St. Clair County, Illinois - Chapter 2: Brief Historical Sketch of Illinois, 1881 (part 1 of 2)

Chapter 2: Brief Historical Sketch of Illinois

T is necessary to treat the history of this great State briefly. And first we direct attention to the discovery and exploration of the Mississippi. Hernando De Soto, cutting his way through the wilderness from Florida, had discovered the Mississippi in the year 1542. Wasted with disease and privation, he only reached the stream to die upon its banks, and the remains of the ambitious and iron-willed Spaniard found a fitting resting-place beneath the waters of the great river. The chief incitement to Spanish discoveries in America was a thirst for gold and treasure. The discovery and settlement of the Mississippi Valley on the part of the French must, on the other hand, be ascribed to religious zeal. Jesuit missionaries, from the French settlements on the St. Lawrence, early penetrated to the region of Lake Huron. It was from the tribes of Indians living in the West, that intelligence came of a noble river flowing south. Marquette, who had visited the Chippewas in 1668, and established the mission of St. Mary, now the oldest settlement within the present commonwealth of Michigan, formed the purpose of its exploration.

In company with Joliet, a fur-trader of Quebec, who had been designated by M. Talon, Intendent of Canada, as chieftain of the exploring party, and five French voyageurs, Marquette, on the 10th of June, 1673, set out on the expedition. Crossing the water-shed dividing the Fox from the Wisconsin rivers, their two canoes were soon launched on the waters of the latter. Seven days after, on the 17th of June, they joyfully entered the broad current of the Mississippi. Stopping six days on the western bank, near the mouth of the Des Moines River, to enjoy the hospitalities of the Illinois Indians, the voyage was resumed, and after passing the perpendicular rocks above Alton, on whose lofty limestone front are painted frightful representations of monsters, they suddenly came upon the mouth of the Missouri, known by its Algonquin name of Pekitanoni, whose swift and turbid current threatened to engulf their frail canoes. The site of St. Louis was an unbroken forest, and further' down, the fertile plain bordering the river reposed in peaceful solitude, as, early in July, the adventurers glided past it. They continued their voyage to a point some distance below the mouth of the Arkansas, and then retraced their course up the river, arriving at their Jesuit Mission at the head of Green Bay, late in September.

Robert, Cavalier de La Salle, whose illustrious name is more intimately connected with the exploration of the Mississippi than that of any other, was the next to descend the river, in the early part of the year 1682. At its mouth he erected a column, and decorating it with the arms of France, placed upon it the following inscription :

Le Neuvieme Aveil, 1682

Thus France, by right of discovery, lay claim to the Mississippi Valley, the fairest portion of the globe, an empire in extent, stretching from the Gulf to the Lakes, and from the farthest sources of the Ohio to where the head waters of the Missouri are lost in the wild solitudes of the Rocky Mountains. La Salle bestowed upon the territory the name of Louisiana, in honor of the King of France, Louis XIV.

The assertion has been made that on La Salle's return up the river, in the summer of 1682, a portion of the party were left behind, who founded the villages of Kaskaskia and Cahokia,but the statement rests on no substantial foundation.

The First Settlements In Illinois

The gentle and pious Marquette, devoted to his purpose of carrying the gospel to the Indians, had established a mission among the Illinois, in 1675, at their principal town on the river which still bears their name. This was at the present town of Utica, in La Salle County. In the presence of the whole tribe, by whom, it is recorded, he was received as a celestial visitor, he displayed the sacred pictures of the Virgin Mary, raised an altar, and said mass. On Easter Sunday, after celebrating the mystery of the Eucharist, he took possession of the land in the name of the Saviour of the world, and founded the " Mission of the Immaculate Conception." The town was called Kaskaskia, a name afterwards transferred to another locality.

La Salle, while making preparations to descend the Mississippi, built a fort, on the Illinois River, below the Lake of Peoria, in February, 1680, and in commemoration of his misfortunes, bestowed upon it the name of Creoecmur, "broken-hearted." Traces of its embankments are yet discernible. This was the first military occupation of Illinois. There is no evidence, however, that settlement was begun there at that early date.

On La Salle's return from this exploration of the Mississippi, in 1682, he fortified " Starved Rock," whose military advantages had previously attracted his attention. From its summit, which rises 125 feet above the waters of the river, the valley of the Illinois speeds out before the eye in a landscape of rarest beauty. From three sides it is inaccessible. This stronghold received the name of the Fort of St. Louis. Twenty thousand allied Indians gathered around it on the fertile plains. The fort seems to have been abandoned soon after the year 1700,

Marquette's mission (1675), Crevecoeur (1680), and the Fort of St. Louis (1682), embrace, so far, all the attempts made toward effecting anything like a j)ermanent settlement in the Illinois country. Of the second few traces remain. A line of fortifications may be faintly traced, and that is all." The seed of civilization planted by the Jesuit, Marquette, among the Illinois Indians, was destined to produce more enduring fruit. It was the germ of Kaskaskia, during the succeeding years of the French occupation - the metropolis of the Mississippi Valley. The southern Kaskaskia is merely the northern one transplanted. The Mission of the Immaculate Conception is the same.

Founding Op Kaskaskia

On the death of Marquette, he was succeeded by Alloiiez, and he by Father Gravier, who respectively had charge of the Mission on the Illinois River. Gravier is said to have been the first to reduce the principles of the Illinois language to rules. It was also he who succeeded in transferring Marquette's Mission from the banks of the Illinois south to the spot where stands the modern town of Kaskaskia, and where it was destined to endure. The exact date is not known, but the removal was accomplished some time prior to the year 1690, though probably not earlier than 1685.

Father Gravier was subsequently recalled to Mackinaw, and his place was supplied by Bineteau and Pinet. Pinet proved an eloquent and successful minister, and his chapel was often insufficient to hold the crowds of savages who gathered to hear his words. Bineteau met with a fate similar to that which befell many another devoted priest in his heroic labors for the conversion of the savages. He accompanied the Kaskaskias on one of their annual hunts to the upper Mississippi, that his pastoral relations might not sufier intermission. His frame was poorly fitted to stand the exposure. Parched by day on the burning prairie, chilled by heavy dews at night, now panting with thirst and again aching with cold, he at length fell a victim to a violent fever, and " left his bones on the wilderness range of the buffaloes." Pinet shortly after followed his comrade.

Father Gabriel Morrest had previously arrived at Kaskaskia. He was a Jesuit. He had carried the emblem of his faith to the frozen regions of Hudson's Bay, and had been taken prisoner by the English, and upon his liberation returned to America, and joined the Kaskaskia Mission. After the deaths of Bineteau and Pinet, he had sole charge until joined by Father Mermet shortly after the opening of the eighteenth century.

and Canadians, and had thus founded the first French port on the Ohio, or, as the lower part of the river was then called, the Wabash. At the Kaskaskia Mission his gentle virtues and fervid eloquence sesm not to have been without their influence. "At early dawn his pupils came to church dressed neatly and modestly, each in a large deer-skin, or in a robe stitched together from several skins. After receiving lessons they chanted canticles ; mass was then said in presence of all the Christians in the place, the French and the converts - the women on one side and the men on the other. From prayer and instruction the missionaries proceed to visit the sick and administer medicine, and their skill as physicians did more than all the rest to win confidence- In the afternoon the catechism was taught in the presence of the young and the old, when every one, without distinction of rank or age, answered the questions of the missionary. At evening all would assemble at the chapel for instruction, for prayer, and to chant the hymns of the church. On Sundays and festivals, even after vespers, a homily was pronounced ; at the close of the day parties would meet in houses to recite the chaplet in alternate choirs, and sing psalms until late, at night. These psalms were often homilies with words set to familiar tunes. Saturday and Sunday were days appointed for confession and communion, and every convert confessed once in a fortnight. The success of the mission was such that marriages of French immigrants were sometimes solemnized with the daughters of the Illinois according to the rites of the Catholic Church. The occupation of the country was a cantonment of Europeans among the native proprietors of the forests and the prairies.* A court of law was unknown for nearly a century, and up to the time of Boisbriant there was no local government. The priests possessed the entire confidence of the community, and their authority happily settled, without the tardy delays and vexations of the courts, the minor difficulties which threatened the peace of the settlement. Of the families which formed part of the French population in the early history of Kaskaskia, there is some uncertainty. There is, however, authority for believing that the following were among the principal settlers : Bazyl La Chapelle, Michael Derouse (called St. Pierre), Jean Baptiste St. Gemme Beauvais, Baptiste Montreal, Boucher de Montbrun, Charles Danie, Francois Charlesville, Antoine Bienvenu, Louis Bruyat, Alexis Doza, Joseph Paget, Prix Pagi, Michael Antoyen, Langlois De Lisle, La Derroutte and Noval.

As Part Of Louisiana

The settlements of Illinois had been a separate dependency of Canada. -In 1711, together with the settlements on the Lower Mississippi, which had been founded by D'Iberville and Bienville, they became united in a single province under the name of Louisiana, with the capital at Mobile.

The exclusive control of the commerce of this region, whose boundless resources, it was believed, were to enrich France, was granted to Anthony Crozat, a merchant of great wealth. "We permit him," says the king in his letters patent, "to search, open, and dig all mines, veins, minerals, precious stones and pearls, and to transport the proceeds thereof into any part of France for fifteen years." La Motte Cadillac, who had now become royal Governor of Louisiana, was his partner. Hopes of obtaining great quantities of gold and silver animated the proprietors, as well as agitated France. Two pieces of silver ore, left at Kaskaskia by a traveler from Mexico, were exhibited to Cadillac as the produce of a mine in Illinois. Elated by this prospect of wealth, the Governor hurried up the river to find his anticipations fade away in disappointment. Iron ore and the purest lead were discovered iu large quantities in Missouri, but of gold, and silver, and precious stones not a trace was found. After Crozat had expended 425,000 livres, and realized only 300,000, he, in 1717, petitioned the king for the revocation of his charter. The white population had slowly increased ; and at the time of his departure it was estimated that the families comprising the Illinois settlements, now including those on the Wabash, numbered three hundred and twenty souls.

The commerce of Louisiana was next transferred to the Mississippi Company, instituted under the auspices of the notorious John Law. The wild excitement and visionary schemes which agitated France during Law's connection with the Company of the West, and while at the head of the Bank of France, form the most curious chapter in the annals of commercialspeculations. These delusive dreams of wealth were based mainly upon the reports of the fabulous riches of the Mississippi Valley. Attempts to colonize the country were conducted with careless prodigality. Three ships landed eight hundred emigrants in August, 1718, near Mobile, whence they were to make their way overland to the Mississippi. Bienville, on the banks of that river, had already selected the spot for the Capital of the new Empire, which, after the Regent of France, was named New- Orleans. From among the emigrants, eighty convicts from the prisons of France were sent to clear away the coppices which thickly studded the site. Three years after, in 1721, the place was yet a wilderness, overgrown with canebrakes, among which two hundred persons had encamped.

Phillip Renault was created Director-General of the mines of the new country, and an expedition was organized to work them. Renault left France, in 1719, with two hundred mechanics and laborers. Touching at San Domingo, he bought five hundred negro slaves for working the mines. On reaching the Mississippi, he sailed to Illinois, the region in which gold and silver were supposed to abound. A few miles from Kaskaskia, in what is now the south-west corner of Monroe County, was the seat of his colony. The village which he founded received the name of St. Phillip's. From this point various expeditions were sent out in search of the precious metals. Drewry's Creek, in Jackson County, was explored ; St. Mary's, in Randolph ; Silver Creek, in Monroe ; and various parts of St. Clair County, and other districts of Illinois. On Silver Creek, tradition has it that considerable quantities of silver were discovered and sent to France and from this the stream has its name. By the retrocession of the territory to the crown, Renault was left to prosecute the business of mining without means. His operations proved a disastrous failure.

Fort Chaetres

Meanwhile war had sprung up between France and Spain, and to protect the Illinois settlements from incursions of Spanish cavalry across the Great Desert, it was thought advisable to establish a fort in the neighborhood of Kaskaskia. A Spanish expedition had, indeed, been fitted out at Santa Fe, but their guides, leading it by mistake to the Missouri Indians, instead of the Osages, enemies instead of friends, the whole party was massacred, with the exception of a priest who escaped to relate the fate of his unfortunate comrades. Previous to this La Salle, on the occasion of his visit to Paris, had shown the necessity of building a chain of forts from Canada to the Gulf, in order to secure the territory to the crown of France. In 1720, Boisbriant was despatched to Illinois. He began the building of Fort Chartres, long the strongest fortress on the Western Continent, and of wide celebriiy in the subsequent history of Illinois.

Fort Chartres stood on the east bank of the Mississippi, seventeen miles north-west of Kaskaskia, and between three and four miles from the location of the present village of Prairie du Eocher. The Company of the West finally built their warehouses here. In 1721, on the division of Louisiana into seven districts, it became the headquarters of Boisbriant, the first local Governor of Illinois. Fort Chartres was the seat of the government of Illinois, not only while the French retained possession of the country, but after it passed under English control. When the fort was built, it stood about one mile distant from the river. In the year 1724 an inundation of the Mississippi washed away a portion of bank in front of the fort.

Captain Philip Pitman visited Illinois in 1766. He was an engineer in the British army, and was sent to Illinois to make a survey of the forts, and report the condition of the country, which had recently passed under British control. He published in London, in 1770, a work entitled, "The present State of the European Settlements on the Mississippi," in which he gives an accurate description of Fort Chartres :

" Fort Chartres, when it belonged to France, was the seat of the government of the Illinois. The headquarters of the English commanding officer is now here, who, in fact, is the arbitrary governor of the country. The fort is an irregular quadrangle. The sides of the exterior polygon are four hundred and ninety feet. It is built of stone, and plastered over, and is only designed for defence against the Indians. The walls are two feet two inches thick, and are pierced with lo'opholes at regular distances, and with two portholes for cannon in the facies, and two in the flanks of each bastion. The ditch has never been finished. The entrance to the fort is through a very handsome rustic gate. Within the walls is a banquette raised three feet, for the men to stand on when they fire through the loopholes. The buildings within the fort are, a commandant's and a commissary's house, the magazine of stores, corps de garde, and two barracks. These occupy the square. Within the gorges of the bastion are a powder-magazine, a bake-house, and a prisou, in the floor of which are four dungeons, and in the upper, two rooms and an out-house belonging to the commandant. The commandant's house is thirty-two yards long and ten broad, and contains a kitchen, a dining room, a bed-chamber, one small room, five closets for servants, and a cellar. The commissary's house is built on the same line as this, and its proportion and the distribution of its apartments are the same. Opposite these are the store-house, and the guard-house, each thirty yards long and eight broad. The former consists of two large store-rooms, (under which is a large vaulted cellar), a large room, a bedchamber, and a closet for the storekeeper. The latter of a soldiers' and officers' guard-room, a chapel, a bed-chamber, a closet for the chaplain, and an artillery store-room. The lines of barracks have never been finished. They at present consist of two rooms each for officers, and three for soldiers. They are each twenty-five feet square, and have betwixt a small passage."

Such was Fort Chartres, believed at the time to be the most convenient and best- built stronghold in North America! Just before the French surrender, forty families lived in the neighboring village, in which stood a parish church, under the care of a Franciscan friar, and dedicated to St. Anne. At the time of the surrender to the English, all, with the exception of three or four families, abandoned their homes, and removed to the west bank of the Mississippi, preferring the government of La Belle Prance to the hated English rule, ignorant that by secret treaty the territory west of the Mississippi had been ceded to Spain, even before the transfer of the region eastward was made to the English.

But the glory of the old fortress soon departed ! In 1756 nearly half a mile intervened between Fort Chartres and the bank of the Mississippi. A sand bar, however, was forming opposite, to which the river was fordable. Ten years later the current had cut the bank away to within eighty yards of the fort. The sand-bar had become an island, covered with a thick growth of cotton woods. The channel between it and the eastern bank was forty feet in depth. In the great freshet six years after, in 1772, in which the American Bottom was inundated, the west walls and two of the bastions were swept away in the flood. It was abandoned by the British garrison, which took up its quarters in Fort Gage, on the blufi" opposite Kaskaskia, which then became the seat of government. From this date its demolition proceeded rapidly. In 1820 the south-east angle was still remaining. Only vestiges of the old Fortress can now be traced. Much of the stone was carried away, and used for building purposes elsewhere. Trees of stately growth cover the foundations. The river has retreated to its original channel, and is now a mile distant from the ruins. A growth of timber covers the intervening land, where less than a century ago swept the mighty current of the Father of Waters.

Under French Rule

During the few years immediately succeeding the completion of Fort Chartres, prosperity prevailed in the settlements between the Kaskaskia and the Mississippi rivers. Prairie du Rocher, founded about the year 1722, received considerable accessions to its population. Among the earliest French settlers to make their homes here were Etienne Langlois, Jean Baptiste Blais, Jean Baptiste Barbeau, Antoine Louvier, and the La Compte and other families, whose descendants are still found in that locality. New settlements sprang up, and the older ones increased in population. At Kaskaskia, the Jesuits established a monastery, and founded a college. In 1725 the village became an incorporated town, and the king, Louis XV., granted the inhabitants a commons. The Bottom land, extending upward along the Mississippi, unsurpassed for the richness of its soil, was in the process of being rapidly settled by the larger number of new arrivals in the colony. Fort Chartres, the seat of government and the headquarters of the commandment of Upper Louisiana, attracted a wealthy, and for Illinois-, a fashionable population.

tion by whicli Louisiana was declared free to all his subjects, and all restrictions on commerce were removed. At this tiaie many flourishing settlements had sprung up in Illinois, centering about Kaskaskia, and the inhabitants were said to be more exclusively devoted to agriculture than in any other of the French settlements in the West.

M. D'Artaguette, in 1732, became commandant of Fort Chartres, and Governor of Upper Louisiana. Between New Orleans and Kaskaskia the country was yet a wilderness. Communication by way of the Mississippi was interrupted by the Chickasaws, allies of the English and enemies of France, whose cedar barks shooting boldly out into the current of the Mississippi, cut off the connection between the two colonies. It was in an attempt to subdue these that M. D'Artaguette, the commandant, 'lost his life. An officer arrived at Fort Chartres from M. Prerrier, Governor-General at New Orleans, in the year 1736, summoning M. D'Artaguette, with his French soldiers, and all the Indians whom he could induce to join him, to unite in an expedition against the enemy. With an army of fifty Frenchmen, and more than one thousand Indians accompanied by Father Senat and the gallant Vincennes, commandant of the post ou the Wabash, where now stands the city bearing his name, D'Artaguette stole cautiously in the Chickasaw country. His Indian allies were impatient, and the commander consented, against his better judgment, to an immediate attack. One fort was carried - another - and then in making the assault on the third, the young and intrepid D'Artaguette fell at the head of his forces, pierced with wounds. The Indian allies made this reverse the signal for their flight. The Jesuit Senat might have fled, Vincennes might have saved his life, but both preferred to share the fate of their leader. The captives afterward met death at the stake under the slow torments of fire.

La Buissoniere succeeded as commandant at Fort Chartres. In 1739 a second expedition was undertaken against the Chickasaw country. La Buissoniere joined Bienville, then Governor- General of Louisiana, with a force of two hundred Frenchmen and three hundred Indians. The whole force under Bienville was twelve hundred French and five hundred Indians and negroes. His men suffered greatly from malarial fevers and famine, and returned the following spring without conquering the Chickasaws, with whom afterward, however, amicable relations were established.

The period from 1740 to 1750 was one of great prosperity for the colonies. Cotton was introduced and cultivated. Kegular cargoes of pork, flour, bacon, tallow, hides and leather, were floated down the Mississippi, and exported thence to France. French emigrants poured rapidly into the settlements. Canadians exchanged the cold rigors of their climate for the sunny atmosphere and rich soil of the new country. Peace and plenty blessed the settlements.

La Buissoniere was followed, in 1750, by Chevalier Macarty as Governor of Upper Louisiana, and Commandant of Fort Chartres. Peace was soon to be broken. The French and English war, which terminated in 1759 with the defeat of Montcalm on the plains of Abraham, and the capture of Quebec, began with a struggle for the territory on the U]iper Ohio. Fort Chartres was the depot of supplies and the place of rendezvous for the united forces of Louisiana, and several expeditions were fitted out and dispatched to the scene of conflict on the border between the French and English settlements. But France was vanquished in the struggle, and its result deprived her of her princely possessions east of the Mississippi.

Chaeactee Of The Early Feench Settlees

The early French inhabitants were well adapted by their peculiar traits of character for intercourse with their savage neighbors of the forest, with whom they lived on terms of peace and friendship. For this reason, the French colonists almost entirely escaped the Indian hostilities by which the English settlements were repressed and weakened. The freest communication existed between the two races. They stood on a footing of equality. The Indian was cordially received in the French village^ and the Frenchman found a safe resting-place in the lodge of the savage. In scenes of social pleasure, in expeditions to remote rivers and distant forests, in the ceremonies and exercises of the church, the red men were treated as brothers, and the accident of race and color was made as little a mark of distinction as possible. Frequent intermarriages of the French with the Indians strongly cemented this union. For nearly a hundred years the French colonists enjoyed continual peace, while the English settlements on the Atlantic coast were in a state of almost constant danger from savage depredations.

It was doubtless greatly owing to the peculiar facility with which the French temperament adapted itself to surroundings^ and the natural address with which Frenchmen ingratiated themselves in the favor of the savages, that this happy condition of affairs existed. But something must be ascribed to the difference of character between the French and English in regard to their aggressiveness. The English colonists excited the jealousy and fear of the Indians by their rapid occupation of the country. New settlements were constantly bsing projected, and the white population pushed farther and farther into the wilderness. AVhen the Indians saw their favorite haunts broken up, and their hunting grounds invaded, a natural feeling of distrust and jealousy led them to warfare against the English. With the French it was different. There was but little disposition to found new settlements, or occupy the wilderness. They were essentially a social people, and the solitary life of a pioneer in the forest was repugnant to'their disposition. They lived in compact villages. Their houses were in close proximity. With abundant room for spacious streets, they yet made them so narrow that the merry villagers could converse with ease across the street, each from his own cottage. Hunting was a favorite pursuit, and the chief means of support. With this mode of life the French were content. Ambition failed to incite them to conquer the wilderness, and push their settlements to unknown regions, and avarice was wanting to lead them to grasp after great possessions. The development of the "territorial paradise," as La Salle had called the region through which he passed on his first voyage down the Mississippi, was to be accomplished by another race.

A Possession Of Great Britain

By the treaty of Fountainbleau, 1762, the vast possessions of France, east of the Mississippi, with the exception of the island of New Orleans, passed under British control. Fort Chartres and the other Illinois posts were surrounded by an impenetrable barrier of hostile savages, friends to the French and enemies to the English, and the French officers were authorized to retain command until it was found possible for the English to take possession. M. Neyon de Villiers was commandant of Fort Chartres, and upon his retiring in 1764, St. Ange d'Bellerive took upon himself the duties of that position. It was the time of Pontiac's conspiracy, when the Indian tribes, inflamed by the savage spirit of that warrior, were precipitating themselves on the English settlements from Canada to Carolina. The French commandant of Fort Chartres was besieged for arms and ammunition to be used against the English The French flag was still flying over the Fort, and the fact of the territory having been ceded to Great Britain was not generally known except to those in authority. The commandant was visited by embassies from the Illinois, the Delawares, Shawnees and Miamis, and finally Pontiac himself, at the head of four hundred warriors, entered the council hall. St. Ange d'Bellerive, unable to furnish arms, offered instead his good will. The reply was received with dissatisfaction. The Indians pitched their lodges about the Fort, and for a time an attack was seriously apprehended. Finally Pontiac dispatched a chosen band of warriors to New Orleans to obtain from the Governor there the assistance St. Ange refused to grant.

Pontiac was killed a few years after. Disappointed by the failure of his plans against the English, he retired to the solitude of the forests. In the year 1769, he suddenly made his appear- , ance in the neighborhood of St. Louis. Arrayed in the French , uniform given him by the Marquis Montcalm a short time previous to the latter's death on the Plains of Abraham, he visited St. Ange d'Bellerive, who at that time had removed from Fort Chartres to St. Louis, where he had become one of the principal inhabitants and commandant of the Spanish garrison. While at St. Louis, he crossed the Mississippi to attend a social gathering of Indians at Cahokia. Becoming intoxicated he started to the neighboring woods, when an Indian of the Kaskaskia tribe, bribed by an English trader with a barrel of whiskey, stole up behind him and buried a tomahawk in the brain of the renowned warrior. St. Ange procured the body, and buried it with all the honors of war near the fort under his command in St. Louis. The tramp of a great city now sweeps over his grave.

Two attempts, on the part of the English, to take possession of Illinois and Fort Chartres; had been made by way of the Mississippi, but hostile Indians on the banks of the river had driven back the expeditions. Meantime a hundred Highlanders of the Forty-second Regiment, those veterans " whose battle cry had echoed over the bloodiest fields of America," had left Fort Pitt, now Pittsburg, and descending the Ohio, appeared before Fort Chartres while the forests were yet rich with the varied hues of autumn. St. Ange yielded up the citadel. It was on the tenth day of October, 1765, that the ensign of France on the ramparts of the Fort gave place to the flag of Great Britain. Kaskaskia had now been faunded more than three-fourths of a century.

On the surrender of Fort Chartres, St. Ange with his garrison of twenty-one soldiers retired from the country, and became commandant at St. Louis, an infant settlement just founded. A large number of the French residents of Kaskaskia and other settlements refused to live under English rule. Many of the wealthiest families left the country ; some removed across the Mississippi, to the small village of Ste. Genevieve, under the impression that on the west bank of the Mississippi they would still find a home under the government of France, while in truth that territory had been ceded to Spain by a secret treaty in 1762. Others joined in founding the city of St. Louis. The French settlements in Illinois, at a period immediately preceding this date, were at the zenith of their prosperity. From that day the French inhabitants have declined in numbers and influence. In 1765, the population of the Illinois settlements was computed as follows : White men able to bear arms, seven hundred ; white women, five hundred ; white children, eight hundred and fifty ; negroes, nine hundred ; total, two thousand nine hundred and fifty. One-third of the whites, and a still larger proportion of the blacks, removed on the British taking possession. A population of less than two thousand remained. Few English, or Americans, with the exception of the British troops, were in the country.

Captain Stirling, who now had command of the Fort, issued a proclamation guaranteeing the inhabitants the liberty of the Catholic faith, permission to retire from the country, and enjoyment of their full rights and privileges, only requiring an oath of fidelity and obedience to His Majesty, the English King. Captain Stirling died some three mouths after his arrival. In the period that elapsed before the coming of his successor, St. Ange d'Bellerive returned from St. Louis, and discharged the duties of commandant. Major Frazier, from Fort Pitt, exercised for a time an arbitrary power, and his successor. Col. Reed, proved still worse. He held the office eighteen months, and during that time aroused the hatred of the settlements by his oppressive measures. Lieutenant Colonel Wilkins assumed command in 1768.

Captain Pitman, to whose book on " The Present State of the European Settlements on the Mississippi " reference has already been made, gives the following description of Kaskaskia, as it appeared \n 1766 :

The village of Notre Dame de Cascasquias is by far the most considerable settlement in the country of the Illinois, as well from its number of inhabitants as from its advantageous situation.

" Mons. Paget was the first who introduced water mills in this country, and he constructed a very fine one on the river Cascasquias, which was both for grinding corn and sawing boards. It lies about one mile from the village. The mill proved fatal to him, being killed as he was working it, with two negroes, by a party of Cherokees, in the year 1764.

" The principal buildings are the church and the JesuiU' house, which has a small chapel adjoining it; these, as well as some of the other houses in the village, are built of stone, and, considering this part of the world, make a very good appearance. The Jesuits' plantation consisted of 240 arpents (an arpent ' is 85-100 of an acre) of cultivated land, a very good stock of cattle, and a brewery which was sold by the French commandant, after the country was ceded to the English, for the crown, in consequence of the suppression of the order.

" Mons. Beauvais was the purchaser, who is the richest of the English subjects in this country; he keeps eighty slaves; he furnishes 86,000 weight of flour to the King's magazine, which was only part of the harvest he reaped in one year. Sixty five families reside in this village, besides merchants, other casual people, and slaves. The fort which was burnt down in October, 1766, stood on the summit of a high rock opposite the village and ou the opposite side of the river. It was an oblong quadrangle, of -which the extreme polygon measured 290 by 251 feet. It was built of very thick square timber, and dove-tailed at the angles. An officer and twenty soldiers are quartered in the village. The officer governs the inhabitants under the direction of the commandant at Fort Chartres. Here are also two companies of militia."

Of Prairie du Roeher, Pitman writes that " it is a small village, consisting of twenty-two dwelling-houses, all of which are inhabited by as many families. Here is a little chapel, formerly a chapel of ease to the church at Fort Chartres. The inhabitants are very industrious, and raise a great deal of corn and every kind of stock. The village is two miles from Fort Chartres. It takes its name from its situation, being built under a rock that runs parallel with the Mississippi river at a league distance, for forty miles up. Here is a company of militia, the captain of which regulates the police of the village."

In describing the distance from Fort Chartres, ^the author, doubtless, refers to Little Village, which was a mile or more nearer than Prairie du Roeher. The writer goes on to describe "Saint Philippe" as a "small village about five miles from Fort Chartres on the road to Kaoquias. There are about sixteen houses and a small church standing ; all of the inhabitants, except the captain of the militia, deserted in 1765, and went to the French side (Missouri.) The captain of the militia has about twenty slaves, a good stock of cattle, and a water mill for corn and planks. The village stands on a very fine meadow about one mile from the Mississippi.

From the same authority we learn that the soil of the country is in general rich and luxuriant. It was favorably adapted to the production of all kinds of European grains, which grew side by side with hops, hemp, flax, cotton and tobacco. European fruits arrived to great perfection. Of the wild grapes a wine was made, very inebriating, and in color and taste much like the red wine of Provence. In the late wars. New Orleans and the lower parts of Louisiana were supplied with flour, beef, wines, hams, and other provisions, from this country. At present, its commerce is mostly confined to the peltry and furs which are got in traffic from the Indians; for which are received in turn such European commodities as are necessary to carry on that commerce and the support of its inhabitants."

Conquest By Claeke

On the breaking out of the War of the Revolution, it is probable that the British garrison (removed in 1772 from Fort Chartres to Fort Gage, opposite Kaskaskia,) had been withdrawn. Illinois was remote from the theatre of action, and the colonists were little disturbed by the rumors of war which came from the Atlantic coast. The French inha;bitants were rather in sympathy with the Americans than the Eoglish, but probably understood little the nature of the struggle. Illinois belonged to the jurisdiction of Virginia. George Rogers Clarke, who visited Kentucky in 1775, seems to have been the first to comprehend the advantages which would result from the occupation of Illinois by the Americans. He visited Virginia, where he laid his plans before Patrick Henry, the Governor of the State. Clarke received his instructions, January, 1778, and the following month set out for Pittsburg. His instructions were to raise seven companies of men, but he could only succeed in enlisting four, commanded by Captains Montgomery, Bowman, Helm, and Harrod. On Corn Island, opposite Louisville, on the Ohio, Clarke announced his destination to the men. At the mouth of the Tennessee, a man named John Duff was encountered, with a party of hunters, who had recently visited Kaskaskia, and also brought the intelligence that one Rocheblave, a French Canadian, was in command at that point, that he kept the militia well drilled, and that sentinels were posted to watch for the " Long Knives," as the Virginians were called, of whom the inhabitants were in terror. Securing his boats near Fort Massacre (or Massac,) Clarke undertook the journey across the country, one hundred and twenty miles, to Kaskaskia. It was accomplished with difficulty. On the afternoon of the fourth of July, 1778, the exhausted band of invaders came to the vicinity of Kaskaskia, and concealed themselves in the hills to the east of the town- After dark Clarke proceeded to the old ferry-house, three-fourths of a mile above the village, and at midnight addressed his troops on the banks of the river. He divided his force into three parties. Two were to cross to the west side of the river, and enter the town from different quarters. The third, under the direction of Clarke himself, was to capture the fort on the east side. Kaskaskia at that time was a village of about two hundred and fifty houses. The British commander last in charge had instilled in the minds of the people the impression that the Virginians, otherwise the "Long Knives," were a ferocious band of murderers, plundering houses, slaughtering women and children, and committing acts of the greatest atrocity. Clarke determined to take advantage of this, and so surprise the inhabitants by fear as to induce them to submit without resistance. Clarke effected an entrance to the fort without difficulty. The other parties at a given signal entered Kaskaskia at the opposite extremities, and with terrible outcries and hideous noises, aroused the terrified inhabitants, who shrieked in their alarm, " The Long Knives !" '" The Long Knives are here !" The panicstricken townsmen delivered up their arms, and the victory was accomplished without the shedding of a drop of blood. M. Rocheblave, the British commandant, was unconscious of the presence of the enemy, till an officer of the detachment entered his bed-chamber, and claimed him as a prisoner. In accordance with his original plan of conquering the inhabitants by terror, and then afterward winning their regard and gratitude by his clemency, Clarke, the next day, withdrew his forces from the town, and sternly forbade all communication between it and his soldiers. Some of the principal militia officers, citizens of the town, were next put in irons. The terror now reached its height. The priest, and a deputation of five or six elderly men of the village, called on Clarke, and humbly requested permission to assemble in the church, to take leave of each other and commend their future lives to the protection of a merciful God, since they expected to be separated, "perhaps never to meet again. Clarke gruffly granted the privilege. The whole population convened at the church, and after remaining together a long time, the priest and a few others again waited upon the commander of the American forces, presenting thanks for the privilege they had enjoyed, and desiring to know what fate awaited them.

Clarke now determined to lift them from their despair, and win their gratitude by a show of mercy. "What! "said he; " do you take us for savages ? Do you think Americans will strip women and children, and take bread from their mouths ? My countrymen disdain to make war on helpless innocents." He further reminded them that the King of France, their former ruler, was an ally of the Americans, and now fighting their cause. He told them to embrace the side they deemed best, and they should be respected in the enjoyment of their liberty and the rights of property.

The revulsion of feeling was complete. The good news spread throughout the village. The church-bell rang a merry peal, and the delighted inhabitants gathered at the chapel, where thanks were offered to God for their happy and unexpected deliverance- The loyalty of the inhabitants was assured, and ever after they remained faithful to the American cause. The French inhabitants of Kaskaskia were readily reconciled to a change of government. In October, 1778, the Virginia Assembly erected the conquered territory into the County of Illinois. This County embraced all the region north-west of the Ohio, and five large states have since been formed from it. Colonel Clarke was appointed military commander of all the western territory north and south of the Ohio, and Colonel John Todd, one of Clarke's soldiers, who next to Clarke had been the first man to enter Fort Gage, was appointed lieutenant-commandant of Illinois. In the spring of 1779, Colonel Todd visited Kaskaskia, and made arrangements for the organization of a temporary government. Many of the French inhabitants of Kaskaskia, Prairie du Eocher, and the other settlements, readily took the oath of allegiance to Virginia. Colonel Todd was killed at the famous battle of Blue Licks, in Kentucky, August, 1782, and Timothy de Montbrun, a Frenchman, succeeded him as commandant of Illinois County. Of his administration but little is known.

Land Tenures

The early French settlers held the possession of their land in common. A tract of land was fixed upon for a Common Field, in which all the inhabitants were interested.

Besides the Common Field, another tract of land was laid off as the Commons. All the villagers had free access to this as a place of pasturage for their stock. From this they also drew their supply of fuel.

Individual grants were likewise made. Under the French system, the lands were granted without any equivalent consideration in the way of money, the individuals satisfying the authorities that the lands were wanted for actual settlement, or for a purpose likely to benefit the community. The first grant of land, which is preserved, is that made to Charles Danie, May 10th, 1722. The French grants at Kaskaskia extended from river to river, and at other places in the Bottom they commonly extended from the river to the bluff. Grants of land were made for almost all the American Bottom, from the upper limits of the Common Field of St. Phillip's to the lower line of the Kaskaskia Common Field, a distance of nearly thirty miles.

The British commandants, who assumed the government on the cession of the territory by France, exercised the privilege of making grants, subject to the approval of his Majesty, the King. Colonel Wilkins granted tO some merchants of Philadelphia a magnificent domain of thirty thousand acres lying between the village of Kaskaskia and Prairie du Eocher, much of it already covered by French grants previously made. For the better carrying out their plans, the British officers, and perhaps their grantees, destroyed, to some extent, the records of the ancient French grants at Kaskaskia, by which the regular claim of titles and conveyances was partly broken. This British grant of thirty thousand acres, which had been assigned to John Edgar, was afterward patented by Governor St. Clair to Edgar and John Murray St. Clair, the Governor's son, to whom Edgar had previously conveyed a moiety by deed. Although much fault was found with the transaction, a confirmation of the grant was secured from the United States government.

"When Virginia ceded Illinois, it was stipulated that the Fj'ench and Canadian inhabitants, and other settlers, who had professed allegiance to Virginia, should have their titles confirmed to them. Congress afterwards authorized the Governor to confirm the possessions and titles of the French to their lands. In accordance with this agreement. Governor St. Clair, in 1790, issued a proclamation directing the inhabitants to exhibit their titles and claims to the lands which they held, in order to be confirmed in their possession. Where the instruments were found to be authentic, orders of survey were issued, the expense of which was borne by the parties who claimed ownership. The French inhabitants were in such poverty at this time that they were really unable to pay the expenses of the surveys, and a memorial signed by P. Gibault, the priest at Kaskaskia, and eighty-seven others, was presented to Governor St. Clair, praying him to petition Congress for relief in the matter. In 1791, Congress directed that four hundred acres of land should be granted to the head of every family which had made improvements in Illinois prior to the year 1788. Before this, in 1788, Congress had also directed that a donation be given to each of the families then living at either of the villages of Kaskaskia, Prairie du Eocher, Cahokia, Fort Chartres, or St. Phillips. These were known as " bead-right " claims.

At an early date, speculation became active in the land claims of different kinds ; bead-rights, improvement rights, militia rights, and fraudulent claims were produced in great numbers. The French claims were partly unconfirmed, owing to the poverty of that people, and these were forced on the market with the others. The official report of the commissioners at Kaskaskia, made in 1810, shows that eight hundred and ninety land claims were rejected as being illegal or fraudulent. Three hundred arid seventy were reported as being supported by perjury, and a considerable number were forged. There are fourteen names given of persons, both English and French, who made it a regular business to furnish sworn certificates, professing an intimate knowledge, in every case, of the settlers who had made certain improvements upon which claims were predicated and when and where they were located. A Frenchman, clerk of the parish of Prairie du Eocher, " without property and fond of liquor," after having given some two hundred depositions in favor of three land claimant speculators, " was induced," in the language of the report, " either by compensation, fear, or the impossibility of obtaining absolution on any other terms, to declare on oath that the said depositions were false, and that in giving them he had a regard for something beyond the truth."

The report of the commissioners raised many doubts in regard to the validity and propriety of a number of confirmations by the Governors, and much dissatisfaction among the claimants ; and in consequence. Congress, in 1812, passed an act for the revision of these land claims in the Kaskaskia district. The commissioners under this law were Michael Jones, John Caldwell and Thomas Sloo. Facts damaging to persons who occupied positions of high respectability in the community, were disclosed. They reported that the English claim of thirty thousand acres confirmed by Governor St. Clair to John Edgar and the Governor's son, joha Murray St. Clair, was founded in neither law nor equity, that the patent was issued after the Governor's power ceased to exist, and the claim ought not to be confirmed. Congress, however, confirmed it.

For a period of several, years, emigration was considerably retarded by the delay in adjusting land titles. The act of Congress passed in 1813, granting the right of pre-emption, to settlers, was influential in bringing the public lands into market. Emigrants poured into the country, and improvements were rapidly made.

Civil Oeganization

The history of Illinois has been traced while a possession of France, and when under the British government ; and the formation of Illinois as a County of Virginia has been noted. The several States afterwards agreed, on the adoption of -the Articles of the Confederation, to cede their claims to the western land to the General government. Virginia executed her deed of cession March 1st, 1784. For several years after, there was an imperfect administration of the law in Illinois. The French customs partly held force, and afiairs were partly governed by the promulgations of the British commandants issued from Fort Chartres, and by the regulations which had subsequently been issued by the Virginia authorities.

By the ordinance of 1787, all the territory north-west of the Ohio not constituted into one district, the laws to be administered by a governor and secretary, a court was instituted of three judges. A general assembly was provided for, the members to be chosen by the people. General Arthur St. Clair was selected by Congress, as Governor of the north-western territory. The seat of government was at Marietta, Ohio.

In the year 1795, Governor St. Clair divided St. Clair County. All south of a line running through the New Design settlement (in the present County of Monroe) was erected into the County of Randolph. In honor of Edmund Randolph of Virginia, the new county received its name.

Shadrach Bond, afterward the first Governor, was elected from Illinois, a member of the Territorial Legislature which convened at Cincinnati, in January, 1799. In 1800 the Territory of Indiana was formed, of which Illinois constituted a part, with the seat of government at Vincennes. About 1806, among other places in the "West, Aaron Burr visited Kaskaskia in an endeavor to enlist men for his treasonable scheme against the government. In 1805, George Fisher was elected from Randolph County a member of the Territorial Legislature, and Pierre Menard was chosen member of the Legislative Council.

By act of Congress, 1809, the Territory of Illinois was con- ' stituted. Ninian Edwards was appointed Governor of the newly organized Territory, and the seat of government established at Kaskaskia. Nathaniel Pope, a relative of Edwards, received the appointment of Secretary.

For nearly four years after the organization of the Territorial Government no legislature existed in Illinois. All election for representatives was held on the eighth, ninth, and tenth of

October, 1812. Shadrach Bond, then a resident of St. Clair County, was elected the first Delegate to Congress from Illinois, Pierre Menard was chosen from Randolph County member of the Legislative Council, and George Fisher of the House of Representatives. The Legislature convened at Kaskaskia on the twenty-fifth of November, 1812.

In April, 1818, a bill providing for the admission of Illinois into the Union as a sovereign State was passed by Congress. A Convention to frame a Constitution assembled at Kaskaskia in the following July. The first election under the Constitution was held in September, 1818, and Shadrach Bond was elected Governor, and Pierre Menard, Lieutenant Governor. Illinois was now declared by Congress admitted to the Union as on equal footing in all respects with the original States. The Legislature again met at Kaskaskia in January, 1819. This was the last session ever held at Kaskaskia. Vandalia, the same year, was selected as Capital of the State. It was stipulated that Vandalia was to be the Capital for twenty years. At the end of that period it was changed to Springfield. Below we give list of governors and chief officers of Illinois.

State Of Illinois

Believing that it will be interesting to the youiiger readers of our work, we subjoin the following list of Presidents of the United States :

Geography, Agricultural Resources, And Railroad

I N view of the irregularity of conformation of the State of Illinois it is hard to locate St. Clair county specifically ; to speak of it as one of the south-western counties is eminently proper. Geographically it lies wholly within the degree belt lying north of the thirty-eighth parallel of latitude, whilst the thirteenth meridian of longitude, west from Washington, bisects it north and south. Its northern boundary is 38° 33' north latitude : its southern 38° 10' 45" north ; whilst its eastern is 12". 42' 30" west longitude and its most western point 13° 16' west. Its greatest length east and west is thirty miles. Its width thirty miles. It contains 653.36 square miles or 418,162 acres. It is bounded on the north by Madison ; east by Clinton and Washington ; south by Eandolph and Monroe ; west by Monroe county and the State of Missouri. The Mississippi river washes its western shore for a distance of thirteen miles. Belleville, situated north-west of the centre, and midway between the Mississippi and Kaskaskia rivers is the capital of the county. It is fourteen miles distant from St. Louis, and one hundred and ten miles from Springfield, 111. It embraces sixteen full and five fractional parts of congressional townships, and is divided for political purposes into sixteen voting precincts, known as Athens, Belleville, Cahokia, Caseyville, Centerville, Fayetteville, French Village, East St. Louis, Lebanon, Mascoutah, O'Fallon, Prairie du Pont, Richland, St. Clair, Summerfield and Shiloh.

The first surveys of land under the government of the United States, were made by William Rector in 1808. They were part of Cahokia Commons and military claims. The surveying of Congressional townships was not made until 1814, when much of the work was done by John Messinger, who was a sub-contractor under Rector. The first land entries of these lands were by Robert Leman, of 441.63 acres in section 1, T. 2 N. R. 8 W. August 12th. 1814 ; by John Scott of 320 acres being the south half of section 1, T. 1 N. R. 8 W., August 13th, 1814; by Hugh Alexander 320 acres, being the south half of section 4, T. 1 N. R. 7 W., August 13, 18 14. After August 15th, there were many more the same year ; for records of which see histories of precincts. Numerous claims had been made, notably on the score of military service performed prior to this, elsewhere recorded in this work.

Pjpit^ixftoft. - According to the census of 1880 the population of the county is 61,850, composed of persons of German, English, French, Swiss, Irish and African descent. The German element largely preponderates. In 1870 the population was 51,068, showing an increase of nearly twenty per cent, during the last decade.

^Topography . - The surface of the country presents a pleasing variety, gently rolling prairies predominating. Along the water courses, or in some instances, notably along the Mississippi, at a remove from five to seven miles distant are precipitous bluffs. The valleys intervening are low, level, and oft-times covered to considerable depth with rich alluvial deposits from swollen rivers having inundated their surface. These bluffs, like adamantine walls checking the course of destruction of raging floods, are from eighty to one hundred and fifty feet in height. In places the valleys bear strong evidences of having been beds of rivers or lakes. The relative proportion of open and woodland is as six to one. On many of the prairies are stretches of young and vigorous timber, where once was an open space consequent upon annual fires sweeping everything before them. The timber belts follow the meanderings of the various streams or crown the bluffs that hem in their valleys. Following up the course of the Kaskaskia river from where it furnishes a dividing line between this and Monroe counties, to where it enters on the eastern boundary, a shifting of bluffs from one bank to the other is noted. Opposite these bluffs are usually low, level and swampy tracts, dotted here and there with lakes. These low lands are high-, ly productive, but to be brought to their highest excellence must be drained and protected against overflow by means of levees. The same is true of that part of the Great Mississippi bottom lying within this county. Sloughs of hundreds of acres in extent, lie along the base of the foot hills and bluffs bounding this " bottom," rich in vegetable growth ; prolific in exerting miasmatic influence ; forbidding both to the eye and hand, waiting to be made to " bloom and blossom as the rose" before the hand of industry when once redeemed by drainage.

Turkey Hill: - Is the highest point in the county, being a short distance south-east of Belleville. Its situation is commanding and imposing, overlooking a vast stretch of prairie and valley, twenty to thirty miles in extent to the eastward. To the south trends Prairie Tamarawais, named for the Indians who once resorted hither. The largest prairie in the south-eastern part of the county is Twelve Mile prairie, luxuriant in its herbage and happy in its home. East of Belleville surrounded by gently rising hills, is the beautiful Shiloh Valley. Its loveliness is unsurpassed by any in the state. In the eastern part of the county, in Mascoutah precinct, as also in the southern in Richland, are sloughs of considerable extent awaiting the construction of ditches to carry off their surplus waters, in turn to become fruitful fields.

The native kinds of timber are fully set forth in the chapter on the Flora of the county, hence demand but brief mention here. The largest bodies of timber skirt the streams. Oak in great variety abounds ; embracing black, white, over-cup, post, &c. There are also white, black and shell bark hickory ; soft and sugar maple; ash; sasafras ; black and white or English walnut ; wild cherry; elm; pecan; sycamore; honey-locust ; box-alder ; paw-paw; buckeye ; red-bud ; persimmon ; hackberry and other woods indigenous to south and central Illinois. Of shade trees there are black-locust, poplar, elm, maple, catalpa and the numerous family of evergreens. The preservation of forests is a question of vital importance. When it is remembered that wood is an article of constant daily consumption, positively indispensable to nearly every use and appliance of modern civilization ; that railroads require millions of ties annually for purposes of construction, as well as reparation ; it becomes a question of moment, when will the supply be exhausted ? The cessation of prairie fires, with their besom of destruction, admits a growth not enjoyed before the occupation of the land in the interests of agriculture.

Hydrography: - The county is well supplied with natural water courses. Along a part of its western boundary roll the waters of the Mississippi, whilst entering from the east, flowing a south-westerly course, leaving on the south, is the Kaskaskia. Its length within the county is about thirty miles. It, together with its tributaries, drain the eastern half of the county. Prominent among its tributaries are. Silver Creek (so named because of a belief in the existence of silver along its course) which enters the county from the north, flows a southerly course, emptying into the Kaskaskia above New Athens. Big Mud creek which enters the county from the south-east, flows a north-westerly course, emptying into the Kaskaskia below Fayetteville. Dosa creek, which drains much of

The south-central part of the county is drained by Richland creek and its affluents ; the western by Prairie du Pont and its tributary Grand Marius. The Prairie du Pont, with its swift current, furnished the first utilized water power in the county. In addition to these natural means of drainage, tiling has been resorted to with excellent results. "Wet, marshy lands have through its agency, been reclaimed and made to gladden the hearts of progressive husbandmen by the rich harvests of the cereals they have borne. This tiling, which has been in general use only a few years, is made out of a species of fire clay, of which extensive beds are found in the county. As the benefits of tile draining become more manifest it will be still more_ extensively used, and millions will be added to the wealth of the county.

Springs: - In many places, particularly along the hill sides which fringe the valleys, are perennial springs of clear, pure, cold, water. The most notable of these are. Falling Springs in section 22, T. 1 S. R. 10 W. two miles south-east of Prairie du Pont. The French Call the spring L'eau Tomb. It gushes out of a perpendicular rock of the Mississippi bluff, with a fall of seventy feet to the bottom below. At times in the spring the volume of water is greatly augmented ; when its rushings may be heard for a considerable distance. At one time, away back in the dim past, when Catholic missionaries sought its surrounding shades, wherein to teach savages the ways of life everlasting, an effort was made, under their direction, to utilize these waters by the construction of a water-mill. All traces of it have long since disappeared. " The oldest inhabitant," in early childhood, had the crumbling ruins pointed out to him, and was told that a hollow log conveyed the water to the wheel of the mill. At the present the springs are much visited by pleasure and picnic parties.

A short distance east of Falling Springs in sccton 24,T. 1 S.,R- 10 W., are springs quite strongly impregnated|with magnesia. Their temperature is uniform at all seasons of the year, fluctuating only from 54° to 56° Fahrenheit. The Bellville Fish Club, organized some six years ago, have constructed artificial ponds, wherein they are propagating trout. The third year after the stocking of the ponds, trout of a pound weight were taken from them.

On section 35, same township and range, is the largest spring in the county. It pours forth from an aperture in the rocks, at about the height of a man, from the general surface below. Tliis entire township is full of springs, some of them only filled in wet seasons. After the waters recede, they become dry sink-holes.

Mounds. - Much speculation has been indulged in respecting the group of mounds to the south and south-west of Cahokia, and also Monks Mound, just across the line in Madison county. Many archaeologists have claimed them as evidences of the existence of a prehistoric race ; others as the work of aborigines - the progenitors of the Indian race. Others still have asserted that the finding of crosses within these mounds, attest the builders to have been descendants of European races, perhaps the Northmen who crossed the Arctic Ocean several centuries before Columbus made his discoveries in the new world. They cannot think of crosses save as emblems of Christianity. To them the link between the Christian religion and the cross is plain. Again, there are those who in view of the irregularity of position of these mounds, - fifty to sixty in number, scattered over St. Clair county, - believe them but the result of natural causes - drift-clay and loess, deposited by waters which have receded from them. The fact that human bones are found within them, instead of proving them to have been made for interment of the dead, only proves their having been selected for such purpose. That they were erected as fortresses, or as homes, is scouted by many ; whilst scientists are laboring earnestly to satisfy prying human curiosity respecting these speculations, the mounds have an existence, whether by human or divine agency. They vary in height from ten to sixty feet, or more, and in other dimensions their variance is equally noticeable. Sugar Loaf, on the Bluff, near Falling Springs, is among the highest of these mounds in this county. From its summit a view of rare beauty spreads out, like a panorama, before the eye.

Soil. - This county contains nearly all the elemental classes of soil known to agricultural writers. Argillaceous, calcareous and silicious soils, vegetable and alluvial loams, are represented by turns in the different geological formations which abound, often blended with each other in such minute gradations as to make it a task of some difficulty to classify them without preceding analysis. All these soils are characterized by an abundance of live springwater, and a spontaneous growth of natural grasses and forest trees. Cultivation of the soil has greatly diminished the former, so that where once a luxuriant growth of wild-grasses furnished suste-. nance to herds of cattle and droves of hogs, cultivated fields more than compensate for their extinguishment. Here we find a stretch of the great sedimentary basin of the Mississippi valley, with its aggregations of centuries, constituting a soil of inexhaustible fertility, and destined yet to be the great market-garden whence will be supplied the wants of one of our nation's great cities. Hard by, frowning down upon this v.alley, are the bluffs, whose heights are crowned with clay loam, or here and there, but a thin covering of silicious soil, whose unfruitfulness, by a wise dispensation of nature, is compensated for by the coal measure beneath. Then again, farther to the east, are reached vast prairies with a wondrous wealth of black soil, from one to six feet in depth, and commonly termed "vegetable mould," from the fact that for untold ages, extending back to the glacial period, immense accummulations of decayed vegetable matter have been successively adding their treasures, fertilizing these plains, - fitting them to become the supply stations for a dense population. Imperceptibly do the different varieties of soil blend and intermingle. There is too, a cold, yellowish clay, protruding itself to the surface in places on the uplands, but its extent is limited. With proper appliances, such as drainage, there is but little land in the county not susceptible of cultivation.

Agriculture. - In no branch of industry have more rapid strides been made than in the development of agriculture. The earliest inhabitants, after the aborigines, of this county, were the French, at Cahokia. Their lands were allotted to them in long, narrow strips, usually one arpent in width, containing sixty acres and upwards. To supply a home demand in cereals was the height of their ambition. Hence inventive genius sought no improvement in the sickle or reap-hook, no substitute for tramping out the ripened grain with horses or oxen, nor yet an improvement on the wooden mould-board plow. Their plowing was mostly done with oxen, which were yoked together by the horns, and not by the neck, as now. It was probably a hundred years after the first settlements were made before a wagon was brought into requisition. They were constructed without an atom of iron. Because of this, the first Americans that located here called them "bare-footed carts." But little corn was raised. Spring wheat was mostly sowed ; potatoes were raised in considerable quantities. Exportation of surplus crops was occasionally attempted, by means of flat-boats, to New Orleans. The market was uncertain ; the navigation of the river more so. Apples, pears, and a few peaches and apricots were cultivated. The French rarely ever troubled themselves with milking cows, but turned the calves out with other cattle, and hence not sufficient butter or cheese was made for home consumption. But little advancement was made by early settlers m other parts of the county for many years, although a spirit of industry was everywhere manifest. In 1810 parties constructed a raft on the Kaskaskia, in the neighborhood of New Athens, and after loading it with corn, potatoes, chickens, etc., floated down to New Orleans, where they disposed of cargo and raft. Comparing then and now, what changes are noted ; what rapid strides have been made in the onward march, keeping time to the music of progress which everywhere pervades the Mississippi, the greatest of earth's valleys. Figures, those Roman sentinels placed upon the watch-towers of human understanding, present this story of growth in their true light. According to the returns made by the assessor, there were raised in this county last year 2,509,381 bushels wheat; 1,774,740 bushels corn ; 269,465 bushels oats ; 149,136 bushels apples, and other crops in like proportion - figures that will compare favorably with those presented by some entire states. (For agricultural statistics in full, see table elsewhere in this work.)

The mission of the farmer is to create wealth, and here it is being well fulfilled. St. Clair is second to no county in the state when we consider the great variety and lavish production of grains, fruit3, etc. Not only are great crops of the cereals produced, but the potato and other tuberous plants are successfully cultivated, adding largely to the export trade of the county. All varieties of grapes, berries, currants and garden vegetables grow well, producing a trade that adds liberally to the profits of agriculture. Blue-grass, timothy and clover are the principal cultivated grasses, and afibrd rich pasturage for stock, and the finest quality of hay for the market The acreage of pasturage and grass lands is constantly being increased.

Transportation Facilities. - The first means employed for transportation of surplus products were rafts and rudely-constructed boats, on the Mississippi, along the western boundary of the county ; then the Kaskaskia, an important tributary, which furnished an outlet for the eastern part of the county. As early as 1811 Jacob Short and Moses Quick made a trip by raft, carrying provisions to the New Orleans market. It was doubted whether the Mississippi river could, with its swift current, be navigated by steamboats. These doubts were dispelled by the landing at St. Louis of the " General Pike," commmanded by Capt. James Reed, on August 2, 1817. It was nearly two years thereafter that a second boat ascended the river. This was the " Harriet," from New Orleans, on June 2, 1819 ; it was commanded by Capt. Armitage. The trip was made in twenty-seven days. This was the beginning of river communication between the cities of New Orleans and St. Louis, by steamboat. And at this writing, a large per cent- of the coal, manufactured and agricultural products of St. Clair county, find their way to the various markets of the world, by means of numerous barges and steamboats, on the national highway of this valley, the bosom of the Mississippi, whose waters lave the western boundaries of this county.

Railroads. - Railroading is comparatively a new industry. Six thousand years have added their contributions to science, yet during fifty years only have railroads been known. Scientists of all ages have grappled with problems of government, social life, and questions of demand and supply, and left the records of their efforts for our instruction. The accumulated wisdom of centuries furnish store-houses from whence we can draw such instruction ; but railroads are things of to-day. Our fathers died after welcoming their birth, and yet, brief as the span of time since their conception, what mighty levers they have become in the advancement of the world's material industries ! Archimedes said, " Give me whereon to stand, and I will move the world." Railroads have found the standingspace, reached forth their iron arms, and moved the world. All this, too, within the memory of living men. The locomotive steamengine was invented by George Stephenson, of England, and was first successfully used September 27, 1825, on a short road built from Stockton to Darlington. In 1830 there were only twenty-three miles of railroad in the United States. The road between Baltimore and Ellicott's Mills, Maryland, 114 miles in length, was the first regularly opened for passenger traffic, which was in July of that year. The train was termed a " Brigade of Cars." It was the first road to present a time-card. The "Brigade of Cars" was drawn by horses or mules. It had not then been demonstrated that locomotives could attain a speed of over six miles an hour, nor was it until later in the same season, when George Stephenson's " Rocket " attained the then remarkable speed of fifteen miles an hour. In the Baltimore American of July, 1830, was the advertisement of this road, stating that a sufficient number of cars had been provided to accommodate the traveling public, and that a brigade would leave the depot on Pratt Street at 6 and 10 o'clock, A.M., and at 3 and 4 o'clock, P.M. ; returning, would leave the depot at Elllicott's Mills at 6 and 8 J o'clock, A.M., and 12i and 6 o'clock, P.M. This timecard was accompanied with positive orders prohibiting any passengers from entering the cars without tickets, also with a provision for engaging cars by the day, where parties were so disposed.

In 1837 was constructed the first railroad in the Mississippi valley, now known as the Illinois and St. Louis railroad. It was built by Governor Reynolds, Samuel B. Chandler, George Walker and Daniel Pierce. In " My Own Times," Governor Reynolds says : " I had a large tract of land located on the Mississippi Bluff, six miles from St. Louis, which contained in it inexhaustible quantities of bituminous coal. This coal mine was the nearest to St. Louis, Mo., of any other on this side of the Mississippi river. I had also most of the land on which a railroad might be constructed to convey the coal into the market. Under these circumstances, a few others, with myself, decided to construct a railroad from the bluff to the Mississippi, opposite St. Louis. This road was about six miles long, and although short, the engineer made an erroneous calculation of the cost - making the estimate less than one-half of the real cost. We all embarked in this enterprise when we knew very little about the construction of a railroad, or the capacity of the market for the use of the coal. lu fact, the company had nothing but an excessive amount of energy and vigor, together with some wealth and standing, with which to construct the road ; and we accomplished it. We were forced to bridge a lake over 2,000 feet across, and we drove down piles more than eighty feet into the mud and water of the lake, on which to erect the bridge. We put three piles on the top of one another, fastened the ends together, battering the piles down with a metal battering-ram of 1,400 pounds weight. The members of the company themselves hired the hands - at times one hundred a day - and overlooked the work. They built shanties to board the hands in, and procured provisions and lodging for them. They graded the track, cut and hauled the timber, piled the lake, built the road, and had it running in one season of the year 1837. This work was performed in opposition to much clamor against it, that it would not succeed, that we would break at it, and such predictions. We had not the means nor the time in one year to procure the iron for the rails, or the locomotive, so we were compelled to work the road without iron, and with horsepower. We did so, and delivered much coal to the river. It was strange how it was possible we could construct the road under these circumstances. It was the first railroad built in the Mi-sis- sippi valley, and such an improvement was new to every one, as well as to our company. The members of the company and I - one of them - lay out on the premises of the road day and night while the work was progressing ; and I assert that it was the greatest work or enterprise ever performed in Illinois under the circumstances. But it well-nigh broke us all." Such is the history of what is now known as the

Illinois and St. Louis Railroad, which was not regularly chartered until February, 1841, when the name "St. Clair Railroad Coal Co.," was bestowed on it. In 1859 the name was changed to "Pittsburg Railroad and Coal Co.," and in 1865 it was changed to that it now bears. For years it was run without suitable terminal facilities. Its bridge connections and depot grounds in St. Louis were not secured until 1878. The enti/e cost of the road, including these added facilities, has not been less than $75,000 per mile. Under its present manageraeot, which is aggressive, it is proving remunerative. It has a length of 15 miles, 1,799 feet, with 10 miles, 3,581 feet of side-track and switches. Its assessed value is 8202,914. The gross earnings for the year ending December 31, 1880, were $203,830.62, or an average of $7,549.28 per mile of road. Of these earnings $32,534. 82 were derived from the transportation of passengers ; $159,566.12 from freight, and $11,70968 from miscellaneous sources, The working expenses, including taxes, amounted to $132,994.40, an average of $4,922 02 per mile ; and the excess of earnings over expenses and taxes was $40,365.32. In addition to paying the annual interest on mortgage bonds and floating debt amounting to $20,169.54, the company expended $41,041.74 on equipment and construction.

Cairo Short Line. - This road crosses St. Clair county diagonally from East St. Louis, via Centreville station, Belleville, Freeburg, Lementon, New Athens, Lenzburg and Marissa,' a distance of 40i miles, leaving the county a few rods west of its most south-eastern corner. Its business within the limits of this county is large, engaged as it is in the transportation of coal from a majority of .stations ; of flour from Marissa, Athens, Freeburg and Belleville ; of building stone from Centreville station ; of grain from every station. Its extension from Belleville eastward to its present terminus, Du Quoin, in Perry county, seventy-three miles from St. Louis. Number of miles of road, 71 ; aggregate length of sidings, 19 miles ; total track mileage, 90 miles. Miles of main line are mostly laid with steel rails, where it connects with the Illinois Central, was made in 1870. When first built it was called Belleville and Southern Illinois railroad, and was at once leased to the St. Louis, Alton and Terre Haute railroad company for a term of nine hundred and ninety-nine years, the lessees covenanting to pay $88,000 per annum. Large amounts are being expended on equipment; passenger cars are being equipped with all modern appliances for safety and comfort ; in brief, everything possible is being done to popularize the "Short Line" and utilize its resources in the interest of patrons.

The Ohio and Mississippi. - This road crosses the northern part of the county from East St. Louis, via Caseyville, Forman, O'Fallon, Lebanon and Summerfield, two miles east of which last mentioned, it eaves the county. In 1848 the legislature of Indiana passed an act incorporating the Ohio and Mississippi railroad, empowering it to locate, construct and maintain a road leading from Lawrenceburg on the Ohio, to Vincennes on the Wabash, and contemplating an eastern extension to Cincinnati, Ohio, and a western to East St. Louis, as soon as the states of Ohio and Illinois would grant the right of way. In 1849 the Ohio legislature, and in 1851 the Illii^ois, extended the contemplated aid by acts of their respective bodies, and in 1857 the entire length of the road was opened through for business. The panic of that year greatly affected the road, so that in 1858 creditors brought suit for foreclosure of mortgages and sale of property, pending which a receiver was appointed, under whose direction the road was maintained until its reorganization was effected. Parties desiring the establishment of the road on a firmer basis bought largely of its stock, organized a new company, and held c ntrol until 1874, when it again became embarrassed, and after much litigation, was placed in the hands of a receiver, John King, Jr., Vice-President of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, acting in that capacity. Under the present administration, the road has been put in excellent order ; the credit of the company has been maintained, and the floating debt has been materially reduced.

Louisville and Nashville formerly (St. Louis and South eastern). - This road crosses the county from East St. Louis in a South-easterly direction via French Village, Birckner, Belleville, Reutchler Station, Mascoutah, and Pensoneau, leaving the county about two miles east of the latter. Its length in the county is thirty-five and four-fifth miles, including side tracks and switches. Trains first ran over the line from East St. Louis to Mt. Vernon, a distance of 76 miles, in November, 1870, a little more than a year after its incorporation. This road transports annually large quantities of coal, grain, flour, and other products, and has done much toward building up Mascoutah, Belleville, and other places along the line. The company was marked by great enterprise and energy in the prosecution of their work. ,

Cairo and St. Louis. - This road, which owns but little less than four miles of track in this county, makes an East St. Louis connection by running its trains over the East St. Louis and Carondelet, a distance of nine and a half miles, was incorporated in February, 1865, but was not completed until 1873. It is a narrow gauge (three feet) so constructed because it was thought to be economical both in construction and operation. Many townships and some counties through which it passed refused to make good their subscriptions, hence the road has been financially crippled. It now does a good business, a prominent factor in which is the transportation of the Big Muddy coal. Its local business is not thoroughly developed, and its through traffic is competitive.

Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific. - More widely and commonly known as the Wabash, has a length of but two and one-eighth miles in this county, running north, parallel with the C. and A., and I. and St. L. lines. Through a system of consolidation, unparalleled in American railways, it has become a giant among them. This consolidation, it is estimated, has added $50,000,000 to the value of bonds and shares of the various companies now incDrporated in the Wabash system. The road takes its title from the river of that name, a tributary of the Ohio, which in part separates the States of Indiana and Illinois.

For convenience in management and operation the road is divided' into two grand divisions, the eastern and western, with headquarters in St. Louis. Under its new name it has rapidly extended its lines east and west of the Mississippi river, and at present comprises the following divisions, with termini and lengths as presented :

Eastern Division Western Division

In addition to this a branch road is being now constructed to Detroit, Michigan, which, with a connection whose terms are already agreed upon with the great railway system of Canada, and with a further addition of double steel track thence to the seaboard, will make this the most stupendous combination known to railway systems. The. management of the Wabash have recently secured a controlling interest in the Iron Mountain Kailway, and its connection with the system of railways of Texas, and the Southwestern States and Territories will greatly increase its earnings, and will do much toward populating and developing the resources of the great southwest. This road is progressive in every respect. The finest passenger cars on the continent are run on its lines, and every effort is being made to advance the interests of its patrons. The length of the line in St. Clair county is two miles and 816 feet. The Wabash is one of the best roads in the west.

Indianapolis and St. Louis R. R - Its general offices are located at Indianapolis, which point is its eastern and St. Louis its western terminus. The length of the line of this road in St. Clair county is two miles, 2,640 feet, and the entire length of the track from either terminus is 261 miles. The road bed is of substantial build, and well ballasted, tied and ironed : the only station in this county on its line is East St. Louis. In January, 1851, the " Terre Haute and Alton Railroad Company," now (I. and St. L.) was incorporated by special act of the Illinois legislature, with power to build and operate a road between Terre Haute and Alton. Subsequently, in 1852, the " Belleville and Illinoistown Railroad Company" was authorized by act of the Illinois legislature to construct a road from East St. Louis, or Illinoistown, to Belleville, also to extend the same in the direction of Alton. In February, 1854, a special act was passed, authorizing the consolidation of the two roads. The two companies did not avail themselves of this act until October, 1856, at which time the whole line was put in operation and opened to traffic.

Rock Island Division of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy R. R. - This road has no line in this county, but operates its cars and extensive traffic from Alton Junction to East St. Louis over the I. and St. L. R. R ; it also has terminal facilities in St. Louis. It was formerly the (Rockford; Rock Island and St. Louis R. R.) and was built in the years '69 and '70. Trains commenced running between Beardstown and East St. Louis about the middle of May, 1870. In December, 1876, a lease was effected, and it passed under the management of the C. B. and Q. R. R. Comany.

St Louis, Vandalia and Terre Haute R. R. - The length of line of this road in St. Clair county is ten miles, 3,690 feet, and in July, 1868, trains were first run between East St. Louis and Highland, and in July of the following year the road was completed from

East St. Louis to Effingham, ninety-eight miles, and a through train service established between East St. Louis, and Chicago in connection with the Illinois Central Railroad, and in July, 1870, the last rails were laid between Effingham and the Indiana State line. Immediately thereafter a through line of sleeping cars was established between New York and St. Louis, and the " Vandalia route " at once became the popular route from St. Louis to the seaboard.

Belleville and 0' Fallon, a railroad of eight miles length, uniting Belleville and 0 Fallon, was built by General E. F. Winslow in 1870-71. The city of Belleville paid $50,000 in bonds to the road, which liberal donation was supplemented by one from OFallon of $15,000. The original design was to extend the road to Troy, Madison county, where it would forma junction with the Vandalia Line. After grading the road north-easterly from O'Fallon to the Madison county line the project was abandoned, and only eight miles of track were laid. It is controlled by the South-eastern railroad company. All its traffic is accommodated by a single daily train, which makes a trip from Belleville in the morning, returning the same day.

Chicago and Alton.* - T\ns is one of the most important roads of the great system of railroads in the Mississippi Valley. The entire length of line in St. Clair county, including side tracks, is only two miles, 2,264 feet.

The air-line between St. Louis aod Chicago, the two most prominent cities of the Great West, and the most pronounced commercial rivals, occupies a prominent position among the Trans-Mississippi railroads. This may be attributed partly to the persistent manner in which the management has fostered and developed the local business along the line of the road, and partly to the fact that since its reorganization in 1862 the company has, until recently, been the only one in the railroad system of St. Louis, east of the Mississippi river, which paid dividends to its stockholders. Little did they dream who obtained a charter, in or about 1847, for the Altou and Sangamon Railroad, and who were indefatigable in securing subscriptions along the proposed line, (72 miles in length), for its construction and equipment, that they were laying the corner-stone of one of the most valuable railroad properties in the country, and that within the comparatively brief period of thirty years, the line between Alton and SprlngSeld would be merely a small link in an extended railroad system, under one comprehensive management, of more than 840.34 miles. The road between Alton and Springfield was comiiienoed in 1846, and completed in 1852, with the proceeds of Iidiui fide local subscriptions to stock, under the management of a local board of directors. After the completion of the road to Springfield, additional legislation was obtained for extending the line to Bloomington. Mr. Henry Dwight conceived the idea of extending the road to Joliet, and making a connection at that point for Chicago and the East. In furtherance of this idea he obtained a charter for a company called the " Chicago, and Mississippi Railroad Company," and having obtained a board of directors in his interest, issued bonds to the amount of $3,500,000 in 1856, with the proceeds of which the line was completed through to Joliet. Subsequently a lease of the road from Alton to Joliet was made. The road was sold at auction, and it was bid off by Governor Mattison and one or two associates in December, 1857, for the paltry sum of $5,000. The road between Alton and Joliet, at the time of this sale, represented a cost for construction and equipment of $9,535,000, or about $46,640 per mile of road. The purchasers at this auction sale organized themselves into a company, called the

* For data on C. and A. R. R. we are indebted to an article by Mr. Ed. Vernon, in a work entitled, " Railway and River System of St. Louis," and published by L. U. Eeavis.

" St. Louis, Alton and Chicago Railroad Company," and perhaps under ordinary circumstances might have made their venture a success ; but the business and general interests of the whole country were so crippled by the panic of 1857, that failure seems to have been accepted as a foregone conclusion, and after various struggles for existence, the property passed in 1860 under the hands of a receiver, Mr. James Robb, formerly a banker of New Orleans, and a gentleman of recognized executive and financial ability. Under Mr. Robb's management an era of prosperity was inaugurated, and the afiairs of the company were so successfully managed that in 1862 measures were taken for reorganizing the company, and in October of that year the Chicago and Alton Railroad Company was formed, with the former receiver, as president of the new company. The attention of the management, after the reorganization, was directed to securing an independent line under their own control between Chicago and St. Louis, which were recognized as the future termini of the property. In furtherance of these views, a lease in perpetuity was first secured of the Joliet and Chicago Railroad.

It was at this juncture that Mr. John J. Mitchell, a warm friend and supporter of the Chicago and Alton interests, offered to build an independent road from Alton to East St. Louis, provided that the Chicago and Alton, on completion of the road, merge the franchises of the Alton and St. Lpuis charter, obtained in 1850, then owned and controlled by Mr. John J. Mitchell, with their own. The proposition was accepted, and during the winter of 1864 trains of the Chicago and Alton Railroad were running to East St. Louis, and terminating on valuable depot grounds, obtained by Mr. Mitchell for the Chicago and Alton Railroad from the Wigging's Ferry Company. From this date forward this railroad company assumed an independent position in the metropolis of the Mississippi Valley, as the chief transportation line between St. Louis and Chicago. Four years later viz. : in 1868, the Chicago and Alton Railroad Company secured control of the line from Bloomington to Godfrey, a distance of 180 miles, built under the charter of the St. Louis, Jacksonville and Chicago Railroad Company. The lease of this valuable property covers a period of nine hundred and ninety years, and the rental paid is 40 per cent, of gross earnings, with the understanding that such 40 per cent, shall in no case amount to a less sum annually than $240,000.

Subsequently in 1870-71, arrangements were made with the St. Louis, Jacksonville and Chicago Railroad Company for building a branch road from Roodhouse to Louisiana, on the Mississippi river, a distance of 38 miles, under an agreement, whereby the Chicago and Alton Railroad Company guaranteed the annual interest on bonds issued on construction of such branch. At the same time control was obtained of the charter and franchises of the Louisiana and Missouri River Railroad Company, which has been incorporated by the legislature of the state of Missouri, to build a railroad from Louisiana to Kansas City, an estimated distance of 216 miles, together with a branch from Mexico to Cedar City, opposite Jefferson City, five miles in length. It is believed that in consideration of building this road in Missouri, the Chicago and Alton Railroad Company were to receive $80,000 per mile, $15,000 mortgage bonds, $10,000 preferred, and $5,000 ordinary stock of the Louisiana and Missouri River Railroad Company, and in addition such county and local aid, as has been donated in favor of the enterprise. The fifty miles of road from Louisiana to Mexico were opened for trafiic in the winter of 1871-72, the line from Mexico to Fulton, 24J miles, March 6th, 1872, and the line from Fulton to Cedar City, 25J miles, in July of the same year. At the time when the Chicago and Alton Railroad Company assumed control of the road in Missouri, it was intended to build an independent line from Louisiana to Kansas