Edwardsville, and Nathan Carpenter one on the Six mile prairie. Adjoining the site of Edwardsville, Thomas Kirkpatrick built a water mill on Cahokia creek.

county of Monroe, and his brother, John Whiteside, in the year 1806, purchased a land warrant of one hundred acres, and located it on Wood river, where that stream is crossed by the road leading from Edwardsville to Alton. They prepared, and hauled much timber with which to construct a mill, but for some reason never built it.

After the population of the county became more numerous, several of the settlers, who had a mechanical turn of mind, were tempted to try their skill at building horse, or ox mills. There were many failures, and sometimes linancial ruin resulted. Especially was this the case with the atteni])ts to build and operate water mills. It was a saying of Isaac Prickett, one of the Edwardsville merchants, that however great a falling out he might have with au old settler, if he undertook to build a water mill, he always forgave him the grudge. At Edwardsville in the year 181^, Josias Kandle built a good cog-wheel horse mill. John Messinger was the machinist and mill-wright who did the work. In 1832 this mill was transformed into a steam mill, one of the first in Madison county. It burned down in 1834. Near the present site of Bethalto, there was a band-mill at an early day operated by Mr. Finley. George Moore had one on his ])lace in section ten, of township five, range nine, the machinery of which was brought from Kentucky. About a mile and a half west of Edwardsville was a mill owned by Joshua Delajilain, on land now owned by S. O. Bonner. Prior to the year 1817, a band-mill was erected on Gov. Coles' farm, three or four miles east of Edwardsville. It was run by George Coventry, and afterward by William L. j\Iay, who removed it to Edwardsville. Henry Keley, the pioneer settlf r of Hamel township, put up a band-mill on his farm about 1820. This mill had a good bolting cloth and chest. - It was in operation only a short time, and the enterprise did not prove a financial success. George W. Farris had a band-mill, west of Silver creek, near the line between Hamel and Alhanibra townships. Robert Collet, one of the most ingenious, useful, and enterprising citizens on Rattan's prairie, built a good mill, two or three miles southeast of the present town of Bethalto, which was well patronized, and a great convenience to the inhabitants of that part of the county. It was destroyed by fire in 1842, or 1843. Robert McDow, a Kentuckian, who settled near the present Kinder station, had a horse-mill in operation at an early period.

A water-mill was built on Cahokia creek at Edwardsville, by Jo-eph Newman, who sold it to Samuel Lockhart, and he to Paris Mason. The mill was in operation several years, and a great advantage to the people residing within several miles of Edwardsville, but so treacherous was Cahokia creek, and so difficult and expensive was the work of preserving the mill-dam on account of the frequent fl )ods which dcva.stated the bottom, that Mr. Mason finally concluded to abandon the mill. Three or four miles southeast of Edwardsville, a mill was built by Jacob Gonterman, and for some years did good service. George Barnsback built a good cogwheel horse-mill, southeast of Edwardsville, and Calvin McCray put in operation a mill of the same description in the neighborhood of Troy. In the forks of Wood river, two or three miles east of Upper Alton, Abel Moore built a good cog-wheel mill about 1823 or 1824. On Cahokia creek, three or four miles above Edwardsville, a water-mill was built by Robert Harrison, at which for many years large quantities of corn and wheat were ground, and a great deal of lumber sawed. Mr. Harrison was a public-spirited and enterpri.sing citizen, and afterward carried on the pottery business for many years at Upper Alton Both at Newman's and Randle's mill at Edwardsville, lumber was sawed at an early day. John Estabrook and Oliver Livermore built a water-mill on Cahokia creek, in the northwest part of Hamel township about 1829, or 1830. A great amount of lumber was sawed here, and some meal and ilour manufactured. On Indian creek, in Fort Russell township, John Newman built a saw-mill at an early period, which he, and others after him, ran to a good purpose for many years. West of Edwardsville, ou Delaplaiu's branch, an early mill was built by George Coventry.

William Rabb, who in 1812, purchased claim 16.53, on the Cahokia, about three miles northwest of Collinsville, in the spring of the next year, built a large four-story frame water-mill - an extensive concern for those da3'S. In 1820 it passed into the possession of Joseph Hertzog, who added a distillery. Hertzog's mill was a well-known place to the early settlers of the county.

ISoon after 1«40, there were several steam-flour and sawmills in operation in the county. The first two of these were the Randle mill at Edwardsville, and the large steam flour-mill built by William Manning at Alton. The building of the Alton mill commenced in 1831, and was completed in 18S3. Farmers sometimes came to the Alton mill from Sangamon county, a distance of eighty miles, and then would often have to wait several days to get their grist ground. The expense, however, was but little more to them than at home. Time, in those days, was not a matter of much consequence. Provisions and feed were either brought from home, or purchased on the way, and the covered wagon made a convenient place for lodging as they camped along the road at night. It was lawful to cut sufficient timber by the wayside for camp fires.

Agriculture

Heavier crops of corn were generally raised in pioneer times than now, but the crops of wheat were lighter. The superior crop of wheat at the present day is probably due to better culture and better varieties. The manner of seeding wheat was to scatter the seed broadcast in the standing corn, and plow it in with a one-horse plow. The wheat at harvest was reaped with a sickle. Solomon Preuitt once raised, from a small field, a crop of forty-two bushels of wheat to the acre, but the usual yield was from ten to fifteen bushels. The fresh and fertile prairie lands yielded heavy crops of corn. Curtiss Blakeman of Marine, writes, under date of April the twentieth, 1820, to the secretary of the State Agricultural Society, that the previous year he gathered from nine acres, three-quarters and six rods of ground, sixteen hundred bushels of ears of corn of a very superior quality. One bushel and a half of ears (consisting of one hundred and thirty-four ears) just as they ran from the crib, on being shelled, made one bushel and four quarts of shelled corn. The seed of this corn was brought from Kentucky. He describes the corn as being white and hard, the grains a little indented and the cob very small in proportion to the size of the ear. The mode of culture was quite common, the corn being planted late in May, in hills about four feet apart, and ploughed three times. Somewhat less than ten acres of ground made thirteen hundred and fifty bushels of shelled corn, a yield of one hundred and thirtyfive bushels to the acre. The field in which the corn was grown was newly-turned up prairie, and that year was cultivated for the first time.

There was considerable cotton raised in the county in early days, and its cultivation was kept up by some as late as the year 1835. Thomas Good built, and operated, a very good cotton gin, on his farm two miles south of Edwardsville. Oats were not much raised, and only small crops of either Irish, or sweet potatoes. Nearly every farmer had his patch of flax which was used for some articles of clothing because of its superior strength to cotton. At a later day castor beans were cultivated and readily sold at Edwardsville, where John Adams had an oil mill. The hay used was cut from the wild prairie. Melons, which were raised in large quantiies, were planted in corn fields by the public roads, and the travelling public were expected to help themselves. The house garden of early times, beside vegetables for table use, grew the medicines of the family - the senna plant for a cathartic, garlics for vermifuge, saffron for soothing syrup, wormwood and tansy for strengthening bitters, all the mints for sudorifics, and sweet basil and summer savory for essences and cooking.

The methods of agriculture were slow and laborious. Harvesting wheat with a sickle was a severe labor. A good hand could reap half an acre a day. Grain was threshed with a flail, or tramped out on the ground with horses and oxen, and then cleaned by lettlug it fall through a breeze created by the motion of a sheet in the hands of two persons - a slow and hard process. The old Barshare plow, with a wooden mold-board, was the main implement used for cultivating the soil. This plow was very good for turning prairie sod, but was poorly adapted for plowing up and pulverizing the ground. For cultivating corn the shovel plow was much used.

In one respect the farmer of the olden time had a great advantage over the modern agriculturist. His crops were not injured by insects. There was no chinch bug, Hessian fly, nor weevil ; no vine bugs, lice, potato bugs, or bee moth to annoy the farmer, nor any insect to bore, or sting, his fruit. The prairie grass was set on fire each year, and all the country burned over, so that little hiding place was left for insect life, and the crops grew so rapidly on the new and fertile soil that, if any pests existed, to injure the crops, the damage they did was so small as not to be noticed. There was one exception in the tobacco plant which had to be watched closely to keep the worms from eating it up. Chinch bugs first made their appearance about 1847, and have since rapidly increased. Wheat, in early times, never winterkilled, though sometimes it was affected by the rust. The

In the summer of 1817 corn at Elwardsville sold at thirty-three and one-third cents a bushel, in the spring of 1818 at fifty cents, and in the summer at seventy -five cents. Potatoes were from fifty cents to a dollar, oats fifty cents, and wheat one dollar. In 1819 wheat was one dollar, and corn, oats, sweet and Irish potatoes each fifty cents a bushel. In 1820 there was a cry of hard times. Money became very scarce, and the prices of agricultural products fell - wheat to fifty cents a bushel and corn to twenty-live cents. The price of land depreciated one-half within eighteen months. (Jews which in 1819 sold at twenty-five dollars, in 1820 brought only fifteen, and the price of a yoke ofo.Ken fell from one hundred and twenty to eighty dollars. Matters grew worse in 1821. Corn sold at twelve and a half centr=, and wheat at fifty cents. Prices raised a little in 1824, but again dropped to a low standard in 1825. The latter year beef sold at one dollar and a half per cwt., cows at from five to seven dollars, oxen from twenty to forty dollars a yoke, and horses at from ten to eighty dollars. There were times in territorial days, when corn sold as low as six and a quarter cents a bushel, and wheat thirty cents.

The First Orchards

In the year 1802, or 1803, Samuel Judy planted an orchard of seedling apple trees on his farm in section 5, of township 3, range 8. This was the first orchard planted by an American settler, but long years previous fruit trees had been planted by the French residents on Big, or Chouteau, island. There were apple and pear trees on this island, which, from their appiarance in 1820, must have been planted fifty or sixtj; years before that date. Also on section 9, of township 4, range 9, and on the Squire farm in section 6, of township 3, range 9, there were pear trees which must have been planted previous to the settlement of the county by the Americans. There were several orchards planted at an early date in the neighborhood of Troy, one planted by Robert Seybold on section 12, of township 3, range S; one set out by Titus Gregg on the farm now owned by Ignatius Riggin, north of Troy ; and another on section 18, of township 3, range 7, on the farm settled by Robert McMahan. There was another early orchard, which must have been planted soon after 1803, on claim six hundred and two, near Collinsville. This orchard was set out by Peter Casterline and was in bearing in 1814. Near Rabb's (afterward Hertzog's) mill an orchard was planted at an early date. Major Cook, on his farm at the foot of the bhifi", on the old Edwardsville and St. Louis road, planted an orchard of which the apple trees were of a large size in 1817. It is said of Major Cook that he sold his last cow to get the money with which to purchase apple grafts.

There were few grafted trees before 1820. A specimen of the Lady apple was planted in 1819, on the farm afterward owned by Daniel A. Lanterman in township 5, range 8. Solomon Preuitt set out in 1820, forty trees, grown from the seed of a yellow apple brought up from the French .settlements. Six or eight of these trees produced very good fruit.

In township 5, range 8, soon after 1820, orchards of improved varieties were planted by John Collet, Emanuel J. West, and Gershora Flagg. The two former procured their trees from the state of New York, and the latter from Greenville, Bond county. Gershom Flagg, in the si)ring of 1822, planted three hundred seedlings, and in the fall of the same year about two hundred trees of Kirkbridffe White, Rambo, Pryor's R'3d, Penn.'ck, Pennsylvania Red Streak, Newtown Pippin, Rawle's Janet, Gilpin, and other varieties. The grafted trees proved equally hardy and long-lived with the seedlings. The first orchard in Hamel township was on the fiirm of Robert Aldrich. The grafts were procured in 1819 from a nursery at Portage des Sioux in St. Charles county, Missouri. Henry Keley and Anson Aldrich went after them, wrapping deer skins around the middle of the jiackages, so that they could lay them bef jre them on their horses. Soon afterward Archibald Lamb and Thomas Barnett set out apple orchards in the same township. William Hoxsey set out an apple orchard as early as 1819 or 1820, and Robert MeKee had a large orchard of choice apples on the Troy road, three miles south-east of Edwardsville. The first nursery men in the country were John Collet and Masson. The latter was a Swiss, who came to this country with a countryman, Mr. Talon, on whose farm, in section 22, of township 5, range 8, he had his first nursery. He removed thence to Mr. Collet's farm, about the year 1825, and thence, about 1832, to a farm in section 8, of the same township. George Barnsback also had an early nursery.

Birds And Animals

Many of the animals and birds common in early days have disappeared. Grey wolves were plentiful in the first settlement of the country, and there were also black and prairie wolves. Wild cats were also numerous. The wolves were a great trouble to the farmers, for the reason that they killed many of the young pigs and sheep, and sometimes colts and calves. A panther was occasionally met with, and often attacked men and the larger animals. E^ra Gil man, in township six, range ten, killed a panther with a heavy stick as his only weapon. The panther had engaged in a fight with his dog, and Oilman seized a stake from a sled near by, and by repeated blows on the head succeeded in killing the ferocious animal. Samuel P. Gillham was accustomed to tell of a neighbor of his, who, when riding through the timber at night, was attacked by a panther which lit on the back of the man, and with its claws raked his body from the head downward, tearing his clothing in slits, and then ripped open the horse's rump. Both horse and rider were terribly frightened. The horse gave a terrific jump, and the panther slippad off. The horse then leaped a stake-and-rider fence, and reached home, how, the man never knew. AVhen he came to his senses the horse was galloping around the house. The man died in two days afterward from the effects of his fright.

The horns of the wild elk could still be seen, showing that they had once inhabited this country. A badger was occasionally killed, but not after 1830. Buffalo horns were scattered over the prairie, for years after the first settlement.

Bears were not common. One was killeS in the county after 1830. The Lyux was sometimes seen. Deer, of course, were plentiful in early days. There were four varieties of squirrels, the fox, grey, flying and ground squirrels.

The grey and bald eagle were common in pioneer times. Paroquets were once plenty. They used to stay in the timber along the creeks, and when they came out the settlers regarded their appearance as a sure harbinger of a storm. There were several varieties of the wood-pecker the red head, the yellow-hammer, and the sap sucker. Partridges were scarce. The southern mocking bird was seen in the country for a year or two, and then disappeared. The pheasant has come since the first settlement of the country. There were several varieties of owls, among which were the screech owl, the large prairie owl, and the large horned owl. Water hens have come since the country was first settled. Wild ducks and geese were plentiful, and cranes, herons and swans were found about the lakes.

Prairie Flies

The green-headed flies, which infested the prairies in the summer, were a great annoyance. From the middle of June to the first of September it was almost impossible to cross the prairies in the day time. Wherever a fly lighted upon a horse a drop of blood started. In a journey of twelve miles horses were frequently killed. Travellers were accustomed to lie by in the timber during the day, and to cross the prairies at night.

There were no Indians resident in the territory now comprising Madison county within the time of its settlement by the whites. There was originally a Kickapoo town near the Salem camp ground. It was their second town in importance, the first being at Peoria. The hunting lodges stood there till 1820. In early days, however, the Indians frequently visited this part of Illinois, mostly with the object of having conferences with Gov. Ninian Edwards at Edwardsville. Large companies or bands of Indians, sometimes to the number of one hundred and fifty canoes, each canoe containing three or four men, women, and children, not unfrequently passed down the Mississippi. The.se companies sometimes passed on to St. Louis to see William Clark, governor of the territory of Missouri, and sometimes stopped at Gillham's landing, on the Mississippi, just below the mouth of the Missouri, there left their canoes moored to the shore, and proceeded on foot to Edwardsville, to see Gov. Edwards who held councils and made treaties with them. One of the old residents of the county states that he had seen the men marching along the road to Edwardsville in a single file, a mile in length. The squaws and papooses were generally left at the river to guard the canoes and baggage. These Indians were Sacs, Foxes, Pottawatomies and Winnebagoes, who then inhabited the country on the upper Mississippi about the present towns of Rock Island, Davenport and Galena, the country on the Illinois river in the vicinity of Peoria, and other portions of northern Illinois. They were then perfectly friendly to the whites. The squaws usually wanted to barter strings of beads for green corn, and the braves showed a great fondness and anxiety for whisky. Often before their return homeward they would encamp for several days at a time near the Mississippi, and the men would hunt de3r and other wild game which, with boiled corn, would constitute their stock of provisions for the voyage up the river.

Another pioneer settler of the county relates that among the Indians traveling and camping near Edwardsville, the young men were full of fun. He often saw them when the Cahokia was full of water, wallowing in the mud in the road, and then jumping into the creek. He had also seen them playing cards.

On the sixth of August, 1819. at Edwardsville, a treaty was negotiated between Auguste Chouteau and Benjamin Stephenson, commissioners on the part of the United States, and the chiefs of the Kickapoo tribe of Indians, by which the KickapOos ceded all their land on the northwest side of the Wabash river, including their principal village and a tract of land covering the central part of the state of Illinois, estimated to contain upward of ten million of acres, bounded by a line commencing at the mouth of the Illinois River, ruiming ea«twardly to the line dividing the states of Illinois and Indiana, thence north to the Kankakee river, and thence down the Illinois river to the place of beginning. The United States agreed, in return, to pay the Kickapoos two thousand dollars in silver, annually, for fifteen successive years, at their town on the waters of the Osage river, and to guarantee them peaceable possession of their country on the O.sage and to restrain all white persons from hunting or settling therein. The United States also promised to furnish two boats in which to transport the property of the Indians from some point on the Illinois river to their new place of residence, and to select some judicious citizen to accompany them in their journey through the white settlements.

Proclamation was made of this treaty on the thirteenth of January, 1821. Indians still continued to vi-sit Edwardsville till 1827 or 1828. Traces of their camps and the peculiar marks made in their stripping the bark from trees were visible ten years afterward. The Kickapoos at one time had a temporary encampment near the mouth of Indian creek and buried many of their dead there. About the year 1824 some Delaware Indians who came from Indiana, were accustomed to camp in the timber bordering the Cahokia. In a year or so they moved westward. After 1835 a large body of Pottawatomies passed through the county on the way to their reservation.

Items Concerning Slavery

The ordinance of 1787 prohibited the introduction of slavery into the northwestern territory, of which Illinois was then a part. This ordinance was construed not to operate on the slaves already owned by the early French settlers. After the organization of the Indiana territory in whose government Illinois was included, laws were passed by the territorial legislature, permitting slaves to be introduced or indentured servants, and many thus came to the territory

Under this arrangement the owner went with his slaves before the clerk of the court of common pleas, and there the negroes agreed to serve their master a certain number of years and then become free. This agreement was to be made within thirty days after the slaves entered the territory, and if the slaves would not consent to the agreement they might be removed out of the territory within sixty days.

The following is a copy of a bill of sale of one of these indentured servants from Etienue Pensoneau of St. Clair county to Samuel Gillham of this county, with subse(iuent conveyances. First appears the record certificate of indenture and then the conveyance from Pensoneau to Gillham :

I, John Hay, Clerk of the County Court of St. Clair county, Illinois Territory, do hereby certify that Elienne Pensoneau and Frankey a negro woman, about the age of twenty-three, entered into an indenture an 1 agreement in the Clerk's office of tliesaid county of St. Clair, whereby tlie said Frankey agrees to serve the said Ktienne Pensoneau, the term of thirty years, and that the same was duly registered the !Hh of November, 1811.

Know all men by these presents that I, Etienne Pensoneau of the county of St. Clair, have this day a.ssigned and do hereby assign all my Kight, Title, and Interest in the within named Frankey to Samuel Gillham, and do moreover, warrant that the .said Frankey was a slave and my property before and at the time she indentured herself. In the above assignment made for and in consideration of the sum of five hundred dollars, currency of tlic United Slates, to me in hand paid by the said Samuel Gillham, and I do hereby assign overall my right and title to a child of .said Frankey, a girl of about one year old. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my baud and seal at Cahokia this 12th of August, 1815.

" Know all men by these presents that I, Sauiiicl Gillham, for, and in consideration of the sum of ii-JOO to me in hand paid, I do by llie.*e presents sign over all my right, title, interest, and demand of, in and to the within bill of sale, and also before the signing of these presents deliver one negro woman named Frankey and one negro girl named Faney unto David Ni.x, for him, the said David, to hold according to law as given under my hand and seal this 8th d.ay of October, 181G.

The early newspapers contain interesting advertisements in reference to runaway negroes. The following is taken from the Louisiana Gazette, published at St. Louis:

Forty Dollars Eeward

Ran away from the subscriber, on the 27th of May, a negro man named George, about 40 years old, .«ix feet, or upwards, high, coarse features, large btard and whiskers, speaks plain and with assurance, has a large vacancy between his fore teeth, but not with the loss of a tooth, yellow comple.xion, sorrily clothed, having none but those on him, viz. : A big coat of jeans, dyed brown, the under part of the sleeves a drab color. The public are hereby cautioned against dealing, or harboring him at their peril.

The above reward will be paid to any person who shall deliver the aforesaid negro to me, at Mr. John McDow's, six miles from St. Louis, near the Six Mile Prairie, Illinois Territory.

In 1819, in the same journal, appears an advertisement in which a reward of SlOO is ottered for a negro named Jim, who ran away from Chariton, Howard County, Mi souii Territory. He is described as being five feet, eight inches in height, well-featured, weighing one hundred and sixtyfive pounds, and being "middling black." He took with him a dog and gun. A reward of 8100 will be paid, by Charles Simmons, to any person securing said negro in any jail, if taken without the territory of Missouri, and S35 if taken within said territory."

In the Edwardsville tSpcctator, 1823, an advertisement offers for sale "An indentured negro man, twenty-three years of age with twenty-three years to serve, well-acquainted with farming, a pretty good rough shoemaker, has attended at a distillery, and possesses a good moral character."

The Madison Association to oppose the introduction of slavery in Illinois was formed at Edwardsville on the 28lh of June, 1823. The officers were : Curtis Blakeman, president, William Otwell and Benjamin Spencer, vice presidents ; Thomas Lippincott, secretary, and David Prickett, recording secretary. An address was drafted by Thomas Lippincott. Among other members appear the names of George Churchill, Amos Squire, John C. Riggin, George Smith, Charles Gear, Benjamin Stedman, Jarrot Duggar, William P. McKee, John T. Lusk, John Barber, and Thomas S. Slocura.

sheriff's NOTICE. There wa.s committed to my care July 17, 18.33, Primes, a black man, a runaway servant, aged about thirty-five years, live feet, eight or ten inches high, stout made. He acknowledged himself to be the properly of a Mr. William Poke, of Hardeman County, Tennessee, near Bolivar. The attention of the owner is directed to this notix:e, and the law under which the prisoner was taken up, which makes it my duty to sell the prisoner in six weeks from this d,ite unless the right to the property is established according to law. Nathaniel Buchma-ster, Sheriff of Madison County.

Remarkable Seasons And Changes Of Weather

In the winter of 1805 occurred what was known, for years afterward, as " the cold Friday." The weather suddenly became intensely cold, and caused the day to be long remembered by the early settlers.

This summer was also remarkable for the frequent thunder, which sometimes carae out of a clear sky. Many a day distant rumblings were heard, while not a cloud could be seen.

In the spring of 1820, the rainfalls were extremely heavy. All low and wet places were covered with water. During the hot months, a sickly, disagreeable effluvia filled the atmosphere, and in the following fall there was considerable sickness. INIauy of the wheat fields that year were affected with what was termed sick-wheat." Persons who ate bread made from it became sick with nausea. If a piece of the bread were thrown to a dog, he might snatch it, but would immediately drop it. Neither cattle, or swine, would eat the grain, and some farmers burned their stacks into the fields, deeming the harvest utterly worthless.

Great sickness prevailed in 1819, 1820, and 1821. The summer of 1820 was very hot; for weeks in succession the thermometer at St. Louis marking ninety six degrees in the shade. The fevers of that year were peculiarly malignant, rapid, and unmanageable. In the summer of 1821, the sickness was very general, but in a milder form.

The winter of 1820-21 was very severe, with considerable snow. Two men were found dead on the prairie, chilled to death by the cold. The spring and summer of 1821 were very wet, and the crops were not up to their usual standard. A great deal of the wheat was not worth reaping.

A violent storm in June, 1821, swept over a part of the country, destroying gardens, corn crops and killing chickens. The storm came from the northwest, and its track three or four miles in width. The hail, which accompanied it, ranged in size from a musket ball to a hen's egg, and broke all the windows on the side of the buildings from which the storm came, in Edwardsville.

A heavy frost occurred on the twentieth of May, 1822. On the twenty-first of September of the next 3'ear, a severe frost cut all the green corn blades, but the subsequent weather was dry, so that the corn ripened well, and was good for the next year's planting.

The year 1821 was very wet. Heavy rains fell frequently. Corn on flat lands was a total failure. This year the weavel destroyed the wheat after it was harvested. The next year, ]82r), there was a remarkable growth of thistles on the branch bottoms. The winter of 1830-31 was known as the " winter of the deep snow." The snow was of a depth of from two and a half to three feet, on a level. It drifted much, and was very destructive to peach trees. The weather was intensely cold. Both in 1381 and 1832, the early frosts so injured the corn as to entirely destroy its germinating properties, and render it w'orthless for almost any purpose. All the seed corn, immediately after those years, had to be procured from the counties further south. Daring the summer of 1831, there was frost every month except July.

A peculiar change in the weather happened in the early part of 1836- Six inches of snow which had fallen on a Saturday, the weather growing warmer, by Monday morning had melted into slush. It became suddenly cold, and in an hour the slush was frozen hard, and converted into one solid mass of ice. William Bevins had started to ride to a neighbor's when the change came, and finished his journey of two miles with great difficulty. On reaching his destination, he found his horse's tail as big as a barrel, and his legs as thick as a man's body, from the accumulation of frozen slush.

Some of the old settlers who survived till recent years, thought more rain fell in early days than was the case later. The creeks were seldom dry, and fish were usually plenty. There was also commonly a difficulty about planting crops on account of the long, wet spring. It is likely, however, that the difference results from the clearing away of the timber, which has tended to drain the laud quicker, so that with the usual rain-fall, fields can be worked earlier now iu the spring, than was possible forty or fifty years ago. It is said also that long drouths in the fall were not of so frequent occurrence, and that there were fewer frosts.

An earthquake occurred on the night of the sixteenth of November, 1811, and occasioned great excitement, and some dread among the people. The centre of violence was near New Madrid, Missouri, but the whole valley of the Mississippi seems to have been affected by the agitation. In the American Bottom, many chimneys were thrown down. The walls of the brick house of Samuel Judy were cracked. The shaking cau-ed the church bell in Cahokia to sound. Gov. Reynolds relates that his parents and the children were all sleeping in a log cabin, at the foot of the bluff, when the shock came. His father leaped from the bed, crying aloud, " The Indians are on the house. " The battle of Tippecanoe had recently been fought, and it was supposed the Indians would attack the settlements. " We laughed at the mistake of my father, " says Gov. Reynolds, " but soon found out it was worse than Indians. Not one in the family knew at that time it was an earthquake. The next morning another shock made us acquainted with it, so we decided it was an earthquake. The cattle came running home, bellowing with fear, and all animals were terribly alarmed on the occasion. Our house cracked and quivered so, we were fearful it would fall to the ground. It is said a shock of an earthquake was felt in Kaskaskia in 1804, but I did not perceive it. The shocks continued for years in Illinois." The earthquakes in the latter part of the year 1811, and the beginning of 1812, alarmed some people to the greatest possible extent, and very many persons, who had never thought before of being religious, joined the church, and began to pray, thinking the end of all things was at hand. Some of these remained true to their newly-adopted principles, but many, after the danger seemed to be oyer, relaxed to their old worldliuess.

Several other earthquakes have been observed, though none so violent as this. They seemed to occur every three or four years, aud invariably appeared to approach from the southwest. Joshua Dannagan stated that he witnessed one, about the year 1831), strike a forest. For a moment the leaves seemed to wilt as under a strong heat, but soon resumed their original appearance. The same authority is given for the statemant that thay nnst frequently came at night, and were always accompanied by a low moaning noise.

The pioneer method of navigating the Mississippi was by keel-boats, flat boats, mackiuaw boats or batteaux, and Indian canoes. The keel boats were used for conveying merchandise up the rivers to the various trading points, and returned laden with peltries, honey, and beeswax. The mackiuaw boats were used from the mountains and up river ports, down ttream, but were never used against the current. Flat boats were used in floating the stock and produce of the farmers to the new Orleans market, and they, like the mackinaw boats, were sold or left when the cargo was disposed of. The business of running flat boats to New Orleans was dangerous and precarious. The distance was great and accidents and casualties numerous. Perhaps fully one-third of all the boats that started from Illinois on the trip were wrecked, or lost in some way, before reaching their destination.

1803, passed the winter at the mouth of \yood river. The party consisted of nine young men, Kentuckiaus, fourteen volunteers from the United States army, two French watermen, an interpreter and hunter, and a black servant of Col. Clark's. lu addition a corporal aud six soldiers, and nine watermen were engaged to accompany the expedition as far as the Mandan nation, this side of which attacks were expected from hostile Indians. The transports consisted of one keel boat, fifty-five feet long, carrying one large square sail and twenty-two oars, and two pirogues, one of six and the other of seven oars. The expedition left its encampment at four o'clock in the afternoon of the 14th of May,

The first steamboat which ascended the Mississippi, above the mouth of the Ohio, was the Gen. Pike, commanded by Captain Jacob Reid, which lauded in St. Louis, at the foot of Market street, on the 2d of August, 1817. The next was the Constitution which arrived on the second of the following October. The first steamboat to enter the Missouri river was the Independence, which left St. Louis on the loth of May, 1819. In the spring of 1819 Col James Johnson, of Kentucky, with three steamboats, loaded with United States soldiers and army supplies, landed at the farm of Isom Gillham, just below the mouth of the Missouri river. He had a contract with the government to transport soldiers and supplies to St. Peters (now St. Paul) on the Mississippi and to Council Bluffs on the Missouri. He had little ditticulty in goiug up the Jlissiosippi, but in his attempt to ascend the Missouri he found trouble. The river was low, no pilot was acquainted with the channel, and after three weeks of toil St. Charles, only twenty miles above the mouth, was the farthest point reached. The expedition was given up, and Col Johnson returned to Mr. Gillham's, where the steamboats lay in state, exciting the admiration of all visitors. People came from the surrounding country for many miles expressly to see these boats. Large warehouses were built on Mr. Gillham's farm, in which the provisions were stored, and here also were the soldiers quartered. After a time, a number of keel boats, of light draft, were purchased, and in these the provisions aud soldiers were carried to Council Bluffs.