Eliza, Illinois

The soil of Eliza township is admirably adapted to agricultural purposes. The land lying on the southeast side of Eliza creek is mostly prairie, and is composed of rich black loam, with yellow and brown clay subsoil in places, which produces heavy crops of corn and other agricultural staples. The land lying north of the creek is undulating, and, near the bluft', quite hilly ; is mostly covered with timber, and is used for pasture, for which it supplies a fine growth of blue grass.

Passage source: History of Mercer County : Together with Biographical Matter, Statistics, Etc., Gathered from Mattter Furnished by the Mercer County Historical Society, Interviews with Old Settlers, County, Township and Other Records, and Extracts from Files of Papers, Pamphlets, and Such Other Sources As Have Been Available : Containing Also a Short History of Henderson County, published 1882.

All that portion of land extending westward and nearest the river is of the finest quality, but owing to tlie exjiosure to ovei'ilow and the damp nature of the soil in seasons for y)lanting, is not farmed. It is covered with a heavy growth of tall coarse grass which makes line l>asture for cattle, hundreds of which are grazed upon it annuall}' and hundreds of tons of hay are made and stacked for winter use. The land nearer the bluff is of the finest grade, the soil being from five to ten feet deep, and susceptible of the highest state of cultivation, and in favorable seasons unaccom])anied by overfiow, has produced more corn })er acre than any other land in the country; but in seasons of extreme rtiiny weather in the northern states, it is subject to ovei-fiow, as was too truly the experience in that locality in the sj^ring and fall of 1881. After the farmers had planted their corn and it had grown a foot or more the land began to overfiow, and in the course of a few days crops were completely submerged in a vast sea of water extending from the blufi' to the Mississippi. Crops of all kinds were completely destroyed. Many cattle, horses and hogs were drowned and those only were saved that could be brought out on fiat-boats. The sudden and unexpected appearance of this fiood was without a parallel Xo the oldest inhabitants. The water reached a height equal to that of 1851, soon subsided and disappeared. The inhabitants were at first discouraged at the pros})ect for a crop that season, but they went to work re})laiiting their corn hoping to be favored by a long season to mature the second crop ; the second planting germinated and grew and so<jn looked better than the first. The season of 1881 being unfavorable for corn throughout the state, proved the best in this locality on account of the peculiar adaptability of the soil. The crop raised that season was the best in the county, but when harvest time came and the farmers were about to realize the results of their labor, with corn at sixty cents i)er bushel, a repetition of what had taken i)lace in the spring ensued ruining the crops and swee})ing away horses, cattle, hay and fences. No portion of land could be seen anywhere. Unlike the previous overfiow in the spring, the water was slow to pass ofi'and covered the land for two months, during which time, drawn there by the excellent feeding, the wild ducks swarmed in by the thousands, completely stripj)ing the corn that was standing out in the water. Sj)ortsmen came from all })arts of the state, the reports of whose guns sounded to the old soldier like a distant skirmish line. It has been estimated that during that season forty thousand ducks were killed and shi])ped from tluit ])lace to the large cities.

Passage source: History of Mercer County : Together with Biographical Matter, Statistics, Etc., Gathered from Mattter Furnished by the Mercer County Historical Society, Interviews with Old Settlers, County, Township and Other Records, and Extracts from Files of Papers, Pamphlets, and Such Other Sources As Have Been Available : Containing Also a Short History of Henderson County, published 1882.

The lirst early settlers of Eliza, with but few exceptions, came from Indiana and, in most instances, brought their families with them, making the journey through the open prairie and enduring all the hardships incident to the times. There being at that time a few trading places at New Boston, that point was mostly aimed for on account of the freight and commercial advantages it then afforded. Another attraction was the timber along the bluff. The majority of these people having been raised in and adjacent to timber in the Ibrmer state, looked npon farming without the use of timber as impracticable, and without which they were unable to constrnct their rude log cabins and fence their farms.

Passage source: History of Mercer County : Together with Biographical Matter, Statistics, Etc., Gathered from Mattter Furnished by the Mercer County Historical Society, Interviews with Old Settlers, County, Township and Other Records, and Extracts from Files of Papers, Pamphlets, and Such Other Sources As Have Been Available : Containing Also a Short History of Henderson County, published 1882.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Eliza Township - it names this place 29 more 29 times.