Rock Island County, Illinois - The whole text, 1908 (part 3 of 16)

By order of the War Department, in July, 1863, Rock Island was made a military prison for the confinement of Confederate prisoners. During the same month, Captain Charles A. Reynolds, Assistant Quartermaster United States Army, arrived, and commenced building a prison and barracks. The first soldiers for guard duty arrived November 2, 1863. Lieutenant Colonel Schaffner arrived on the 19th of November and took command. On the 22d, Colonel Richard Henry Rush arrived and took command of the post, and Colonel A. J. Johnson was appointed in charge of the prisoners. The first installment of prisoners, taken at the battle of Lookout Mountain, arrived from Chattanooga, December 3, 1863; and from that time until the close of the war a large number of prisoners were kept under a strong guard upon the island. The whole number of prisoners confined here was 12,215; the number of deaths was 1,960. About 500 died of small-pox, many of scurvy, and others of various diseases, chiefly pneumonia. They were put into rough boxes and buried in trenches. The corner-posts of the cemetery where their ashes repose, are composed of cannon taken from the Confederates, planted with their muzzles in the grotmd, and strung around with chains. Within this enclosure sleep nearly 2,000 Confederate dead. At a few of the graves, friends of the deceased have erected plain headstones, and placed on them a few simple inscriptions. There is also near the head of the island, a Union soldiers' cemetery where 310 graves are enclosed by a neat fence.

Historic Rock Is L A N D C 0 U N T Y.

Major C. P. Kingsbury, a well known and competent oflicer of the Ordnance Department, was assigned as the first commandant and under his direction, a year later, a storehouse was erected at the lower or extreme western end of the Arsenal, which, with its tower and clock, has since been a landmark and an object of interest, not merely to the inhabitants of the three cities, but also to all travelers on the main line of the Rock Island road.

In 1S65 General Thomas .T. Rodman was assigned to the command, and followed in 1871 by General D. W. Flagler, who remained commandant until 1SS6. To these two officers is mainly due the general plan of the Arsenal as it exists today, with nearly all its principal buildings; their conception of the disposition and arrangement of the ten great shops, with the various subsidiary buildings, was an immense advance over the stereotyped plan of all arsenal construction of preceding years, and in subsequent developments, in response to great demands upon the Arsenal's resources, has proved most admirably adapted for the purpose for which designed.

These plans as first prepared by Rodman, developed by Flagler, and followed with onl^- slight modifications by their successors, have resulted in the erection, principally of Joliet stone, of a magnificent equipment of shops, storehouses, barracks, quarters and numerous subsidiary buildings.

The shops comprise ten stone buildings sixty feet wide, built around three sides of a rectangular central court, with fronts two hundred and ten feet and wings three hundred feet long: eight of the shops are of four stories, the other two of only one, but providing in all over thirty acres of floor space. Seven of these buildings are now occupied by machinery, the other three by the raw material for manufacture and by finished stores. There are also two large storehouses and numerous other ,,inall buildings for boilers for the heating plant and for lumber, coal. oil. etc., for officer's quarters, soldiers' barracks and for the many other necessities of a large government manufacturing establislmient.

One of these storehouses replaced an earlier structure destroyed by fire with its contents \ras only completed in the spring of 190.5. It is most recently erected of all the main buildings of the Arsenal.

For many years the commandant's quarters and three others of stone have provided accommodations for the assistant officers, but within the last few years two attractive biuldings of more modern design, one frame and the other of yellow Ijrick. have been erected at the eastern end of Terrace Road, forming a most attractive addition to the residential district of the Arsenal, and diu'limthe present year, the old buildings, relics of the Civil War. used for many years as a hospital and as stables, have been replaced by attractive and convenient modern structures.

In May. 1886, Colonel T. G. Baylor. Ordnance Department, succeeded General Flagler as commandant. He was followed three years later by Colonel J. M. Whitte more and he, in 1892. by General A. R. Buffington. who continued in command for five years. Under these officers the main Iniildings were carried to completion, manufactures prosecuted at a moderate scale, and under the latter, the present magnificent bridge from the Arsenal to Davenport erected.

The island is connected with the three neighboring cities by bridges built and owned by the Government and maintained and guarded by the Arsenal, and by its own track with the railways that reach them. The bridge from the .Arsenal to the City of Davenport is the third bridge provided for railway and subsequently for general traffic. Of the first nothing now remains but a vine-covered stone pier about a quarter of a mile above the present structure. It was the pioneer bridge across the Mississippi river from its iiidutli to its source and was completed fifty-two years ago, being used by the Rock Ishind railroad until October, 1872, when a bridge upon the present location was finished. Twenty-four years later this latter bridge, having proved insufficient for the traffic to which it was subjected, the present magnificent structure was finished. Its total length is 1 ,550 feet, divided into five spans and one draw. It is double decked, with a double railroad track above and double street car track and wagon bridge below. The traffic across this bridge is now tuuch greater than formerly and is an indication of the growth of population in the cities of Rock Island and Davenport, which it connects. Now it is at the rate of about 40,000 engines annually, over 80,000 passenger cars, and 340,000 freight cars. In addition over 450,000 teams and nearly 1,000,000 pedestrians.

Only about 1,000 steamboats passed up and the same n\imber down and the traffic through the draw of barges and rafts has decreased year by year.

A trolley line also crosses the bridge and is traversed during the year by over 100,000 street cars. A branch of this line was some years ago extended from Fort Armstrong Avenue, crossing the western end of the island, for about a mile up to the shops and extending beyond across the branch of the river at the south of the island to the neighboring City of Rock Island. It was built in response to petitions from Arsenal workmen for their accommodation and tinder a special revocable license granted bj' the Secretary of War for that purpose. It is not available for general traffic from Davenport to Rock Island, nor from either city to the Arsenal, being reserveil solely for use of the employes.

In March, 1897, Captain Stanhope E. Blunt, Ordnance Department, was appointed commandant and through successive promotions to Major, Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel, the latter grade being given in June,

Colonel Blunt's administration has been marked by great expansion in the Arsenal's facilities for manufacturing war material; over $1,200,000 worth of modern machinery being installed in the shops, and the power transmission system changed from the antiquated wire rope transmission of the water power to a modern hydro-electric plant of amply capacity for the Arsenal's needs.

The island, containing nearly 1,000 acres, is irregular in shape, about two and one-half miles long and three-fourths of a mile across at its widest part.

The main channel of the Mississippi ri\'('r passes between the island and the Iowa shore, a much narrower branch separating it from the Illinois bank. Across this smaller stream, a short distance above the shops, a masonry dam has been constructed producing, in consequence of the reach of rapids opposite and above the island, a water power of ample capacity; having a head of from seven and one-half to eleven feet, according to the stage of the river, and on the dam, operated by twenty turbines, have been installed three alternating current generators of 1,650 kilowat total capacity, with the accompanying exciters, switchboard, etc., required for their operation.

The building housing this installation, with generators, shafting and all other incidental machinery, has licen completed, not only in a substantial but in a highly ornamental manner, rendering the power house not only one of the most interesting objects for visitors to the Arsenal, but also from its appearance one of the most attractive.

At present nearly 3,000 horse-power is thus provided, which can be increased, if it should ever prove necessary, by utilizing penstocks on the dam now occupied, and installing the corresponding additional electrical machinery.

power and electrical transmission, and the development of the power plant to its present really magnificent condition, permitting the greatest economy, with also the greatest facility and convenience of operation, is one of the pruicipal distinguishing features of the Rock Island Arsenal.

Several years ago Congress made a preliminary appropriation for the necessary machinery for manufacture of small arms at the Arsenal, following it at the next session with a sufficient sum to permit the installation of a plant that should turn out about two hundred and fifty finished rifles per day.

The complete establishment of the plant required a material increase in the power provided and also its transmission to the new armory: it also included the completion of three of the large shops, with elevators, a steam heating plant, lavatory conveniences, work benches for employes, rooms for foremen and in.spectors, and the introduction of the many minor but essential appliances requisite for economical and efficient operation, including even tunnels connecting the basement floors of the different shops, which afford passage for the heating pipes, fuel oil pipes, electric power and lighting wires, and for small trolley cars for transportation Isetween biuldings of the various components of of the rifles in the different stages of their manufacture.

In this small-arms plant and in the shops of the southern row over 2,400 machines of a great variety are disposed, with the shafting for their operation and the necessary benches, and the other numerous appliances requisite for their occupancy by workmen. Operation of the shops upon the scale now required for the manufacture of gun carriages, equipments, small arms, etc., employs at present about 2,000 men, at a monthly charge for wages of from $125,000 to $130,000. If compared with its operation ten years ago it will be observed that four times as many men are now employed as at the earlier date and that the monthly wages are about five times greater. The annual tonnage of receipts and issues is also five times greater than in 1897. The total expenditures at the Arsenal in the fiscal year 1897 for all purposes amounted to $68,'?, 000; while for the last three fiscal years it has averaged nearly $4,000,000 annually

The Arsenal upon the scale now operated provides the soldiers' ordnance equipment for an army of 60,000 men, and is besides constantly adding to the reserve supply. By merely taking on additional employes it could, without delay, increase its output to meet the demands of an army of half a milli(m men, and by adding additional machinery, for which necessary space and power has been provided and its disposition arranged for, and also the employes for its operation, this output could be still further immensely increased.

Besides the saddle in all its parts, beginning with the lumber used in the saddletree, the bridle, saddlebags, rifle scabbard, halter, horse-brush, cartridge box, saber belt, and many other articles included under the general designation of infantry, cavalry and horse equipment, are also made. The haversack, canteen, cup, meat can, knife, fork and spoon ^ of duck and other material, which constitute the soldiers' more personal equipment, and of metal the bits, spurs, picket pin, etc., which he also uses, are included in the manufactures.

Many sets of artillery harness are annually made and also the numerous parts and general supplies pertaining thereto. Also pack outfits for mountain artillery by means of which gims, their carriages and ammunition are carried on mule back.

The Arsenal has recently completed some six-inch barbette carriages for seacoast forts and for four years past has been regularly engaged in the manufacttn-e of a large number of the new three-inch field gim carriages, model of 1902, with the accompanying limbers, caissons, battery wagons, and tbcir tools, implements, etc. This is of itself a most important work, requiring the services of a number of the best mechanics, and would alone be deemed elsewhere a sufficient task for many an establishment, though at Rock Island it comprises as stated only a portion of the maniifacturing work.

In order that the field artillery carriages manufactured at the Arsenal may be tested before issue to develop any unknown defects if they should exist, all such material is proof fired at grounds specially laid out for that purpose at the upper or eastern end of the island. This included a large timber and sand butt into which the projectiles are shot, and which is of such dimensions that they cannot emerge therefrom. The many additional instruments for determining the velocity of the projectile, velocity of recoil of parts of the carriage, or pressure of the powder charge in the bore, and other features necessary to give the constructing officer of ordnance the information which he needs in designing other material, or in verifying the correctness of the design undergoing proof, are also installed in special structures erected at the proving ground for their reception. With these buildings is included an obsen-ation tower permitting by its use a river range for firing up the river of approximatel.y 6.500 yards and enabling these carriages to be tested and proof fired under an elevation.

The Arsenal also makes the wooden targets of different designs and all the paper targets, steel silhouette frames, and pasters used in target practice, as well as the insignia indicating the soldiers' classification in markmanship, and the various insignia on saddle cloths, rosettes on bridles, and similar ornamental jewelers' work.

In its armory shops the daily output for several years past has been from one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five finished magazine rifles per daj', an industry in itself of greater magnitude than that of the army's

Besides its manufactures the Arsenal is also the distributing point to all parts in the middle west for the product of other arsenals and of the private establishments from which the government purchases.

The total cost of the Arsenal from its establishment to July 1, 1907, including the erection of the permanent buildings, the acquisition, development and later improvement of the water power, the large bridge across the Mississippi, and the smaller ones to the Illinois shore, and the purchase and installation of the machinery in the shops, under the different commandants is as follows:

During the first twenty-five years, or up to the conclusion of General Flagler's administration, construction of buildings, bridges, roads, etc., and the earlier steps in development of water power formed the principal work, the very limited amount of machinery which had been installed, being operated to only a moderate extent and the disbursements, including wages, being mainly in connection w'ith building construction.

In the second period, continuing until about the time of the Spanish War, construction except for the rebuilding of the bridge from the Arsenal to Davenport, nearly ceased, while the manufacturing operations of the Arsenal continued at a slightly increasing but still very moderate extent.

inchiding that of small arms, and accompanying expansion of plant, with some incidental building operations, commencing in the latter part of 1897, during the first year of the administration of Colonel Blunt, slightly before the earlier days of the Spanish War, and continuing to the present date.

Senator Allison, to whose faith and interest in the Arsenal must be largely ascribed the generous appropriations granted during many years past for its construction and development, is quoted as saying that "Rock Island Arsenal, during the few months of the late Spanish War, more than returned in advantage to the country the great cost of its construction; and unquestionably in a war of any magnitude and diu-ation this cost would again be repaid many fold.

The Arsenal from March, 1897 to August, 1907, was commanded by Colonel Stanhope E. Blunt, Ordnance Department. The other officers are now Majors Babbitt, Thompson and Burr; Captains Gallup and Hillman and Contract Surgeon Craig. The garrison is a detachment of one hundred soldiers of the Ordnance Department,

Commencing .in the spring of 1907, the superstructure of the old truss bridge, over Sylvan Water, connecting the Island with the Illinois shore, was removed, for the preparation of the new viaduct concrete bridge. The old four stone piers, with two abutments, were used in the new substructure, and owing to the girder stvle of construction of the new bridge, fo\ir new concrete piers were built. The new viaduct bridge was designed by Ralph Modjeski, the noted architectural engineer, and built under the supervision of the war department ; the contractors being Bayne and Hewett of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Its construction represents an expenditure by the government of $12.5,000, with S1600 additional, for widening the causeway, between the bridge and Fort Armstrong Avenue, and bridge sidewalks. The Tri-City Railway Company, assiiming the cost of the brick cemented driveway, trolley poles, and new tracks, amounting to $10,000; making a total cost of .SI 36,600. The new bridge was opened for street car and passenger traffic December 12. 1907; opened for general traffic, December 18, 1907, and was accepted by the government, January 16, 1908.

The incline approach from the City of Rock Island side consists of the original stone wall one hundred and twenty-four feet long; the new concrete wall, .joining same, extending to railroad track abutment, is one hundred and seventy feet long. The bridge proper consists of eleven spans, making a length of 801.1 feet, and total length with approach approximately 1096 feet. The solidity of the entire structure is evident in every detail.

Rock Island County lies upon the western boundarj' of the great agricultiiral prairie state of Illinois. This boundary, the majestic Mississippi River, is bordered by bluffs that give a rugged and diversified surface to this river county. Rock Island County is notpbly a river county, for it stretches for almost sixty miles in an irregular strip along the Father of Waters. It bIso has for its boundary line (for the upper half of the comity) upon the southeast another famous stream, Rock River. The third natural boundary is Meredosia Slough or creek which separates Rock Island from Whiteside County for some miles on the comity's northeastern portion. The county is separated into two somewhat compact sections or portions by the Rock River which crosses the county on its way to union with the Mississijjpi.

The northern section of the county has unusual topographical interest, being almost entirely upland of an elevation of fifty to one hundred feet above the general level of the rivers on either side. This wall of bluffs varies greatly in outline and picturesqueness. It is of gentle declivity at times and at others of rugged abruptness. The bluffs along the Mississippi follow the river in general and for the most part rise from the water's edge. A few miles above the present locations of Moline and Rock Island the bhiff line recedes from the river, and an alluvial plain of richness and gentle slope is formed. The bluffs which form the other side of this plateau of the upper county section are manifest in rugged beauty along the north bank of the

Rock River near the location of Milan. The lines of bluff and stream diverge not far east of Milan, leaving a broad stretch of alluvial acres. The same relative location of bluff and stream and plain is maintained after the Meredosia Slough is reached. From this creek the bluffs turn west and reach the Mississippi near Cordova. Men of research say that it is altogether probable that in the early days of the great river its path lay, through the Meredosia Slough and the bed and valley of Rock River. If so, the portion of Rock Island County under consideration, at one time was upon the western or Iowa side of the Father of Waters. This elevated tract of the upper county was originally well covered with undergrow'th and scattering timber. Its surface is fairly rough but is generally continuous except where a depression called Pleasant Valley cuts across the upland region from Hampton on the Mississippi to Carbon Cliff on Rock River. The farms in Pleasant Valley are considered among the best of the upper county. The elevated region has been farmed many years and has been made to jdeld productively, especially in cereals and fruits. The bottom lands are of surpassing fertility. Along the rivers there are some sandy tracts that are unfitted for tillage, but in the main the farmers of this portion of the county have greatly prospered. The southern portion of Rock Island County is a fairly symmetrical rectangle thirty-three miles from east to west. It has for its northern boundary the Mississippi and Rock Rivers. Its western boundary is also the Mississippi wliicli tiiriistothesouthwanl at Muscatine on the Iowa shore or just west of Dnir3''s landing; on the Illinois side. Merner County lies to the south and Henry County to the east of this' portion of Rock Island County.

This section comprises the greater part of the excellent farming lands of the county. There are alluvial bottom lands, rolling upland prairies and bluff lands of less agricultural value. The prairies responded most quickly to the efforts of the early settler and have for many years shown the most beautiful farms in the county. The alluvial lands were some what swampy or boggy in part and did not yield well until modern methods of drainage were employed. Along the south side of the Rock River bottom bluffs appear, the range rising abruptly in places to an average height of more than one hundred feet. At Andalusia the bluffs approach the Mississippi River which washes tlieir base almost to the southern line of the county, except in a few places where an uncultivated low bottom intervenes, seamed with sloughs. This range of bluffs is cut up with hollows and ravines and is covered with a moderate growth of timber, principally oak. The rough land extending back into the highland for several miles is tlie least vahiable portion of the county for agriculture.

Rock River is the principal stream within the borders of the county and furnishes a water power second only to the Mississippi. It rises in Wisconsin about midway between the Wisconsin River and Lake Michigan. Its course in Illinois is almost one hundred and eighty miles long. Its chief tributary, the Pecatonica, discharges its waters below the northern boundary of the state. The valley of the Rock River is one of the most healthful and wealthy sections of Illinois. After forming a portion of the boundary between Henry and Rock Island Counties it di\ides the latter into its northern and southern portions and empties into the Mississippi about three miles below the Citv of Rock Island. In the last

Geology

The soil of the Rock River and Meredosia bottoms is the rich alluvial deposit that is found in the neighborhood of all streams in this part of the Mississippi basin. The small portion of the county lying north of the bluff line is level sand prairie. This level stretch assists the imagination in calling up a vision of a mightier Mississippi than the one with which the earliest inhabitants of the valley were acquainted. In those earlier ages of the earth's history when the river divided at this ]3oint with its main channel in the slouffh and Rock River bed it was miles in width. This prairie was a broad hearlland and bar. The bluff buttressed upland of the northern cotmty was a noble island rising from the waters of the swiftly rolling, magnificent river. The sand brought down by the current lodged against the head of this great island and the sand plain was slowly formed, just as the bars are now being formed against every obstruction in the river in these days.

This great stream which has left its history written on bluff and bar and pictured in sculptured bedrock and drifted cairn has no more perfect record than its old shore line marked high along its bluffs. The town of Cordova is built almost entirely upon a terrace which was once the bed of the river. This terrace is fifty feet above the present low water mark of the Mississippi. This reminder and evidence of the ancient river's majesty can be traced along the slough and Rock River bluffs until that river empties into the Mississippi.

Evidences of glacial drift are almost absent in this county. Genuine drift gravel and boulders are scarce. The soil of the bluffs and hills is a marly deposit kncjwn as ''loe.ss" which overlies blue clays and sands. Farther from the river the "loess" gives place to fine luminated drift clays such as cover most Illinois high prairies and upland barrens.

The surface soil is underlaid by foundations of stone nf successive geologic ages. At the eastern end of the county near Hamilton the upper and more shaley beds of the Hamilton limestone first appear in outcroppines along the Mississippi bank. Still heavier outcrops show near Moline. Here the stratum is thicker, is brown in color, and is fossil bearing. Farther west near Rock Island and Milan the Hamilton is thicker, bedded with more irregular stratification, the color bluish white or brown on recent fracture, and the rock of firm texture and density.

The island in the Mississippi known as Rock Island is a great mass of this Hamilton limestone, chiseled into shape by the water. covered with eomparativelv thin soil and splendidly wooded. This island is rich in indications of primitive conditions in this section as it has stretche? of forest that have been allowed to retain their natural beauty and charm.

The Devonian limestone of this county have been divided by scientists for lithological reasons into three divisions namely: the upper, the middle and the lower; each marked by its distinguishing characteristics. The upper-most division is limestone of gray or brown color, is rough and coarsegrained, and filled with the shells and corals that mark the Hamilton beds. The deposit is from thirty to forty feet in thickness. The middle division is made up of argillaceous and calcareous shales of equal thickness, this rock being filled with characteristic Hamilton fossils. The most easily noted outcropping of this division is between Rock Island and Moline where in quarrying a perpendicular space of thirty feet has been exposed. Under this division lies the third division which consists of a fine grained compact stone, of gray or dove color. This extends below the river level and is of an unknown thickness. It has been penetrated by borings to the depth of one hundred and seventy-five feet.

This Devonian limestone of the third division forms the bed of Mississippi and Rock Rivers in this region. Rock River from Milan almost to the Mississippi is paved with what seem to be massive blocks of this compact stone irregular in size and contour and worn to smoothness by the ceaseless flow of the rapid current. The depth of this lithic stream bed has not been determined. At Sears' mill which formerly stood below Black Hawk's Watch Tower, rock was quarried from the stone floor of the channel to the depth of twenty feet, and it is probable that they were only upon the upper surface of the formation. .\t Cleveland near the eastern line of the county this same rock appears in the bed of the stream, so that it is probable that the bed of Rock River in its course along and through Rock Island Coimty is formed of the Hamilton limestone at times obscured and overlaid by a mud deposit made possible by irregularities in the formation and moder-- ate river fall. The limestone of the Rock River bed shows few fossils.

It is this same division of the Hamilton limestone that forms the bed of the Mississippi throughout the sixty miles that this stream washes the shores of Rock Island County on the north and west. It created the terrors for the early navigators by its "hog-backs" and rocky chains thrown across the rapids in their sixteen miles of declivity and rapid rush of the mighty current. From the City of Rock Island to the western border of the county there are but few places where the bed of the stream is so near the surface of the water as to cause trouble to the rivermen. It is an alternation of stretches of sand, mud and rockj' bottom.

At Andalusia excellent building stone has been quarried from this lowest member of the Hamilton group. The layers are comparatively thin. The stone is fossiliferous and of a dove or light blue color.

Historic Rock Island Co U N T Y.

Island County is the Xiapiara deposit which outcrops heavily from Cordova to Port Byron. A little south of Hampton it disappears l)eneath the outliers of the coal measures. At Cordova this limestone has a tough consistency and hornstone appearance, differing in these respects from the same formation as it appears farther north along the river bank. All the upland region of the upper county lying above Pleasant Valley is underlaid by this Niagara limestone. The upper soil and upland clay is cut thro^igh by the streams and in the beds of these small waterways the limestone appears.

This Niagara limestone has been commercially valuable through its burning into excellent quicklime which is strong, white and ]nire. At Cordova and Port Byron there have been for many years extensive works for the manufacture of lime and this has found its way on its merits into the markets of this country The Hamilton limestone has also been found very available for limeburning and great quantities of this raw material have been converted into merchantable lime. The limestone deposits of Rock Island County have furnished inexhaustible quantities of building stone to the quarryman and builder.

Another lithic mine of wealth to the settlers of Rock Island County has been the deposit of sandstone which outcrops in the lower part of the county. For a half century a quarry in a ravine midway between Millan and .Andalusia has furnished building stone or rock for heavy masonry. The stone is dark colored and iron stained and comes from a stratum about ten feet thick. This deposit seems to be available by removing the soil deposit at any point along the bluffs to the west line of the county. Near Copper Creek in Drury Township there is a quarry which has supplied the demand for this material for walls which has proved durable and reliable where it has been \ised. After many years of use it seems to be unaffected by the elements.

The clays of the upper part of the coimty have been used for commercial purposes. There are unlimited deposits of material for the manufacture of drain tile and this has become an important industry at various points, the most important point for manufacturing and shipping being Carbon Cliff on account of excellence of clay and convenience to railroads. The vein of potter's clay which also appears in this section of Rock Island County has been worked to advantage. There has been a pottery in successful operation at Hampton for many years.

In this series of geological notes naturally belongs reference to a remarkable group of mineral springs known as the "Rinnah Wells" springs. They have been known from Indian days to have medicinal properties and some of them were long ago improved by stone curbs and facilities for obtaining the water in perfect purity. The sediment of the water caused liy natural or artificial evaporation is a whitish mineral salt of pronounced and rather agreeable soda taste. These springs have also been called the "White Sulphur Springs", also the "Soda Springs" and through the similarity of the waters to those famous ones of Saratoga and their marked "medicinal value it was prophecied years ago that a great resort would some day be built uj) near Andalusia. These expectations have so far been unrealized, the use of the w-aters having been limited to local converts to their good qualities. It may yet be that Andalusia with its romantic name and waters of healing may yet attract the attention of the world and that this beautifully located village may be the mecca of tourists and healthseekers.

The variety in the topography of Rock Island County has made possible scenery of commanding beaut}^ Early voyagers were impressed with the charm of situation of Rock Island, the splendid island surrounded by the bright waters of the Mississippi and bounded by the outlying bluffs like unto a spacious amphitheatre changing with the seasons from the charm of green clad eminence to russet autumn foliage splashed with vermilion tints and then to sno>v-elad winter hills. Many chapters have been written of this section. One extract will be sulficient to give an idea of all. Governor Reynolds in his "Life and Times" has this paragraph: "The scenery about Rock Island is not surpassed by any in the whole length of the Mississippi. It seems as though Nature had made an effort in forming this beautiful and picturesque country. Rock Island itself presents a grand and imposing appearance, rising out of the waters of the Mississippi a solid rock with many feet elevation. It is several miles long, and three-fourths of a mile wide. The rocks are covered with a fertile soil. The river washes around its base with a rapid cm-rent of pure and limpid water and Rock River, a few miles south, is seen in the distance, forcing its way with great rapidity over the rocky rapids into the Father of Waters. The countrj' around it is interspersed with beautiful groves of timber, which give to the scene a sweetness and a beauty rarely equaled. The blue hills in the distance, directing the course of the river, are seen on the north and the south to rise with gentle slopes from the water to considerable elevations, and the valley between, embracing the river is some miles in extent, presenting a variety of surface and a beauty of landscape never surpassed." This scenic beauty Rock Island County naturally shares with the part of Iowa lying on the opposite bank of the Mississippi- There is however one location of great natural beauty soleh^ within the boundaries of this county. It is the rugged upland formed on one hand by the bluffs of the Mississippi and on the other by the precipitous bluffs of the Rock River. From countless elevations on this tract there are views of surpassing beauty. The eye is challenged by striking declivities of solid rock; rests admiringly upon stretches of woods that border winding streams of bright and limpid water and rests peacefully upon widely stretching farmlands marked by hedgerows and clumps of trees. Rising abruptly for a height of two hundred feet above the water level is the eminence known as Black Hawk's Watch Tower. From the crest of this noble hill a panorama of striking beauty is unrolled before the eye of the visitor. To the west stretches the line of bluffs that overlooks the confluence of the waters of the Mississippi and Rock Rivers. To the southwest one can see the location of Black Hawk's village. To the south in the foregroimd lies the town of Milan to which the elevation and distance give picturesquene.ss. In the immediate foreground are the four channels of Rock River spanned by railroad and wagon bridges, the intervening islands covered with groves of stately elms and between the shimmering and gliincins: waters hurry over rocky rapids. The neighborhood of the Watch Tower, as it is familiarly known, is rich in Indian legends through its having been the location of one of the largest Intlian settlements of the continent frotn the time when tradition begins. Black Hawk's Watch Tower takes its name from this Indian chief and great Sac warrior; he having watched from its siunmit the approach of the troops sent against him by Governor Reynolds at the beginning of the short, sharp and decisive conflict known in history as Black Hawk's War. The Watch Tower is easily accessible from Rock Island, Moline, Davenport and Milan by electric lines and is visited annually by many thousand tourists and residents of this locality. A handsome inn crowns the elevation and the various attractions of a modern amusement park furnish recreation for the multitude.

Coal Me.Asures

"outliers", overlaying; and resting unconformably upon the Devonia and Upper Silurian limestone, as far north as the vicinity of Port Bvron, where it finally terminates. The most northerly point where a workable bed of coal has been found on this side of the river, is at Rapids City, where the seam is from four to five feet thick, and OA-erlies the Niagara limestone, with only a few feet of thickness of -shales and fire clay between.

Two miles east of Hampton, where coal shafts ha\-e been sunk, are good seams from four to five feet thick. The Carbon Cliff mines were the earliest XAorked on the west side of Rock River. For many years extensive coal operations were carried on at this point but the limited supply of coal finally became so nearly e.xhausted that mining here was discontinued.

The triangular piece of elevated land east of the City of Rock Island, bounded by I'leasant "\'alley, Rock River and the Mississippi, is a mass of coal materials, resting upon a

.\11 that part of tb.e county, south and east of the Mississippi and the Rock River ranges of bluffs, is imderlaid by the coal measures. In every part of the county the coal measures are covered with a deep deposit of drift-clays. At ;\Iilan, Carbon Cliff, and east of the City of Rock Island, this drift clay is from forty to seventy-five feet in thickness.

South of Rock River the coal measures are more regular and more extensively developed than in the northern part of the county. The coal mining industry in this county has become most important. The thickness of the coal seems to vary from three and a half to five and a half feet and is reached at a depth of from forty to one hundred and twenty feet. Coal is raised at the principal mines by steam power. The active operations in mining have greatly enhanced the value of contiguous lands, and led to the introduction of railroads as a special means of transportation.

In the early historv of the State of Illinois, all the territory lying north and west of the Illinois River formed one county, under the name of Pike County. Prior to the organization of Rock Island County, it was attached to Jo Daviess County.

By an act of the legislature, approved February 9, 1831, which after fixing the boundaries, and naming the county, provided for the election of certain count\- officers, whenever it should contain three hundred and fifty inhabitants; and that after such election, said County of Rock Island, should be considered as organized. Said boimdaries were as follows: Beginning in the middle of the channel of the Mississippi River, on the north line of Township 15, north, and west of the Fourth Principal Meridian; thence running eastwardly on said line to the Fourth Principal Meridian; thence north to the middle of the channel of Rock River; thence up the middle of said channel to the Marais d'Osier Slough; thence along the middle of said slough to the middle of the channel of the Mississippi River; thence down along the middle of said channel to the place of beginning.

On the first daj' of March, 1833, a further act was passed, and three commissioners were appointed to select and locate a permanent seat of justice for Rock Island County; and when selected to be called Stephenson, in commemoration of Colonel Benjamin Stephenson; also by said act the citizens of Rock Island County were authorized to elect on the first Monday of July, 1833. three county commissioners, one sheriff, three justices of the peace (to reside in separate districts), three constables, and one coroner.

An election was held July 5, 1833, at the house of John Barrel, in Farnhamsburg, near the point where the south end of the present south bridge of the Rock Island Railroad is now located.

At this meeting, which was duly held at the time and place appointed, sixty-five citizens were present and took part. Joseph Danforth, Joel Wells, Sr.. and William H. Simms served as judges, and Joseph Conway and W. Thompson as clerks. Those honored by election to the county commissionership were: George W. Harlan, John W. Spencer and Colonel George Davenport. Benjamin F. Pike was made sheriff; Levi Wells, coroner; George W. Harlan, J. B. Patterson, and Joe Wells. Jr.. justices of the peace; George V. Miller, Huntington Wells, and Edward Corbin. constables. These were the pioneer office-holders of Rock Island County.

The covmty commissioners met at John Barrel's and organized three days later. Joseph Conway was made clerk and Joseph Wells. Sr., treasurer and assessor. As there was neither count}- seat or am- count}' building, the commissioners ordered that sessions of court and general elections be held at the house of John Barrel in Farnhamsburg. Asaph Wells and Joel Wells. Jr., were appointed supervisors of roads at the March term, 1834.

At this time the settlers had to depend upon Fort Armstrong for mail facilities. The matter of going to the postoffice became burdensome, as it included ferriage to the island. This expense added to the postage of twenty-five cents on each letter became grievous and the settlers petitioned the postmaster-general for a postoffice to be established at the convenient and useful home of John Barrel. This was done in 1834 and Josej)h Conway made postmaster.

In June, 1834, the county was divided for convenience into rwo voting precincts, these being denominated the "Upper" and the "Lower." The boundaries of the Upper Precinct commenced at the mouth of the Marai.s d 'Osier Slough and continued as far west as Henry McNeal's house. The voters in this territory assembled at the home of \\'alter Phillips. The remainder of the county formed the Lower Precinct and the voting place was fixed at the house owned by Davenport and Farnham in Farnhamsburg. The first judges appointed in the Upper Precinct were Asaph Wells. James Haskell and Thomas L. Galpin; in the I,o\ver, Joel Wells, Sr., William Brashar and William Tarr.

February 12, 183.5, the legislature passed an act to establish the county seat of Rock Island County. The con.missioners ap))ointed under this law, on the 8th daj- of June 1835, located and established the town of Stephenson,and the county seatof Rock Island Comity. The commissioners were George Davenport, John W. Spencer, and John Vanatta.

B}- order of the county commissioners court, in November, 1835, the records and courts of the county were removed from Farnhamsburg to Stephenson.

The report of the commissioners was made June 8, 1835. This document ordered "that Charles R. Bennet be appointed to survey the town of Stephenson, in Rock Island County, as soon as practible." A further provision of the report was to the effect that "one-third of the town lots be offered for sale on the 11th of July next, and that the same be published three times in the St. Louis Republican, the .'Vlton Spectator, the Northwestern Gazette and the Galena Advertiser."

The town of Stephenson was therefore laid out by Charles R. Bennet and the plat recorded July 10, 1835. This recorded plat bears the certificate of Joseph Conway, clerk to the county couunissioners. The town comprised within its modest limits twenty blocks in addition to the one set aside for a public square upon which the county buildings were to be erected and upon which the handsome modern court house now stands. The lots were most generous, as befitted a time when land was cheap. They measured eighty feet front and had a depth of one hundred and fifty feet.

Colonel George Davenport, John W. Spencer and John Vanatta, the county commissioners, entered the town site of Stephenson for the purposes of a county seat, Maj' 11, 1836. Its description was "the northwest fractional quarter of Section 35, containing 61.95 acres." This entry was made in the land office of this district at Galena.

To add to the official dignity of the local courts, the commissioners ordered September 7, 1835, "that Joseph Conway be authorized to get two seals, one for the circuit court of Rock Island County and one for the county commissioners' court of Rock Island County, the device to be a sheaf of wheat and a plow." These courts were removed from Farnhamsburg to the new county seat, Stephenson, in November, 1835.

One incident of these early days, having peculiar interest through later national legislation and civil war was the onlering of the court that a tax of one-half per cent be levied "on slaves or indentured negro or mulatto servants, pleasure carriages, distilleries, horses, nuiles, cattle, watches and their appendages, household furniture, clocks, wagons, carts, sheep and town lots."

By this listing of slaves among real and personal property with a recognized cash value to be the basis of a percentum tax the ownership of slaves was recognized in this section which later took important and active part in the war which destroyed and discoimtenanced the entire system of slave ownership. The occasion of the tax levy upon "indentured negro servants" was the holding of slaves by some of the officers at the Fort Armstrong garrison. When these officers were transferred to this post they brought with them these "indentured negro servants." This practice though not sanctioned by the constitution and laws of the State of Illinois was possible under the old territorial laws, enacted when Illinois was a part of the Territory of Indiana. Under these territorial provisions permitting slaves to be introduced into this free soil as "indentured servants," many lived in Illinois. In 1810 there were one hundred and sixty-eight slaves in this state. Ten years later the number had increased to nine hundred and seventeen. Ten years later in 1830 there were seven hundred and forty-six slaves within the borders of Illinois. It was about this time that Dr. Emerson, the surgeon of the post, brought to this section as his servant, the famous negro, Dred Scott. When Fort Armstrong was evacuated in 1836, Scott went with his master to Fort Snelling in .Minnesota and there proceedings were commenced which culminated in the Dred Scott decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, one of the history making incidents of ante-bellum times. Dr. Emerson afterwards made Davenport his home, erecting a handsome residence on East Second Street. There he died and wa"s buried at an early cemetery, now the crossing of Sixth and LeClaire Streets.

In 1829, it is a matter of history that a number of slaves were held for a short time in Rock Island County on a farm just above :Moline. Their owner, a southern man, brought them with him when he moved to this section. He brought his holding to the number of seventy-five expecting to give them their freedom and place them tipon lands entered in this section, but the colored people preferred to return to their "sunny" southern home, and were allowed to do so after experiencing the rigors of one northern winter.

County Court House

As attractive, perhaps, as any court house in the states and more remarkable in architecture bjf far than many, is the handsome county building of Rock Island. Stately and inviting for business, this edifice stands a monument to the progressive spirit of the people, who, keeping pace with the advancement of the times, put it there.

enclosed within its walls the first gathering of men to transact Rock Island County business. That house stood in Farnhamsburg and besides being the first county court house, served as postofTice and hotel.

The first jail was built in 1836 - then the city was the town of Stephenson. John W. Spencer in October, 1835, was awarded the contract to build this jail, which was originally a hewed log building, two stories high and twenty-two feet square. The brick portion of the structure, afterward added, was built by Daniel Doty in 1839. It stood on lot No. 5 in block No. 15 in the old town until it was sold to a German, who converted the brick portion into a residence.

It was in this building that the nnu'derers of Colonel Davenport were confined, and from which they were led forth to expiate their crimes upon the gallows on the morning of October ^Oth, 1S45. Birch and Baxter were also confined there: the former took a change of venue to Warren Covuity where he broke jail and escaped. Baxter escaped the gallows on the grounds of liaving no willful intention to take the life of his l)enefactor; for wliile he laid the plot for the robbery of Colonel Davenport's house, and jjlanned with the robbers to be ready to enter it on that memorable Fourth of July, he did it thinking that the house would be unoccupied. But in that he was disappointed: all the family had gone to the celebration excepting the colonel. When the robbers entered, they unexpectedly foimd him in the house and to make sin-e of escaping with their phmder, murdered him. Baxter was sentenced to the penitentiarj- for life but was afterwards parolled on the pn.mise that he would leave this part of the country.

The present jail was built in 1857 at an initial cost of $60,000. Additions of note have since been added. Until this date, 18-57, the jail building contained besides the sheriff's office and residence, the offices of circuit clerk, recorder, and the county clerk.

A contact with >Ionah H. Case to furnish 200,000 bricks at eight dollars a thousand, was the first step toward the erection of the then, new court house. That was in April, 1836. In June the contract for the building was let to Samuel Smith for $10,500, to be completed December 1, 1837. The building, a square brick structure, was of two stories with a central cupola. It stood on the square

Immediately after the jail fire in 1882, the people began to agitate a new court house. In January 1883, the board of supervisors decided to erect an office building of sufficient capacity for the offices of county judge, circuit clerk, and county clerk: consequently, a contract was made with S. J. Collins for a one-story brick building, situate on the southeast corner of court house square, at a cost of aljout S13,00(), the building being completed during the year.

Diu'ing the time of its construction, office room was obtained in the old court house, and improvised space in the jail building. As Rock Island County grew it was soon apparent that extensive improvements and additions to the court house would be necessary. This rehabilitation would have cost the county so mucli money that it seemed to the wise men quite the wTong thing to do, but rather appeal to the people to decide at the polls whether or not it was their desire to bear the expense of a new and modern building. Supervisor Joseph Fitzpatrick of Milan championed the movement. He introduced a resolution at the April term, 1893, calling for a committee to investigate the needs of the county and the probable cost of a new court house, to report to the board at the July meeting, with recommendations as to the time and money necessary to erect such a court house as would compare with the wealth and progress of the county.

This committee composed of Supervisor Joseph Fitzpatrick, A. F. Vinton, James (i. Britton and Conrad Schneider made a favorable report and thought $125,000 would be about the right amount.

An election was held November 6, 1894, and the proposition to issue bonds to the amount of $125,000 was carried by the following vote: For the proposition to issue bonds, 3,913; against proposition, 2,174; majority for said proposition, 1 ,789 Accordingly the contract was let, Charles J. Larkin winning. Work on the founrlation commenced June 26, 1895, and October 1, 1896 the corner stone was laid. The arrangements being in charge of the Old Settlers' Association.

The following men constituted the Court House Committee: Charles L. Walker, chairman; Phil .Mitchell, Hon. William Jackson, John Ohiweiler. T. S. Silvis, (deceased), Hon. Charles J. Searle, H. P. Simpson, William McEniry, J. F. Robinson, (deceased), C. F. Lynde, S. J. Collins, S. S. Hull, Hon E. E. Parmenter, (deceased), W. P. Quajde, (deceased). After the formal notice was made, the following orations were delivered by Edward D. Sweeney. C. J. Searle and Judge J. M. Gould at the laying of the corner stone of the new court house, October 1, 1896.

The Orations

We celebrate today the laying of the corner stone for the new court house, and the occasion is an event which awakens in us emotions of the deepest interest. While it is true that this vast assemblage of citizens are of divers nationalities, of varied political faiths, and of many religious beliefs, we all stand before this mute block of granite as before the throne of the Eternal on equal footing, no s])ecial privilege of nobility or preference places one before the other.

The significance of this great gathering is a tribute of respect to the grand temple of justice planned to rise from this corner stone; and an acknowledgement of homage to the fair Goddess of Justice, who, with sightless e3'es and extended hand under the law, holds the balances in which causes between man and man are weighed without partiality or favor, and determined. The law-abiding people of this great county as by one common impulse, from the various pursuits of life, the farmers from their fields, the merchants from their counters, the mechanics from their shops, the bankers from their desks, and the humblest toilers from their work, have come to witness the simple act of the laying of this stone. It must be that in this there is much that ought to challenge our thoughtful consideration and engage our earnest contemplation for the hour which we are permitted to spend togetheron thisevent. It is the transition moment from the old to the new; it is the passing of a great milestone in the career of our county. More than fiftj' years of history is about to close its record today, and a new book presents itself in which we are to record events, yet in the bosom of the future; to be born each day and each month in the coming years. The thought which occupies everyone here assembled must be in reference to the old court house, its associations of lawyers, and judges, of law suits, of law and its administration, and of officers - and this is mj' theme.

The early beginnings of all communities are remembered with the greatest of interest and cherished in the fond recollections of those who have participated therein. The County of Rock Island was organized on the 8th day of July, 1833, it having been formerly a part of Jo Daviess County, and the first term of the circuit coiu-t was held at the house of John Barrel, beginning on the 28th day of April, 1834. This house stood on the banks of the Sylvan Waters, just west of the Cable residence, and was chosen by the county commissioners as the tem])orary place of holding the court and the village was called Farnhamsburg. In this house was held the covirt until abandoned at the September term, 1837; in all six terms of court. At each of these terms there was a grand jury selected and chosen, and in looking over the list of names which compose these grand juries, I find that Benjamin Ggble, the old settler who lays the corner stone today, was a grand juror at three of these terms. It is very evident that they in those days had as good an opinion of Mr. Goble as we of the present day, while we think he is a little too old to do heavy mason work, yet, if called upon, that he would be as willing to serve as a grand juror to punish wrong doers as he was in those early times. I also find the name of ou.r venerable and worthy friend, Michael Ilartzell, that he served two terms as a grantl juror in vindicating the law in this new-forming comnuniity. I also find that John Tindall, the sturdy and prosperous farmer of Bowling Township, and Charles Tilterington, the leading farmer of Edgington, the father of our present county treasurer, each served a term as a grand juror in the house of John Barrel; all of these ionr are now present on this glad day to witness the laying of the corner stone of the new court house, which to them must be an event of inore than usual interest. I also find that \Mlliam Bell was a grand juror at the house of John Barrel at the April term. 1837. This gentleman, who alwaj-s took such an interest in the affairs of our county and City of Hock Island, and always had a pleasant word and smile for everybody, is absent in body, but we know must be present in mind. He is living with his daughter, Rosa, at Toledo, Ohio, and in a ripe old age.

This was the beginning of our long coiu't dockets of hundreds of cases and terms of court dragging through tedious months, to which has been added the county court, now given common law jurisdiction with a civil and criminal docket, ami with its long [jrobate docket ui)on which are the estates and through which already has passed nearly all the titles to real estate within the limits of the county. The population of the county has grown from 350 to about 45,000; at the time of the organization there was one straggling village on the site of the City of Rock Island and here and there a settler throughout the county. Now there are six incorporate towns and villages, fviU of activity and business, and two large commercial cities, teeming with industry, thrift and enterprise, growing in importance and multiplying in wealth; then the taxable property of the county was a few hundred dollars, now it is over eight millions. For a few years there were only two terms of court in each year, but very soon the legislature gave this county three terms of the circuit court, with a probate court in session substantially all the year round.

The number of criminals which come before the courts of our coimty for correction are surprisingly small. Few comities in the state send a less number to the penitentiary, schools, and the jails for punishment, in accordance with their jiopulation than the Count}- of Rock Island. As evidence of how carefully the legal limits are observed among us stands forth the fact that in the affairs of our county, transacted by our honorable board of supervisors, every step of the way in which they proceed being regulated and determined by law, not a legal contest is raised or issue made concerning the new court house, the greatest building ever yet erected in the county, which is rising to is completion and will be bviilt from foimdation to dome without the circuit coiu't having taken cognizance of it in any manner whatever except to hear the hammers of the workmen and to finally obey the summons to quarter itself in the magnificent court room; as grand as the old hall of William Rufus, the pride of England for a thousand years; which is Ijeing provided for it in accordance with law, there to administer the law for the people "with malice towards none and witii charity for all".

.\mong the names of those who have served their day and stamped upon the events of the times in which they lived, the imjiress of their character and have gone to their reward, and are in your memories while I speak, are;

The oratory of Joseph Knox will always be remembered by those who have heard him. The iiaipression that his oratory made upon my mind when a young man, was that it was close akin to that of Demosthenes. History records that when the issue was before the Athenians whether thej' would submit to Phillip of Macedoa, or resist him with arms, that Demosthenes espoused the cause of war; in this he was opposed by the accomplished orator. Aschines. When Aschines addressed the people they woidd say, what wonderful eloquence, what a great orator; when Demosthenes would speak thej' wotdd leap and shout, "let us go and fight Phillip." ilr. Knox was often greeted with similar responses. Judge Wilkinson was a slave to his profession; he never allowed his mind to be occupied bjanything which wotild draw him away from the pure pursuit and practice of the law. He was for many years the mentor of our bar and no young lawyer struggling with legal difficulties ever went to him but he received him kindly and furnished material help without claim of compensation. He did not lay down his work until the hand of disease arrested his powers, and like "Nicanor" he "lay dead in his harness." General Hawley will be remembered as the impetuous, vigilant and aggressive advocate. He was like the plumed knight of Ivry, always to the front in the thickest of the contest, pushing every advantage tmtil victory crowned efforts. Patrick O'Mara was the silvertongued orator of the bar, young, promising and brilliant; he was a shining mark for tlie shafts of death, which too soon claimed hira for a prey. Time forbids further mention of the merits of the dead, btit the best and the highest efforts of those who have gone and those who remain are to be found in the records of the courts, published in the 58 volumes of .the Appellate and in the 15.5 volumes of the Supreme Court reports. It is in this work the real test comes of the lawyer's knowledge of the law and his merits as a lawyer, who has within his grasp and comprehension the highe.st elements of law.

There have been nineteen different judges who have held court in our count}^ Richard M. Young was the first judge who ever held court in otu- county. He came from Galena and was succeeded by Daniel Stone, who came from the same place. Sidney Breese held the second term. He afterwards became a member of the supreme court and served a number of years; was elected to the United States Senate where he served a term, after which he went to the supreme bench again, where he remained until his death in 1S78, full of years, honors and good deeds. Benjamin R. Sheldon held the May term. 1849; He afterwards went on the supreme bench, where he remained until his death, a good man and a strong judge. Thomas Ford held tlie April term of our court in 1836; he afterwards became governor of the state and in his declining days wrote Ford's History of Illinois, the best yet written of tlie state. Of those who are not now in office, I know of only two who are living - the Honorable J. W. Drury, who was circuit judge from 1856 until 1859 or '60, and the Honorable Arthur A. Smith, who first held court here in 1879 and resigned on account of ill health in I he fall of 1894.

Thus far I have said nothing about the offices of county judge and county clerk. The county clerk's office is the great workshop of the county; in that office all the taxes are levied and extended, the judgment for tax sales entered and the record of the sales made and kept. In that office all the business done by the board of supervisors is written up and recorded; aside from this is the probate business of the cotmty, which has grown to be of immense magnitude, and to which is added the records of the county court, civil and criminal proceedings; within the last few years has passed through the county clerk's office the proceedings for the paving assessments, which has been a stupendous work in itself. To appreciate the volume of the work which is done iu this office you must be acquainted with its vastness and its importance. I would be pleased on this occasion to speak of the men who have acted as county clerks, and who have been responsible for and so ably and faithfully discharged their obligations, but time forbids any lengthv notice. Of the excounty clerks who are s+ill with us, Joseph Conet is the oldest. He will be remembered by all as long as we can remember anybody, as being the most accommodating, courteous and willing public servant that ever served in the court ho\ise. The readiness to serve anij aid anyone who had business in his office came natural to him; what he did was disrobed of every semblance of affectation or effort. Mr. Conet was succeeded by Major Beardsley, who came into office in the latter part of the war and performed herculean labors in the interests of the widows and orphans of the soldiers who died or had fallen in battle during the Rebellion, whom he e'.er carried on his heart. The accounts kept in the book of remembrance bj^ Him, "who neither slumbers or sleeps" will show a great credit to the major's account for the disinterested and patriotic work of these years. John V. Cook succeeded the major and his memory is embalmed in the hearts of all who knew him; he was succeeded by Mr. Donaldson, whose efficiency and reliability were not excelled by anj' one. Colonel Hjalmar Kohler, the present incumbent needs no commendation from me, his work shows for itself and his manner and demeanor in office are su.fficient to win for him the highest respect and regard.

justice, with John W. Spencer as judge in 1849. and J. M. (umld who takes part in the exercises of this occasion, who was county judge in 1854 to 18.57. There has been no more responsible position in our comily than that of lookinji' after the trusts in the hands of executors, administrators and guardians, and faithfully have these trtist estates l)een guarded and protected by our county judges. The present incumbent, the Honorable l.ucian .\dams, has grown gray in the service of these trusts and no one has ever been allowed to suffer in his hands.

Three members of Congress have been sent from our Coimty. The Honorable John B. Hawley, the Honorable William H. G est and the Honorable Benjamin Cable. AVe are indebted to these gentlemen for a:reat services in seeming ap])ropriations for the National armory on the Island, for the great bridge across the Mississippi River, the Moline daiu, the viaduct, the new go^-ernluent building now being erected, and the Hennejiin Ca'^nal.

The soldiers of Illinois were foremost at Donaldson, Shiloh, A'icksburg, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain and in Sherman's march to the sea. General Sherman was their great leader in that famous march, but it is said if the old hero had fallen by the way, the boys would have gone right on to the sea. The Illinois soldiers l:)rought home from the fields of the south three hundred battle flags taken from the enemy, and it was an Illinois flag that floated over the advance guard of the soldiers who first marched into Richmond with President Lincoln at their head, in April, 186.5. All honor to the old soldiers and love and charity to all their kith and kin.

Solomon's Temple surpassed all former ones in its glory and grandeur, but in following years there was erected a second temple, and the glory of the latter house exceeded the former. The days of the early pioneers were full of noble deeds, efforts and struggles, around which a halo of heroism lingers, while the names of the men and women who took part in the stirring events of those days are held in tender remembrance by tlieir descendants and the peojile of today. No state in the I'ninn excels Illinois in the race of noble pioneers who wrought out of the broad untracked and uniilled prairies the beginnings of the greatest agricultural state of the Mississippi valley, and which laid the foundations of greatest and grandest commonwealth of the Union, and no county in all of the one hundred and two in the state can boast of a nobler band of early settlers than can our County. The limit line of pioneer and old settlers' life is drawn at the vear 18-50 and all time subsequent is counted out. I-et due honor and credit be given to the early settlers and old pioneers and to all who have heljied in the early efforts to lay the base of the institutions of which we are so proud today and to which we can point with becoming pride; but no one will think of comparing what has been accomplished in the advancements of civilization since the date of the limit with what has gone before. In 1850 the City of Rock Island had been organized only one year and was a mimicipal infant, and Moline, now the proud city of factories, schools and churches, was still a village, and ouside of these there was not an organized town or village in the county; the iron horse had never sounded his sonorous tones on the shores of the Father of Waters: the great plow factories of the Twin Cities were only in the prophecies of the dim future; the magnificent water works, now sending flowing water through every street and into every house, were unthought of; paved streets, which have come to us within the last eight years, and which make our cities the rivals of those in the old world of a century's growth, were not even in the dreams of the oldest inhabitant; while every man was his own letter carrier, express messenger and "telephone girl." Never since the days when Adam and Eve went forth from the

Garden of Eden, unsandaled and uncovered, was human nature so well clothed, so well fed, so well housed and surrounded with the conveniences and luxuries of life, as today; we are all pleased to hear the old settlers talk of the "good old times," and never tire of hearing rehearsed the events of early pioneer life: but we who did not live in these "good old times" may be excused for speaking of the "good new times."

Today the forces of the "good old times." and the forces of the "good new times" meet on this common platform to lay the corner stone of the new court house and blend without rivalry in a united effort for the common weal.

At the April term, A. D., 1893, of the board of supervisors. F. M. Sinnet, Esq., was elected chairman, and in his address to the board, returning thanks for his election, among other things he said that the necessity existed for the erection of a new court house, and he believed that the times were propitious for its erection. During this session of the board, Joseph Fitzpatrick. Esq., then su.pervisor from Black Hawk, came to the f)ffice of Sweeney tt Walker and talked to the same effect, and Jlr. C. L. Walker prepared resolutions setting forth that the necessity existed for a new court house and that the times were propitious for the building of the same. The resolutions were delivered to Mr. Fitzpatrick who introduced them in the board then in session and they were adopted. The resolutions, among other things, provided for the appointment of a committee to report on the feasibility of the project at the next meeting in Jul}-.

In the meantime Charles J. Searle. our young and vigorous state's attorney, with his accustomed zeal and enthusiasm, took hold of the work and put the report of the committee in shape, which was presented at the next session of the board and adopted, and the cause of the new court house vs'as sqiiarely before the people. The press, which has always been a great factor in the pushing forward of the welfare of the county in all channels, took hold and advocated the enterprise, the people with great unanimity seconded the move and the board of supervisors, pushed on until the building of the new court house became a fixed fact.

Messrs. Larkin and Collins and the Rock Island mechanics have completed a creditable foundation - one strong enough to sustain the National Capitol - from which will rise a building worthy of our county and the times in which we live.

I feel highly flattered at being accorded the privilege of taking part in the important ceremony of laying the corner stone of your new "Temple of .Tustice," and while the nature of a statistical paper for permanent preservation, requires me to indulge in a greater use of statistics than is conducive to present any temporory interest, I have striven, in the very limited time I have had to bestow upon the task, to cull out of the records and traditions of the county such statistical information as in my opinion would most interest those present, jis well as future inhabitants of the county, to whose curious gaze the contents of this corner stone will be revealed, perhaps a century from now.

My endeavor shall be to confine myself almost exclusively to matters of local interest, but no historical or other information concerning Rock Island County would be complete without takingsomewhat into consideration the history and growth of our country as a whole.

The records of the world's history disclose the rise and fall of many jireat and prosperous nations, but history never recorded such great, rapid, and, we hope, enduring, progress of a people as has been witnessed in the United States since its formation. Preeminently a peaceful nation, our area has grown from ,S27.844 square miles in 1789, to 3,603.844 square miles in 1S95, and that too, mostly by peaceful conquest. Our population has grown from 3,929,214 in 1790. to 62,622,2.50 in 1.S90. Under the benign influ- ,ence of the free institutions handed flown to us by our illustrious forefathers, from a few scattered settlements, skirting along the Atlantic seaboard, we have developed into a mighty nation. A nation whose institutions are not beyond improvement, but in the main, filled with a happy, prosperous people. A nation of inestimable wealth. A highly civilized nation, filled with chtuxhes. schools and libraries. A nati(m makinp; unprecedented strides in industry, art, science and education. A nation that is indeed the "land of the free an<l the Ik hop of the brave." A nation of the utmost possibilities of resources and development, and destined, I hope, to be diu'ing all time, the greatest, grandest nation the world ever saw.

Illinois, ovu- beloved state, taking its name from the Indian word. "Illini." signifying "Superior Men," has, in the short space of seventy-seven years, from its admission in 1818, grown to be a mighty empire of 3,826,351 people. The virgin soil of her wonderful prairies, the wealth of her primeval forests and the hidden treasures of her mines, have made her the gem of that great galaxy of states known as the "Great Northwest," which has no etpial in fertility, resoiu'ces and possibilities of development on the face of the earth.

tireat as our National and State development have been, Rock Island Coimty has kept pace with our common country: and that, too, notwithstanding the fact that we came so comparatively late in the order of settlement. Marquette and .loliet were likely the first white persons to set eyes on the then wild, beautiful and romantic scenery of Rock Island County, at that time the home of the Indian and the buffalo, in the vear 1673. The first white settler was Colonel Georsje Davenport, who located, with his family, on the beaiitifu! island in the Mississippi River between here and Daven]iort in 1816, a time within the memory of qiiite a number of the grand old patriarchs within the sound of my voice. Little did the unbroken wilderness surrounding that solitary habitation, distant hundreds of miles from any other, forbode the marvelous development that has taken place here since its erection. The first house erected on the main shore of our county was by Colonel George Davenport and Russell Farnham, in the eastern part of our present city. The first white child born in this vicinity was George Davenport, in 1S17. The first lands that were entered were entered October 19, 1829, by Colonel George Davenport and Russell Farnham, the governn;ent land office then being at Galena, Illinois. The first marriage was that of James L. Burtis to Angeline Beardsley, in 1833. In 1805 for the first time the flag of the Union proudly waved .over Rock Island County's present domain, is beautiful field of blue then only contained a constellation of seventeen stars instead of forty-five, as now.

The early settlement was slow, for, while nature was kind and presented few obstacles to settlement, the savage and treacherous Indian did. It required the Black Hawk War of 1832, that had for battle ground the beautiful prairies and unbroken forests of Rock Island County, to drive the able and revengeful Black Hawk and his tribe bej^ond the Mississippi, to make way for the advancing tide of settlement and civilization.

It was not till 1S33, that the inhabitants had increased sufficiently to justify the legislative act of that year, providing for the organization of the county, and even then the total vote of the county was only sixtyfive. The first seat of justice was established in the same year, at John Barrel's house, in what was then called Farnhamsburg, now a part of the City of Rock Island. In 1835 the seat of justice was changed by commissioners appointed by an act of the legislature, to the present site, in what was then called the town of Stephenson. Richard il. Young was the first judge to preside over the circuit court, Joseph Conway was the clerk, Benjamin F. Pike, sheriff; Thomas Ford, state's attorney, and Joel Wells the foreman of the grand jury. Lists of the jurors, witnesses and parties to suits, disclose the names of the ancestors of a great, many of our present citizens, manj"- of whom are prominently known, but which my limited time will not permit nie to give. The circuit then including Rock Island County was known as the Fifth Judicial Circuit, and included the counties of Cook, LaSalle, Putnam, Peoria, Fulton, Schuyler, Adams, Hancock, McDonough, Knox, Warren, Jo Daviess, Mercer and Henry. The first attorneys at the bar were Ford. Turney, Smith, Maxwell, Strode, Walker and Mills; these were soon followed by such well remembered characters as Knox, Drury and Wilkinson. The first hotel, tavern as they were then called, -was opened in 1833, belonging to Jonah H. Case, whose family has ever since been prominent in the coimty. Private schools were opened at an early date, and free schools were established in 1856. The first church (Methodist Episcopal) was built in 1844; the first library opened in 1855, and the first newspaper, the Rock Island Banner and Stephenson Gazette was started in 1839.

The City of Rock Island, including the towns of Stephenson and Farnhamsburg, and outlying additions, was organized in 1841. What was known as "Rock Island Mills" was in 1843 organized into the beautiful City of Moline, "the city of mills." Camden, afterwards "Camden Mills" and now Milan, was laid out in 1843; Port Byron, in 1836; Cordova, in 1837; Hampton, in 1834; Rapid City, in 1833; Coal Valley, in 1856; .\ndalusia. in 1859; Edgington. in 1843, and Reynolds, in 1876.

The assessed valuation of the county in 1833. immediateh^ after its organization was so low that the taxes collected only amounted to the sum of $53,723^, so that it can be readily seen that the county's affairs did not permit any great defalcations on the part of the county officials. The population of the county in 1840, at the time of the first census, was 2,610 souls.

But few in numbers, and poor though they then were, the people of the county in 1835, with commendable public spirit and ambition, and with a realization of the future needs of the county, resolved to build a court house. They let the contract for $10,500, furnishing the brick themselves at a cost of $1,600, making a total cost of $12,100 at the time of the acceptance of the completed building in 1838. Humble as it now seems, it was then a grand structure, one of the finest buildings in the state, and was the pride of the city and county for years. Its erection had entailed an expenditure of perhaps not less than $10 for every man. woman and child in the county, which in view of the poverty of the ]ieo]3le and the scarcity of money then in circulation, was indeed an evidence of the greatest puldic spirit; an amount of money harder to raise then than $1,000,000 would be now by the people of this county. Could the walls of the old building relate the scenes they have witnessed, what a story they could tell. From it have issued more than 17,000 official licenses, authorizing the solemn, God ordained rites of matrimony; and there we find the sad record of thousands of deaths; records of joy and happiness on the one hand, and of grief and sorrow on the other. There are recorded the story of elections, the history of the rise and fall of many an ambition. There are preserved the evidences of the titles of the people to their homes and their belongings; the administration of the estate of departed loved ones; the financial records of the county; the enlistment of the heroic volunteer for the preservation of our National life, and his honorable discharge; in the record of the 11,697 civil causes that have been recorded on the dockets of the circuit court, we have a record of conquest and defeat, justice and injustice, poverty and wealth, anxiety and exultation, hope and fear. The criminal records, disclosing 4,554 cases, tell us a tale of injustice, hate, malice, revenge, crime in all its hideous forms, from the most trivial offenses, to robbery, rape and murder. If its walls would reverberate the echoes it has heard and flash upon our vision the sights it has seen, what sights we would indeed behold, what sounds we would hear! We would see every phase of human character, good and bad. We would witness the play of every emotion of the human mind and heart. We would see the joyous, hopeful bride, the grief stricken mother; we would see the anxious, uplifted faces of litigants as they scrutinized the jury, or waited with bated breath for the decision of the judge; we would hear the exultant, victorious laugh of the victor, and the heart-broken sobs of the convicted criminal, his relatives and friends; we would see many a fierce combat between giants at the liar; we would be startled at their audacity; we would wonder at their display of earnestness and passion; we would be thrilled by their elocpience as they pleaded for the property, liberty and lives of their clients; we would anxiously await the verdict of the jury; and at last we would listen to the solemn sentence of the upright judge. But the old building has long been inadequate.

From a popiUation of 2,610 in 1840 we now number nearly 50,000 souls. Instead of two marriages on record as in 1833, last year we had 390. To keep abreast of the times and to meet the demands of the coimty, the people have elected to build this fine building.

On the 20th day of June, 1895, the contract for its construction was let for $112,201. According to the contract, it is to be fully completed by November 1, 1896. From all indications, it will be a grand and stately structure, an ornament, and the pride of the county for generations to come, and commensurate with the needs and demands of the county. It will jjerhaps remain the seat of justice of the county for a century. In it will be repeated, only on a large scale and in a more multifarious form, the history of the old court house. In it the county's affairs will be hereafter conducted, justice will be administered, rights secured, guilt punished, innocence vindicated; the constitutional rights of life, liberty and the pursuits of happiness conserved. The time is not far distant when coiu-t will have to be held throughout the year; yes, when the court will have to be held in sections, for this court house will still be in use when this county will have a population of 150,000 people or more.

Well may the people of Rock Island County anticipate the era of wonderful increase of population, wealth and progress we are just now fairly entering upon, by the erection of this grand building; for second to none in natural resources, industry and thrift, we will be in the van of enterprise and progress.

Having been informed that the board of supervisors had requested that the ceremony and laying of the corner stone of the new court house should be by the Old Settlers' Association of the county, and that I had been requested to make some remarks upon the occasion, I deem it will be proper to do so in a sort of historical line, and will say that I will not trespass upon your time with a long harangue.

This county was in early times a part of the present County of Pike, which extended north to the state line; afterwards embraced in what is now Jo Daviess County. The first court in this county was lield in a log house, as I am informed, located near where the residence of Hon. Benjamin T. Cable stands, the town being named Stephenson. On the 18th day of November, 1848, I arrived in the village of midline, to become a resident of the county, being a member of the firm of Deere, Tate & Gould, for manufacturing farming implements, Messrs. Deere & Tate being the practical members. My department was the financial. I opened and kept the first set of account books, by double entry, in the county, learning at the time that the system was not used in Scott County', Iowa. We did not have any banking facilities in either of the three towns. Cook & Sargent, of Davenport, occasionally, could sell us bills of exchange upon St. Louis, and sometimes New York, but not often upon the latter named city. Our business away from here was generally with St. Louis, as our only transportation facilities, except by wagon to Chicago, were by the river. Our remittances were usually made in the season of navigation by the captains or clerks of the steamboats. There were no regular paydays for our employes, and we seldom paid much money to them, except upon final settlement, when they were either discharged or resigned. We gave orders upon merchants with whom we could arrange for credit, in the three towns for such goods as were needed, and usually boarded our single men with parties whom we could supply, in our dealings with farmers, such articles as they could use, namely: vegetables, meat, fuel, etc. We had a daily mail coach to and from Chicago and St. Louis, which, in the winter, was the only means of public communication with other towns. Letters for Chicago and St. Louis were sent by stage, which followed the river to Albany, then via Union Grove, now Morrison, Dixon and thence for St. Louis via Peoria and zigzag to destination, requiring from five to seven days to get replies to their letters sent to St. Louis, and four or five days to Chicago. At that time, and imtil about 1850 to 1853, there were four saw mills, one grist and one merchant flouring mill, one foundry and machine shop, and one woodenware factory in Moline; one boat yard and marine waysj and one saw mill in Rock Island. Davenport had no manufacturing intlustry, I think, until about 1854. Previous to 1849 the coimty business in every comity in the state was transacted by a board of county commissioners composed of three members, and on account of the prevailing custom of not providing by a proper assessment of taxation to pay claims against this county the warrants were from 10 to 45 and 50 per cent l)elow par; the tliscount being based upon the proximity to, or from the time, they could be used in payment of taxes, and I think that every other county's finances were about in the same condition.

At one session, the records of which I saw, and probably the same was true of others of the board, claims were allowed merchants for supplies for paupers and for other purposes. Proliably claimants in making prices ff>r such supplies, included a high profit, knowing warrants woukl be issued upon a treasur}' that had no funds, and in addition persuaded the board to add one hundred per cent to the claim, and then inserted these words: "Double for depreciation of county orders, and a warrant for twice the sum issued." Under the revised constitution of 1848, the law abolishing the county commissioners' court, and creating what was termed a county court in 1849, with one county judge and two associate justices of the peace, was enacted. At the first election under the new law, John W. Spencer was first judge, and Thomas J. Robinson and .James Weaverling associates, were elected : the three persons, at regular quarterly sessions of the board in December, March, June and September in each year, and at as many special sessions as were necessary, attended to all the county business, the same as is now transacted by our board of su~pervisors; the probate matters were adjudicated by the county judge at twelve sessions, upon the third Monday at each quarter, and the first Monday of the other eight months, holding each session as long as circumstances required and special sessions if needed; the fees were $2.50 each per day fen- actual time spent for the county. Judge Spencer resigned at the end of three years, and William Bailey was elected to serve the remainder of the term. In November, 1853, I was elected county judge. George E. Holmes, of Port Byron, and John Kistler, of Buffalo Prairie, were my associates - two gentlemen several years my seniors. We accepted the offices and qualified. I think it was at our first session for business - if not the first it was not later than the second - which was in the southwest corner room of the present court house, then occupied by the county clerk, and, I think, was the sheriff's quarters also. The next room north was the county assessor's and treasurer's office; the southeast corner room, which was one-half of the present super, visor's room, was occupied by tlie circuit clerk and ex-officio recorder, who was Major Frazier Wilson; the next room north, upon the east side, was rented to George W. Pleasants (now Judge Pleasants) and Henderson, lawyers. We discovered that the records of the county were in a very unsafe condition respecting the risk of fire, all being in wooden cases in the rooms named, and concluded that the matter was of so much importance that a building must be erected which would be nearly fireproof, and having only a very poor substitute of a jail, would combine the two departments under one roof. We had no money and county warrants were so much Ijelow par that it was utterly impossible to use them, and the only course to pursue was to get a special law passed, which could l)e done at that period, permitting the issue of bonds for $20,000 which we succeeded in accomplishing and sold them at par as they bore interest at ten per cent. We procured the erection

The Completed New Court House Of 1S97

A detailed description of the exterior of the new court house does not seem necessary; it stands out with such grandeur. A typical temple of justice. The finely prgportioned dome, the four turrets, and two pavilions, most materiall}' add to the structure. Its dimensions are one hundred and fifty feet long, fift}' feet wide, with extended pavilions and turrets on the two sides. The main structure is sixty feet high, the central dome towering to a height of one hundred and fifty feet. The magnificent, strong and stable presentation of the interior, including the marble work, wood work, painting, tile flooring, bronze, iron, fresco and other ornamental work, harmonize; all reflecting great credit on the architects, Gunn and Curtis; Charles J. Larkin, the contractor, and Stephen J. Collins, superintendent.

In the basement is the engine room, fans, steam pi^e,s. engineer's work room, and store room for old time files and records. The boiler room is in a separate brick building in the rear of the jail building, a tunnel running from the boiler room, to the engine room of the court house. On the first floor are grouped the offices of the sheriff, the master in chancery, the coroner, the janitor, the county superintendent of schools, ladies' waiting room, the county surveyor, public and ladies' lavatories, and waiting rooms. Broad stairways lead to the \ipper floors, also a good elevator.

On the second floor are the offices of county judge, circuit clerk, county clerk, county treasurer, also county court room and supervisors' room. The circuit and county clerks' offices have large, well lighted, roomy vaults adjoining, fitted with metallic furnishings.

rooms, court library room, clerk of the court room, rooms for state's attorney (private and reception), jui;y rooms, and witness rooms. On the fourth floor is the Memorial Hall designed for the Grand Army of the Republic members, and other loyal societies. The furnishings throughout all the offices are exceedingly rich, tasty, and substantial.