Viola, Illinois

Greene Township has many interesting physical and geological features. The central part from east to west is a wide plateau, which is drained north to Edwards River and south to Pope Creek. The latter extends from east to west through the southern tier of sections and the former touches the few sections in the northwest. The township is well drained, has a good soil and the farmers raise large crops of grain, hay, etc. Of course the surface deposits belong to the quarternarv period; that is, alluvium, loess and drift. The drift here consists mostly of brown and blue clays, mixed often with sand, gravel and small pebbles and is spread over the entire surface of the township. Bowlders or metamorphic rocks lie scattered here and there mostly along the streams. The coal measures are the most valuable products of the soil. Bed No. 3 consists of limestone, sandstone, clay, shale and coal, and altogether have a thickness of from 100 to 1 qo feet. A well bored near Viola did not pass through the formation after 130 feet. Three seams of coal have been found and worked in the township - Nos. 3, 2 and 1 - 3 and 1 have been most extensively mined. The former has been found thus far on sections 31, 32 and perhaps others. Messrs. Martin, Morrow and others mined this bed at an early date. No. 2 was worked by them also. No. 3 is the thickest and contains coal of the best quality. It varies from three to five feet in thickness and furnishes an excellent fuel coal. Coal No. 2 is too thin a vein in this township to make profitable working. It has been mined on sections 23, 27, 31 and elsewhere. Almost the entire township contains these beds and in the end the township is bound to reap enormous wealth from marketing the product. It is in the shales adjoining these coal beds that the valuable fossils peculiar to the coal measures are found here. Coal No. 1 stretches across the township from east to west and is only a part of the great Edwards River seam. It has been mined extensively already on sections 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11 and 12. In recent years although a great deal is mined yet very little is taken out for shipping purposes. The mines are worked for local use mainly. In this township is found an excellent quality of whitish or pale blue clay, which is found to be first class for potter's work. This and other similar deposits are found in several places. Connected with coal No. i is a valuable bed of blue limestone, which upon being burned, furnishes a good quality of lime. However, it has to be sorted and screened carefully owing to impurities. Connected with coal No. 2 are valuable sandstone, parts of which though light at first, become yellowish upon exposure to the air and thus become very hard and serviceable. Several large quarries have been opened in the township and an inexhaustible supply of rock can be had. The limestone connected with coal No. 1 is drab colored and somewhat impure. It varies from eight to fifteen feet in thickness. It has been mined and used to some extent.

Passage source: Past and Present of Mercer County, Illinois, published 1914.

By 1840 there were probably twenty settlers in the township and by 1850 almost all the valuable land was taken up. By that date schools and churches were well organized and the people were in much better circumstances than they had been ten years before. Under the law of the early '50s Greene Township was organized and named for Gen. Nathaniel Greene of the Revolution. The name was suggested by John Collins. The first town meeting was held in a schoolhouse which stood near the present Village of Viola. John Collins served as chairman; Uri Smith as moderator; and Henry Hoagland as secretary. The following officers were then elected by ballot: Elisha Miles, supervisor; Henry Hoagland, town clerk; William P. Collins, assessor; John Frazier, overseer of the poor; Alexander McGauhey, collector; Samuel E. Russell, John H. Park, and David Summerville, Jr., commissioners of highways. William T. McGauhey and William P. Collins, constables; Jeremiah Boyer and David Summerville, Jr., pound masters; Alexander M. Stewart, Van R. Harriott and C. Doty, overseers of highways; John Griffin and Henry Hoagland, justices of the peace.

Passage source: Past and Present of Mercer County, Illinois, published 1914.

The Viola Vineyard, conducted near the Village of Viola, bv J. M. Erne, was a notable industry in the '70s. There were twentytwo acres devoted to the vineyard and people came many miles when the grapes were ripe to see the sight. He had at one time over six thousand vines growing and could show thirty different varieties of grapes. In 1880 he produced about fifty tons of the fruit. He likewise had an orchard of 600 apple trees, also pears and cherries and marketed large quantities of strawberries and raspberries. He is the originator of the Viola crab, which became known throughout western Illinois in after years. The Green Bower Nursery was another important industry in the '6os and '70s. In 1869 James Ferry opened this nursery. In the end it covered more than twentytwo acres and was on rolling land, and trees and shrubs therefrom were sent all over the western part of the state and the eastern part of Iowa. He raised large quantities of apples, raspberries, grapes, blackberries, strawberries, etc. Another early industry of the township was a steam mill, which was started at Viola in the '6os. In the end it was discontinued. The mill was built by contributions from about twenty persons and was not a corporation. It was operated at a loss and finally was closed out. During its existence one of the lessees of the mill purchased grain and got other credits and closed out without paying for the grain and other articles.

Passage source: Past and Present of Mercer County, Illinois, published 1914.

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 Greene Township - it names this place 19 more 19 times.