Winnebago Township (part 1 of 3)

Winnebago Township

return to their respective homes they carried with them such glowing descriptions of tlie Winnebago country, that it wej-e strange, indeed, if if did not become to be regarded as an ahnost second Eden.

In 1833, the Fox River valleys began to settle np with immigrants from the ohler states, and in 1834 and 1835 the prairies along Kock Iliver and the Kishwaukee Creeks began to receive the advance guard of the thousands of industrious and prosperous people that now dwell in their midst.

The earliest permanent white settler in the territory now included in Winnebago county, of whom there is any knowledge, was Stephen Mack. His cabin was built in a grove about half a mile above the mouth of the Pecatonica Kiver at a place that was subse(|ucntly called Bird's Grove. The time of his coming and casting his lot with the VVinnebagoes is not definitely known. Neither is there much known of his early life, or of the^ motives that caused him to isolate himself from kindred, friends and his own race. All that was ever known of this strange recluse is presented in the following sketch:

Stephen Mack was born in Vermont. He was the son of a retired army officer, who was largely engaged in the fur trade. After receiving a good common school education, Stephen was entered as a student at Dartmouth College, Hanover, ISTew Hampshire. From some cause, he could not reconcile himself to the routine of college life, and, finally, abandoned it without waiting for commencement day. His father, hoping to reclaim him from the wild 'Jiabits into which he had fallen, sent him out among the Western Indians to buy furs. Whither he drifted, or how he was occupied from the time he left parental guardianship until he came to the Kock Iliver country is left to the conjecture of the curious. Having mixed a great deal with the Indians, gradually assimilating to their habits and customs, he at last married an Indian woman named Ho-no-ne-gah, the daughter of an Indian chief. The peculiar circumstances that led to this "match" are not definitely stated - that it was not a love match is beyond doubt. Some authorities state that Ho-no-ne-gah once saved Mack's life, from the fury of some Winnebagoes whom he had offended, and that out of gratitude he offered Plo-no-ne-gah his hand, his heart and his fortune as a recompense. Other authorities ascribe the marriage to selfishness and greed on Mack's part, hoping thereby to become enriched by the possession of the lands Hono-ne-gah would inherit from her father. Whatever the true cause, it is a secret with the others of his life, both of which have passed beyond the judgment of men. Of this marriage eight children were born - four girls and four boys. Two of the boys were named Henry and William. The names of the other, two are not remembered, if ever known. The girls were named Rosa, Mary, Louise and Caroline. In after years,when Rock Ford had become Rockford, and a seminary had grown up with the city, Louise and Mary were sent there to be learned in the ways of the whites, but their wild natures were a proof against its civilizing influences, and finally followed their people to their new reservation in Minnesota, where they still remained at last authentic reports. Of the eight children born to Stephen Mack out of his wedlock with an Indian wife, not one became a citizen of the commonwealth of Illinois. Ho-no-ne-gah, the Indian mother of Mack's children, died in 1847, and a year afterwards he married a white woman. This marriage was an unfortunate alliance. The woman he chose for a second helpmate was not as good as his squaw wife. She robbed him whenever occasiou offered, and, finally, set fire to their house while under the influence of opium, to the use of which she was a great slave. A short time after this occurrence the life of Stephen Mack went out,and followed that of his Indian wife into the spirit world, while his mortal remains were buried amid the trees and flowers around tlie spot where his cabin had been reared, sometime about the year 1829.

Those who knew the subject of the above sketch say that Stephen Mack was di2:nified and manly in his bearing, affable and pleasant in his intercourse with his white neighbors, and particularly pleasant with those with whom he had an intimate acquaintance. It is said that he hardly ever used a profane word. Sometimes he would manifest religious inclinations, and at one time hired a man named McDowell to come to liis house, read the Scriptures, and pray with his fiimily. But this kind of devotion did not last long. Mack was tall, and as erect as any of the Indians among whom he dwelt, and possessing a good common education, and withal a close reader - always keeping a good stock of books in his cabin - he might have been a man among men, but he chose otherwise.

In the summer of 1833, Mr. John Phelps, who died a few years ago in Oregon, at the age of seventy-eight years, in company with a Frenchman, started down the Pecatonica from Mineral Point, Wisconsin, on a voyage of exploration or discovery. Their vessel was an ordinary canoe or dug out, and the propelling power a paddle in the hands of Lewis Lemon, a bov of color that Mr. Kent had brought from Alabama, and of whom we will speak more in detail in another place. These men made a short stop at the mouth of what was subsequently named Kent's creek, at the same place where Messrs. Germanicus Kent and Thatcher Blake landed in the late afternoon of an August day, 1834. Phelps and his companion clu voyage were pleased with the location, and but for the seeming scarcity of timber would have located here. But that objection overruled their otherwise favorable impressions, and they passed on down the river and selected claims at the site now occupied by the town of Oregon, thus leaving Rockford to be founded by representatives from two extreme sections of the country - Germanicus Kent, of the State of Alabama, and Thatcher Blake, of the State of Maine.

In 1833, Mr. Kent with his family and his colored boy, Lewis Lemon, came up to Galena, where his brother, Rev. Aratus Kent, a Presbyterian clero-yman, was located. Soon after his arrival there, Mr. Kent learned from some of the soldiers that had been with Scott's army, of the exceeding beauty of the Rock River country, and he determined to visit it at the earliest opportunity.

In June, 1834, Thatcher Blake, w^ho combined the qualifications of school teacher and farmer, set out from his native county of Oxford, Maine, to find fame and fortune in the "far west." As he had no settled point in view, he traveled along from place to place, occasionally meeting a returned soldier from the Blackhawk war, from whom he heard glowing accounts of the Rock River country, and the immense and quickly acquired fortunes of the Galena miners. More impressed with the advantages the valley offered for farming than with the mineral resources of the Galena district, he determined to visit this valley, and if he found the half said of its beauty and wealth of soil to be true, to make it his home for life - a determination he has so far carried out. The only railroad in those days between Illinois and Maine, was the one from Albany to Troy, N. Y. The rest of Mr.

Blake's trip was made by the New York and Erie Canal, to Buffalo, thence by other conveyance to Pittsburc^; thence by steamboat down the Ohio to tiie Mississippi, and up that river via St. Lonis to Galena,

Soon after his arrival at Galena, and expressing his purpose to visit Rock river, he heard of Kent's purpose to make a similar trip, and he at once sought that gentleman's ])resence, made his acquaintance, and together they made arrangements for the prosecution of that tour of discovery that not only resulted to their own advantage, but to the advantage of many thousands of others.

They started from Galena in a "Democrat" wagon, passed up into Wisconsin, and struck the Pecatonica about four miles from what was then known as ''Hamilton's Diggings," operated by a son of Alexander Hamilton, who was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr. A man named Ransom had settled on the Pecatonica at that point, and of him they purchased a canoe, and made the balance of the trip by that means of conveyance. The first halt they made was at AVinnishick's village, where Freeport now is. There Mr. Keiit went ashore to examine the land, leaving Mr. Blake in charge of the canoe, provisions, etc., and during his absence the Indians gathered around in such numbers that Mr. Blake was obliged to lay off in the middle of the stream to prevent them from plundering his " boat." Not exactly suited with the " lay of the land " at that point, their journey was resumed and continued until they glided into Rock river, upon whose silvery waters they floated down to the mouth of the creek that was named in honor of one of its discoverers, Germanicus Kent. Here they landed, late in the afternoon of an August day, 1834. Drawing their canoe ashore, tired with the fatigues of their long and tortuous journey, they soon disposed themselves to rest and slumber. On the morning of the morrow, after partaking of a camp breakfast, they set about an examination of the surroundings, and the impressions formed from reports of the beauty and fertility of the country, were more than confirmed by actual examination, and the conclusions then reached were never afterwards changed. At the close of the day they returned to their camp to partake of their evening meal and discuss the situation. Blake had selected a site for a farm, and Kent had selected a location for a saw mill on the little creek that now bears his name, a few rods above its mouth, little dreaming that the building of a mill there would be the nucleus around which would spring up one of the greatest manufacturing centres in the western country. But such have been the accomplishments of less than half a centiiry. Another night's rest beneath the wide-spreading boughs and thick foliage of a friendly tree, an early breakfast, and their camp ec^uipage re-packed and transferred to their canoe, and they again committed themselves to the current of Rock river, by which they were borne down to Dixon, From Kent's creek to Dixon they found no landmarks that pleased them so well as their discoveries here, and at Dixon they gave up the hunt, disposed of their canoe, and made for Galena, to perfect arrangements for the immediate occupancy and improvement of their claims at the junction of Kent's creek with Rock river. "Wagons and teams were purchased, supplies laid in, and a gang of men employed to build a dam, dig the race and prepare the timber for the saw mill which Kent had determined to build. These preparations completed, the return trip was commenced. The country was then known as Winnebago. There were no roads - not even an Indian trail - to guide them from Galena directlv to their new El Dorado, Their route was by way of the Galena and Dixon line of travel as far as Chambers' Grove, from which point they struck out on the open prairie in a northeast course, and in the evening of the fourth da}^ the pioneer cavalcade drew up and went into camp on the site of their future operations, and a manufacturing city in 1877 of at least 15,000 population.

We have been somewhat minute and elaborate in these following, s of the settlements and incidents pertinent to the earlier liistory of the Winnebago country, that its historical connections with the Pkesent might be the more fully dehned and preserved. And having traced the origin and history of the first settlement, in the fall of 1S34, we come now to the immediate history of Winnebago County, first presenting its Physical Geography; second, its Geological Formations; and third, a brief reference to its Indian Antiquities, Mound Builders, etc.

Physical Geogeapht

Winnebago County is bounded on the east by Boone County; on the south by Ogle County; on the west by Stephenson County, and on the north by the Wisconsin state line. It was organized by an act of the Legislature, in January, A. D. 1836, and derives its name from a tribe of Indians that once included its territory in their hunting grounds. It is twenty-tour miles wide from east to west, and twenty-two miles long, on an average, from north to south, and contains about 540 sections of land. The townships as named are not all bounded by township lines, bat in part by streams and imaginary lines, making the townships thus different in size and shape. Its general level is perhaps somewhat higher than that of Stephenson County, although we have no information of the actual figures. The face of the country is high, dry, somewhat more sandy, rolling and undulating than Stephenson. A considerable portion of tlie surface is covered with timber of various qualities. In the northwestern part of the county, alono- Sugar river and its tributaries, and along portions of the north bank of the Pecatonica, there is much scattering timber and. brush land, interspersed with occasioiuil swampy tracts. A few miles below Rockford, along the north l)ank of Puck river, and extending north and west from the same, there is a tract of barrens covered with brushwood and a rather light growth of white oak and black jack timber. In the southeastern portion of the county, along and near the Kishwaukee creeks, the face of the country is rough, hilly, barren, brushy, and covered with an occasional growth of fair timber. The rest of the county is chiefly prairie, interspersed with many beautiful but small groves.

It is well watered with many fine streams. Pock river enters it about six miles from its northeast corner, at Beloit, runs nearly due south some eighteen miles to Pockford, then bears off gradually to the west and enters Ogle County some fifteen miles south and west of this latter city. This noble and beautiful stream, and its broad, rich valle}^ fill the mind of the beholder with admiration. The waters of this stream are silvery and clear, beyond any other river in the State; its bottom, for the most part, rocky and sandy; its current, swift and strong; its flow and volume constant. Heavy water powers at Beloit, Rockton, and Pockford, afibrd splendid manufacturing facilities; and all along the stream, every few miles, dams might be constructed which would cause thousands of busy wheels to toil in the service of man. At these three places scores of foundries, factories, machine shops, manufacturing establishments, paper mills, grain mills, and other similar enterprises attest the capabilities and power of this niagniiicent river.

The next stream in size is the Pecatonica river. It enters the county on the west, some eight miles from its southwestern corner, and flows in a feneral east and north course, about twenty miles, to near the town of !,ockton, where it mingles its turbid waters with the bright, flashing current of Kock river. If possible, its course is more tortuous and its waters more muddy in Winnebago than in Stephenson county. Sugar river comes in from the northwest and enters the Pecatonica near the village of Shirland. Both these streams have bottoms of rich, deep alluvium from one to perhaps three miles wide. Neither of them afford any water power. Both of them, we believe, are dammed in the water mill sense of the term, but such lazy rivers will never make whirling wheels hum the songs of busy labor. The two branches of the Kishwaukee unite near the southeastern corner of the county, and flow in a considerable stream, until their commingled waters fall into Rock river, in the township of New Milford. Killbuck creek, in the southeast, Kent creek coming in at Rockford, the Kennikiuick creeks in the neighborhood of Roscoe, and another considerable stream, a tributary of Sugar river, in the northwest, known as Coon creek, are the most important of the smaller streams, and with their little feeding tributaries aftord plenty of water for agricultural purposes, together with a number of light water powers.

Some of the Indian names of these streams have a very descriptive significance, Pecatonica, as before mentioned, means "crooked stream " or '-muddy waters," and so far as the steam is descriptive of the name, it ought to mean them both. Sinissippi, the Indian name of Rock river, signifies "rocky river." Kishwaukee means "clear waters" or "sycamore," a name reasonably descriptive of the stream. Winnebago means the "fish eaters." Taking, therefore, all things into consideration, Winnebago County is hardly so good a county for agricultural purposes as its western neighbor, Stephenson. The soil is hardly so fat; the amount of poor land is proportionately greater. But taking into account its manufacturing interests and facilities, the unexampled fertility and Rhine-like beauty of its Rock river valley, and the enterprise and wealth of its grove-besprinkled city of Rockford, it would puzzle a jury to decide which is the more desirable county,

Geological Formations

The geology of Winnebago County is of the simplest character. First, there are "the usual quaternary deposits, consisting of sand, clays, gravels, boulders, subsoils and alluvium. After these, the three well-known divisions of the Trenton limestone outcrop along the streams and hills, and show themselves in the railroad cuts, wells and quarries in different parts of the country. These are the Galena, Blue and Buff limestones of the Western Geologists. A perpendicular section, as near as we can construct it, exhibits the following strata:

The measurements of the Hmestones were made at actual worked outcrops. At no place was the St. Peter's sandstone discovered, although it is supposed that it comes well to the surface about Beloit and Rockton. No remains of the Cincinnati group were discovered, although the thickness of the Galena indicated that patches of it might exist. The Trenton limestones were the only ones exposed or dug into in the county.

Surface Geology

Alluvial Deposits. - The usual alluvial bottoms exist along the Rock, Pecatonica, and Sugar rivers. These are from one to five miles in width. On the two latter named streams, the deposit is deep, black, fat and rich, supporting in places a heavy growth of timber, and, where cultivated, affording the usual superior Indian corn land of flat river bottoms. The deposit along Rock river is not so rich, being composed of more sands and clays, with occasional patches and strips of the fatter soils.

Loess!^ - Some of the blufts along Rock river are in part composed of loess clays, in which no fluviatile shells were noticed. But this formation was found to be of very limited extent.

The Drift Proper. - The drift, a subject of grave discussion among scientists and geologists, is very largely developed in this county. It is composed of loose detrital matter, often of considerable thickness, brought from long distances and deposited over large areas of the county. The materials making up this loose mass were not derived, to any great extent, from the underlying Trenton rocks, but came from the metamorphic regions of the north. Whether brought by the currents and flow of the waters, or transported adhering to the sides of the slow moving, pale green mountains, the ice-bergs; or ground and pushed and moved along by creeping, allpowerful glaciers, will, perhaps, never be positively known. All of these causes may have contributed to these results, but the appearance of the gravel beds themselves indicates the long continued action of water. This is much more evident in Winnebago County, says the report, than in the Stephenson county gravel beds. The railroad track from Beloit to Caledonia, every few miles, cuts through the top of long, undulating swells of land. These swells are pure, unmodified, unstratified drift. They are made up of assorted and well rounded gravel of all sizes, from that of a pistol bullet to that of a goose ^^^., intermingled with a white or yellowish-white sand, and occasional small i)oulders, and are sometimes ten or fifteen feet in thickness. All the railroads exhibit the same beds along their tracks, though in a less prominent degree. Every township in the county has more or less of these gravel beds, and their underlying associate deposits of clay and sand. Along some of the prairies, and in the little streams, huge boulders, the size of a hay-cock are sometimes found, partially sunk into the soil by their great weight. Two of these particularly attracted the attention of the State geologists. One was as black as night, but bisected through the middle bv a flame of flesh-colored granite three-fourths of an inch in thickness. They once saw one ])recisely like it, and evidently from the same original locality, in Clark county, Missouri. The other was flamecolored and planed smooth on two sides, nearly at right angles, evidently by glacial action. These lost or transported rocks, the story of whose journey from the north is wrapped in deep mystery - clay and sand banks, with faint lines of stratification in some instances, assorted gravel beds, nuggets and boulders of copper, rounded to smoothness by erosion of the waters* all these left in their present positions by the waves of the retii-in_i^ seas, slightly modified, in some cases, by subsequent agencies - make the" study of the drift in this country attractive, and are full of lessons of thought to the contemplative mind.

The Trenton Formation

The Galena Zimestotie. - Two-thirds of "Winnebago County is underlaid by this rock. It is a heavy-bedded, yellowish, cream-colored dolomitic limestone, compact, irregular, somewhat crystaline towards the middle and bottom strata, light-colored, porous, crumbling, and full of sand in little cavities towards the top. In some localities the bottom layers pass gradually into the blue, shaley parts of the Blue division, so that it is difficult to place the line of demarcation between the two. An imaginary line entering the county about the southeast corner of the township of lioscoe, drawn thence in a southeast course until Kock river is reached; thence in a slight bend towards the northwest until within a short distance of the Pecatonica, at a point about f uir miles above its mouth; thence meandering along the Pecatonica from one to two miles south of the thread of that stream until the western boundary line of the county is reached; thence starting south and keeping around the boundary line to the place of beginning, and embracing about two-thirds of the county, would indicate the superficial extent of this division, to which might be added a narrow strip extending from the village of Pecatonica up towards and nearly to the northwest corner of the county. The most notable quarries and outcrops within these boi;ndaries are the following: The first heavy outcrop of the Galena limestone is on Rock river, about three miles above Rockford. A high bluff on the north bank of the river presents a bold escarpment some seventy -five feet in height. Here a large quarry has been opened. The stones are hard, compact, and sub-crystal ine, and burn into the very best quick-lime. Large quantities of this stone are transported down to Rockford and burned into lime at the New York lime-kiln. The next heavy outcrops are found at Rockford. Along the Prairie ridge, one mile east of Rockford, there is an exposure of about forty feet in thickness, where a light-colored, whitish, friable stone is quarried to a considerable extent. In a timbered ridge, about one mile north of the fair grounds, there is another deposit of about ninety-six feet in thickness, where the quarrymen have penetrated entirely through the Galena limestone, and entered the Blue limestone below it. The line of demarkation is strongly defined. Three miles below the city, in a bluff on the west side of the river, is a worked out crop thirty-five feet thick. Still farther down the river, and near the Ogle county line, is an exposure in the timber, about six feet in depth. Thus the valley of Rock river, for twothirds of its extent in Winnebajfb County, is hollowed out of the Galena limestone.

In all the cuts and excavations along the line of the Galena division of the JSTorth-Western railroad, which enters the county near the village of Pecatonica on the west, and leaves it on the east line, lead-bearing rocks are shown. At Cherry Yalley a heavy quarry of these cream-colored limestones has been worked. The massive stone for the railroad bridge and piers at this place, was taken from this quarry. From a crevice in this quarry several nuggets of pure copper were taken, the larger of which were sold to tinners, or found their way into eastern museums. Two and a half miles below Cherry Yalley, on the Kishwaukee, is another quarry, at which a h*me-kihi has been operated. At Trink's quarry, a mile farther clown, there is an exposure of fifteen or twenty feet, from which many cords of stone .have been taken.

One ot the heaviest outcrops is found a little east of the station of Harlem, on the line of the railroad leading from Rock ford to Caledonia. The cut passes through a rocky hill, several hundred yards in length and about eighty f.-et in depth at the comb of the elevation. The strata here are massive and solid, and furnish splendid material for heavy masonry. The top of the hill is covered with a fine, limey, white clay. Gravel and boulders also abound in the neighl)orliood. About Winnebago, Argyle, and along south of Harrison, are a number of light quarries worked into the Galena. Without particularizing, says the report, all that part of the county bounded by our imaginary line circumscribing the Galena, is underlaid, at no great depth, by this famous lead-bearing rock. The only fossil found in abundance is the characteristic Receptaculitea sulcata. Quarrymen and miners speak of it as the "honey-comb," "sunflower coral," or ''lead fossil." Specimens are numerous, but generally break to pieces before finding their way into the cabinet, on account of the friable nature of the upper strata in which they are mostly found.

The Blue Limestone. - The Blue limestone, or Trenton proper of the older western geologists, next succeeds the Galena in the descending order. It is largely developed in the northern and northwestern part of the county. It is here a thin-bedded, bluish-gray limestone, calcareous, or with a lime base - but some of the shaley partings have a clayey base. In the bottom of the deeper quarries, a very blue stratum always exists. This is massive and conchoidal or glassy in fracture, and in the mining region is known as the "glass rock." A line drawn from a point in the western boundary line of the county, some two or three miles north of where the Pecatonica river enters it, along the north edge of the alluvial bottom of this stream to a locality about midway between Shirland and Rockton; thence east of north to the northern boundary line of the county; thence M^est round the county line to the place of beginning, would bound the superficial area underlaid by this deposit, except that the extreme western part occasionally shows beds of passage into the overlying Galena, and except that a considerable patch of the Blue rocks exist in the extreme northeastern part of the county.

The first and second railroad cuts east of Shirland, made by the Western Union railroad in excavating for their track, afford the best exposure examined for investigating the Blue limestones of the Trenton series. The first is about eight hundred feet long and thirty feet deep; the second is about four hundred and fifty feet long and fifteen feet deep. The rocks are of a whitish-gray color, with conchoidal fracture, becoming darker colored as the lower strata of the quarries are reached. Further west, about Durant, the stone shows a nearer approximation, in lithological characters, to the Galena. The elevations here are capped with the latter rock. The Sugar river hills are rock-ribbed with the division of the Trenton.

The fossils noticed in the railroad cuts near Shirland are numerous, but mostly small and fragmentary. Some of the thinner and more shaly strata are covered with shells, fragments of trilobites, stems of the encrinites, and pieces of corals, so thick as to resemble masses of fossils stuck together by some adhesive paste.

ceons or clayey, dolomite. For the most part, it is of a light yellowish or brownish color, shading into blue towards the bottom of tlie quarries. It is not very homogeneous in composition or stratification, presenting in some of its layers an earthy, and in some a crystaline, appearance. In every outcrop worked to any considerable extent the lower layers become quite massive, and of a dark blue color. When first removed from the quarry, this blue stone presents a beautiful appearance, and no materials make handsomer mason work, but when exposed to tlie weather for some length of time the dark, rich, blue color fades into dirty whitish blue. It makes a good building stone, but on account of its earthy base does not burn into good lime. But a limited j^ortion of the county is underlaid by this formation.

Fossils. - The characteristic fossils of the buff limestone, observed at Ilockton,consist of fragments and indistinct traces of fucoids: "^ (J epJicdopoda, of the genus Orthoceras, Cyrtoceras, and Lituites; Gasteropoda, of the genera Pleurotoriiaria and Miirchlsonla\ Brachiopoda, of the genera Orthis and Strophomena; LaineUihranchiata, of the genera Tellinomya and Amljoriychia; and zoophytes, or corals in fragments.

Brachiopoda. - Like an ordinary bivalve, in which the mouth of the animal faces the corner of the shell; Orthis family, a thin D-shaped bivalve; Strophomena, a variety of the Oi'this. the ditference being in the hinge.

Economical Geology

Building Stone. - Stone adapted to building purposes is plentiful. The quarries at Harlem and Cherry Yalley furnish excellent materials for solid and massive masonry. Many of the private residences in Rockford. as well as the public school building, are built from stone taken from the Rockford quarry. These buildings present a rich cream colored appearance and beauty that cannot be easily excelled. The general appearance is superior to walls built up with the famous Milwaukee brick.

Lime. - The Buff limestone of Rockton does not burn a good quicklime, but, if properly managed, would no doubt return a good lime for hydraulic uses. Some of the Blue limestone makes a fair quicklime, but the Galena excels all others in the quality of this useful material. It can be obtained in inexhaustible quantities from convenient quarries.

Sands and Clays. - Sands lor all economical purposes are found almost anywhere along the river banks or from thickly strewn drift deposits. Clay for good common red brick is abundant in almost any of the underlying subsoils.

Mineral Wealth. - Of this the county possesses very little. Although covered to so large an extent by the real lead-bearing rocks, no bodies of mineral have ever been found in the county. Some traces of lead have been found in many of the worked exposures, and bits of iloat mineral are sometimes picked up in the gravel beds, but these are simply matters of curiosity, and do not denote any workable deposits of lead ore.

Bog iron ore exists about many of the springs, but is worthless for economical purposes. Copper in its pure state has often been met with. No deposits of the metal exist. It is all float material, found in connection with the drifts. The largest boulder or nugget ever found was by a railroad laborer in the southeast part of the county. Its weight was fourteen pounds. Another nugget of several pounds' weight was found in digging a well some thirty feet below the surface. While these are matters of interesting speculation, they do not add much to the economical uses of the county.

Peat. - The land is too well drained to afford favorable conditions for the irrowth of this useful material. I^o beds of value have ever been found.

Indian Antiquities

The Indian race is fast fading away before the resistless march of the Anglo-Saxon race, and at his present rapid rate of decrease the Indian will soon be a historic name. But he has left memorials which will last when the proudest builded monuments of his all-conquering foes have crumbled into oblivion. The geography and significance of our Indian names is a wonderful subject. Flint arrow points and spear heads are frequently picked up, while stone axes and smooth, oblong instruments, sharp at one end, and used for skinning animals, are of not unfrequent finding.

The mound builders, whoever they were, once swarmed in the valleys and woodlands, sat down upon every picturesque spot along the streams, and left their mound-builded structures as memorial monuments of their busy lives. These things do not belong to the geology of the county, and are only introduced here because tbey are subjects of interest to thoughtful men.

Three classes of these mounds have been noticed in this county - the common round mound, from ten to fifteen feet in diameter, and from two and a half to five feet high. There is a large group of them on the banks of Kock River, six or seven miles below Rockford. At many other places along the river they exist in scattered groups. On the north bank of the river, within the city limits of Rockford, several large ones are preserved in private grounds. But by far the largest number of them are found on the banks of the Kishwaukee, in the southeastern part of the county, near the confluence of the two streams of that name. Scores of them are scattered about there, and scores more have been nearly obliterated by the sacriligious hand of the plowman. The older inhabitants recall many

The oblong shaped mound is of much rarer occurrence. At the locality in Kockford, already alluded to, there is a very remarkable one. Lt is one hundred and thirty feet long, about twelve feet wide at the base, and three or four feet high. Near by this one is a mound of the third class, or those having a fanciful resemblance to some form of animal life. In Ilockford it is called the "Turtle Mound," but it resembles more an alligator with its head cut otf than it does a turtle. Its dimensions are: Whole length, one hundred and fifty feet; width, opposite fore legs, fifty feet; width, opposite hind legs, thirtj'-nine feet; length of tail, from point opposite hind legs to end of tail, one hundred and ten feet; length from a point opposite hind to a point opposite fore legs, thirty-three feet; distance from opposite fore legs to where neck should begin, fifteen feet. The figure lies up and down the river, on a line almost north and south, the tail extending northward. The body rises into a mound as high as a standing man. The feet and tail gradually extend into the greensward, growing less distinct and indefinable, until they cannot be distinguished from the surrounding sod. The eftigy, whether of alligator, lizard, or turtle, seems to be headless, and no depression in the surrounding soil would indicate that the materials out of which it is constructed were obtained in its immediate vicinity. It is a curious structure, and one would like to know its true history as he looks upon its partially defaced form. What were its uses, and who builded its uncouth animal proportions, may be better answered by the researches of the antiquarian than by the geologist or historian.

In prosecuting a search in one of these mounds for relics, August 12, 1874, Hiram R. Enoch, Esq., Editor of the Rockford Journal^ uncovered a gypsum tablet bearing the inscriptions represented on the subjoined engraving.

The tablet was about three-eighths of an inch in thickness. The mound from which it was taken was located six miles below Rockford, and was about seven feet in height. The tablet was found at the bottom of the mound, on a level with the surrounding claim.

The figures as represented on this cut are reversed from those on the "tablet." They should change sides, yet face towards the central fiirure as now.

General History

We left Germanicus Kent and Thatcher Blake, the first permanent settlers of Winnebago Connty and the real founders of Rockford, together with the few men who accompanied them, going into camp on Kent's Creek, on their return from Galena with teams, supplies, etc., preparatory to beginning improvements on the claims they had selected in August. From this point we take up the text of the Past and Present of Winnebago County, and will seek to make it as detailed and accurate as accessible data will permit. That some errors will occur in the dates and the names of prominent characters in the county's history, cannot be denied, but studious care will be taken to avoid as many such inaccuracies as possible.

The first work undertaken by these pioneers was the erection of a cabin 12x14 feet, which was soon completed. The site selected for that house was on the south side of what are now the grounds of Mr. Robert H. Tinker, on the north side of Kent's Creek, and only a few rods from what is now Main street. Their rude cabin completed, preparations were undertaken for the erection of the saw mill. The timber for this mill was taken from the finest on the east side of the river on the grounds now occupied by the Rockford Female Seminary. In November, after the timber for the mill had been hewn out and hauled to the ground where it was to be erected, Mr. Kent returned to Galena, where he remained during the winter, making only one trip to the site of his new home towards spring to bring down supplies. While the other men were hard at work on the mill, Mr. Blake erected a cabin in the grove on the claim he had selected, in which himself, Jeiferson Garner, Squier Garner and Joseph Garner, the mill men, spent the winter of 1834-5.

The next settler came in the early part of April, 1835. The first intimation the founders of Rockford had of his coming was the sight of his covered wagon on the east side of the river. The ice had not all gone out of the river, but had become somewhat w^eakened by the mildness of the weather. Messrs. Kent and Blake (Kent had just brought down the supplies spoken of above) crossed the river, and met Daniel Shaw Haight. Accompanying Haight were two or three other men who were on an exploring expedition. Haight selected a claim on the east side of the river, and in a short time returned to Geneva for his wife and family. In May he came back, bringing in addition to his wife and one child, his wife's sister, a Miss Carey, and a hired man - Mrs. Haight and her sister being the first white women to visit and become settlers at Rockford. For a time, and until a cabin could be built, and this was delayed until Haight made a second trip to Geneva to bring up the balance of their household goods, the family lived under the wide spreading boughs of a burr oak tree. Haight was a native of Balton, Warren county, New York, from whence, a year or two previous to his appearance on Rock River, he had moved to and selected a claim in Kane county, near Geneva. He sold that claim to a Mr. Harrington, father of Mr. Gus. Harrington, who, in after years, became a noted Democratic politician. Haight's cabin was the first one built on the east side of the river, and was a double cabin, that is, a cabin of two rooms about the same size. It afterwards became a place ot note, serving in ^turn as hotel, meeting house, post office, circuit court room, etc. These first cabins were very primitive afiairs, but the manner of their con- struction has been so often described as to render au additional description superfluous. Suffice it to say, that Ilaight's cabin was made and finished without nails. Door hinges were made of wood; the floors of puncheons, logs split in thicknesses of three or four inches, one side dressed down with a broad-ax, and the ends of the other side, where they were to rest on tiie sleepers, dressed down to a level in like manner. There were no attempts at building frame houses until 183(), when Bundy and Goodhue built a frame store house, on what is now lot one on block eight. The floors were made from sawed lumber, the siding from split stull, and the studding from small saplings hewed on either side. Thomas Lake and Sidney Two good were the carpenters.

Kent's mill enterprise met with its set-backs. Soon after they came in the fall of ISM, tliey commenced to build the dam, but in January following, when the ice was sixteen inches in thickness, a thaw came, the creek began to rise, and, breaking over its icy barrier, the water rushed down in one huge torrent and carried the dam away, together with huge pieces of shelving rock that cropped out along the banks of the creek. Early in the spring, workmen commenced digging the race, hut the re-building of the dam was not undertaken until in June, nor was the mill completed until July. In the fall of 1834, Kent had commenced to build a good log house, which was completed in the spring following, and into which his family moved immediately on their arrival from Galena, Kent's claim embraced a section of land including Mr. Tinder's estate, extending south as far as Montague's addition; on the west, it included the property of S. M. Church, and extended north to State street, the eastern line following the bank of Kock river. The vast manufacturing establishments that followed the building of the Rock river dam, are located on a part of the Kent claim, the ownership of which land, if now vested in one man, would be an immense fortune. Blake's claim included the northwest quarter of section twenty, and the southwest quarter of section twenty-nine. The third claim was made by Mr. Kent for an Englishman, named John Wood, a former superintendent of the Bell Factory cotton and woolen mills, about nine miles from Huntsville, Alabama, owned and operated by Messrs. Fatten, Donaghon & Co., of which firm Mr. Kent had been a member. This claim was made in the fall of 1834, but Mr. Wood did not come to occupy it until the spring of 1835. These claims were all located on the west side of the river. James Boswell made the second claim on the east side of the river soon after Ilaight's arrival.

In June, 1835, the Rockford settlement numbered only eleven persons. The first religious services held at Rockford were at the house of Germanicus Kent, on the second Sunday of June, 1835, and were conducted by his brother. Rev. Aratus Kent, of Galena. On that occasion every soul in Rockford attended divine service. The audience was composed of Mrs. Haight and Miss Carey, her sister, Mrs. Kent and Germanicus Kent, Thatcher l>lake, Albert San ford, Daniel S. Haight and his hired man, and Kent's mill -Wright, a Mr. Van Zandt.

The first claim was made here in 1834. During that winter and up to the second Sunday in June following, the population numbered only eleven persons, whose names we have just repeated. In the latter part of that year an increase of the following names had been added: Ephraim Wyman, Wm. E. Dunbar, John Yance, Eliphalet Gregory, P. P. Churchill, Mr. - Smith, Lewis Haskius, Joseph Jolly, John Caton, Chas. Hall, Milton Kil- burn, Ltike Joslin, Israel Morrell, D. A. Spauldiug, Leva Gov and Adam Keith. There maj have been some others, says the authority, from which we quote, that have been overlooked. These names increased the Rockford population to twenty-seven adults, in the fall of 1835. But these were not ah that had come in and claimed an abiding place in what is now Winnebago County. Settlements had been commenced in different parts of the county, and according to a speech delivered before the early settlers in Rockford, in June, 1860, by Selden M. Church, there were the following settlers in what are now the different townships, in the summer of 1835:

JVew Milford. - Samuel Brown, Wm. R. Wheeler, Richard Hogaboom, Phineas M. Johnson, John Adams, James Campbell, John B. Long, and a Mr. Paddleford.

Howard (now Durand). - Harvey Lowe and Nelson Salisbury. These parties made claims in 1835, but did not occupy them till the spring of 1836.

In the fall of 1835 a rapid increase of immigration set in, which was kept up from that time forward. In 1836-7, the increase was very large. As each new comer was pleased or displeased with the country, so were their friends in the old home influenced. But few were dissatisfied, however, and their glowing letters descriptive of the beauty of the landscape, fertility of the soil, etc., were only incentives to increased immigration.

In the summer and fall of 1835, the necessity for some kind of local government began to be agitated, and steps were taken to organize the county. In January, 1836, an act was passed by the Legislature for the organization of Winnebago, Kane and Ogle counties. That act defined the county lines of Winnebago as follows: " Commencing at the southeast corner of township number forty-three, range number four, east of the third principal meridian; thence west to said meridian; thence north, along a line of said meridian, to the southeast corner of township number twenty-six, in range number eleven, east of the fourth principal meridian; thence west to the

Thursday, Sept. 13, 1877, and the marked attention ^iven to his address, gave evidence that the bitter memories engendered by tlie war had well nigh died out. As shown by the number of tickets sold that day, 17,000 persons were in attendance. At the hour of two o'clock in the afternoon, the time set for the delivery of the address, nearly the whole of this vast congregation of people had assembled in front of and around the speaker's stand, presenting an audience such as few public men ever addressed. Governor Hampton was introduced by Hon. William Lathrop, Republican member of Congress from this district, in a few brief, but well chosen, remarks, and if there had been any doubts entertained as to how the speaker would be received, they were quickly dispelled by the hearty demonstrations of welcome and good-will that greeted him as he appeared at the front of the stand. His address was a very happy and felicitious one, and frequently interrupted by loud applause.

In a work of this character, the re-production of Governor Hampton's address would be out of place, but there were some parts of it so full of wisdom, so appropriate to the condition of the times, as to demand preservation. In that part of it which we quote below, there is a lesson that every one may study with profit. Referring to the vast extent of Illinois, to what the people of the State had accomplished in times past, and to what they might accomplish in time to come. Governor Hampton said :

" I would like to talk to you, if I had time, of your great State. I may not live to see it, but many of you will live to see these fertile valleys filled up. A part of your State is called ' Egy])t.' Why could you not be as prosperous as the Egypt of old ? We are told by ancient writers that along the i^Tile there were in a space of ten or twelve thousand square miles twenty thousand cities and towns and eight millions of people in them. You in Illinois have over fifty thousand square miles. What would it be if your population was in the same proportion ? You have a soil as rich as that on the Nile. You have a climate far better, and above all, you are peopled by the younger races of the world, and the grandest destiny that was ever offered to a people is in your hands. Think what the Mississippi Yalley is. Think that it reaches from the Blue Mountains on the east to the Rocky Mountains on the west, and that it runs from the tropics to where perpetual snow shines in the sunlight. Think of the hundreds of millions of people that could be supported here, and then think of the glorious destiny that must be yours; and when you think of what may be that glorious destiny, forget not what was the destiny of the people of Egypt. Rich and cultivated as they were, with science, education and everything but religion, they have died, leaving only stupendous pyramids as burial places for their dead, and the ruins of splendid temples that were dedicated to the worship of apes and crocodiles. You have the great problem to solve that the people of all times have had to solve. The great problem of the relations of labor to capital, the great problem ot the relations of people and States to the general government, and that problem is made more difficult by the infusion of universal suftrage. But I believe that we can solve that question if we devote to it one half the energy that we do to material pursuits. We can do it by education; and when I say education, I do not mean the mere improving of faculties so that one , can read and write. I mean the education of the heart and soul, as well as the mind. When 3^ou have succeeded in doing that, when you will make a man learn that all learning is foolishness in the light of God, when you can teach him that, and make him look to God for hfe and freedom, then we will be on the high road that leads to peace, prosj)erity and happiness."

Governor Hampton was followed by Gen. Sam. F. Carey, of Ohio, the great Buckeye temperance apostle, a former member of Congress, and the greenback candidate for Yice-President in 1876. His speech on this occasion was one of the best of his life, and well adapted to the times and full of progressive ideas. Commencing with the time when he was a boy, wearing tow-linen shirts - and it made his back itch now to think of them - he noted the great improvements that had been made in farm machinery, and everything else that renders the American people the wonder, admiration and envy of the rest of the civilized world for their great achievements in the arts, sciences and all else that makes a people proud, prosperous and happy. Full of sound, practical sense, happily illustrated by humorous anecdotes of the prejudices entertained by the people of the not very long ago against temperance, the cummon-sciiool system, the raih'oad, the telegraph, and kindred enterprises, particularly in some parts of the south. He kept his vast audience enchained by his eloquence for nearly two hours.

The fii st agricultural address delivered in the county was rendered before the original society - the one organized April 13, 1841 - by Dr. George Haskell, in July of that year. A copy of the address was solicited for publication at the time, but for reasons satisfactory to himself, the request was not honored. In after years, when Winnebago County and Kockford, whose growCh he had watched and fostered from their earliest beginnings, had attained prosperity and prominence, he removed to Vineland, JSIew Jersey, where he died in 1876. A year or two before his death, while visiting his daughter, the wife of Henry P. Kimball, Esq., he presented to Mr. Kimball the original manuscript of the address referred to, together with the correspondence that ensued between him and the committee appointed to solicit it for publication thirty-six years ago, with the request that the papers be preserved among the other agricultural records of the county. Among the early settlers of the county, a warm and ardent friend of the tillers of the soil, of quick perceptions, a deep thinker and ardently attached to agricultural pursuits as the basis of all wealth and prosperity, his address of that day is full of merit and as worthy of preservation in the history of the county he and his descendants helped to make as any of more modern date, and will no doubt be read with great interest. It is liereM'ith appended.

- As you have requested me to address you on the present occasion, I have consented to do so froia a sense of duty; not that I feel competent to do justice to the subject for the consideration of which we have assembled at this time, but if I can impart any information that will benefit my fellow-citizens, or direct their attention to matters in which all are deeply interested, I shall feel that my labor has not been in vain. It is not the farmer alone who is to be benefited by the formation of agricultural societies, and the improvements which such societies may be the means of making in the community, but the mechanic, the manufacturer, the merchant, the professional man, and in fact every member of societj^, whatever may be his condition or calling, is interested in agricultural improvement.

and comfort. To man has been consigned, by a beneficent Providence, the capacity and duty of cultivating the soil, and of rendering those elements subservient to our wants and our highest enjoyments. And it has been wisely ordained that our temporal reward shall be in a measure proportioned to the fidelity with which we perform our high duties to ourselves, our fellow men and our Creator. The cultivation of the earth was the primitive employment of man. It is still the great business among all civilized nations, and particularly in our own country, and it must ever remain so. as it is alike necessary to our wants, our happiness and our existence as an independent people. All other arts and employments which distinguish civilized life are dependent upon agriculture for support and existence. If the cultivation of the soil were to cease, and the earth to withhold her contributions, all the arts, trades and professions would fail, the world would become a wilderness and man a savage. Where do we lind society in its most enlightened, refined and improved condition? Take a survey of the present condition of this globe, and you will find tliac nations and people are enlightened and prosperous in proportion to the improved state of their agriculture, and that the other arts of useful industry prosper or decline as this parent art is productive or unproductive. As proof of this I will refer you to the history of Egypt, of Greece, Asia Minor, Italy and Spain, which in turn have been the granaries, in a measure, of the civilized world, which have risen and declined with the condition of their agriculture. While that flourished, commerce and the arts flourished among them and they were prosperous and powerful. But as the agriculture of those countries declined, or was destroyed by the inroads of hostile armies, by the arbitrary sway of despotic power, or the corrupting influence of comuiercial cupidity and extravagance, the ])hysical and moral energies of those nations were broken down, and they became impotent and servile. Some of their once fairest portions have been made desert by the violence of men; commerce and the arts have fled to countries where agriculture flourished, and their population has degenerated into a miserable set of poor, ignorant, enslaved human beings, objects of pity and Christian benevolence.

"iS^ow look at those countries where agriculture is most prosperous, where the greatest attention is paid to the cultiv^ation and improvement of the soil, and there you will find the moral and intellectual condition of the people the most elevated, and human rights most respected. Where the mental and physical powers are so happily combined and employed on objects so useful to themselves and to society as those embraced by agricultural labor, there is little inducement, little temptation, to immoral habits; but there is a strong disposition in the inhabitants to maintain a healthful state of morals and preserve in full vigor all the relative and social virtues, which constitute the main ingredients in our cup of happiness. Pauperism and crime are generally the fruits ot indolent habits of body or of mind, which agriculture neither encourages nor permits. As productive labor is the source of moral health to the body politic, it should be honored that it may more abound. Agriculture has, and ever must have, an important bearing upon our political destinies. The farmers of our country will be the last class to be corrupted by the bribes and blandishments of power - the last class to part with republican habits, to degenerate under the baleful and enerv^ating influences of extravagancL!, dissipation and fashion.

stronger his inclination and his influence in perpetuating the virtues of our revohitionary fathers, and in maintaining in their purity the institutions which they estabhshed, and defending them from foreign and domestic foes. Whether, therefore, we regard agriculture as a necessary branch of industry, indispensible to our wants, and adapted to the development and useful employment of our physical and mental powers, or in its influence upon the moral, social and political aspect ot society, we find in it abundant claims to our highest regards and warmest support.

" It has been said that in fixing on a location for life, the grand requisites to comfort are: pure air, good water, and a healthy, fertile soil; yet these seem incomplete, at least as regards comfort, without the addition of good neighbors- - and tlierefore it is for the interest of every individual to do what he can to improve the condition of those around him.

" A man, whatever may be his honest business, is profited by the prosperity of his neighbor, whether that neighbor be a farmer, a 'mechanic, a merchant, or engaged in some professional calling.

"It is a bad trait in the human character, and one which generally defeats its object, but which is, nevertheless, too conspicuous, that many beek to elevate themselves by depressing those around them - as if the poverty and misfortune of the one added to the virtues and merits of the other.

"Not only philanthropy and Christianity, but self-interest enjoin that when we have provided comfortably for ourselves and our own, we should render all the assistance in our power to our brother who stands in need of our aid. The selfish being who lives but for himself may, by amassing wealth, enjoy his hour or his day of fancied greatness, but he can never realize the pure, the elevated pleasures which flow from a life of active benevolence to the human family.

" Society is in some measure a joint concern, at least so far as relates to the producing classes ; the more these earn by their labor, the greater is the accession of substantial wealth to the community. Whatever tends to increase and improve the products of the soil serves to augment the common stock and enables the grower to supply the market with more and better products, and to buy more liberally of the other classes in return.

"The merchant, the mechanic, the manufacturer and the professional man have all as deep an interest in promoting the improvement of agriculture and horticulture as the farmer and gardener have. The farmer virtually provides lor the other classes, and is at the same time their principal patron and customer ; and although his labors are too often held to be low and menial, by those who cannot and will not appreciate their value, his condition affords the best criterion to judge of the welfare of those around him. Ko country can long flourish or preserve its moral and physical health whose agriculture is neglected and degraded. Every class of the community, therefore, has a deep interest in promoting the improvement of the soil, and all should willingly contribute their aid towards enlightening, honoring and rewarding those who are honestly employed in its cultivation. On the old continent, some men are born to rank and privilege, and others are born to servile labor. Arbitrary laws have prescribed, to a great extent, a man's condition in life ere the infant breathes the vital air. Arbitrary power has perverted the laws of equality which were intended for the human family, and has enacted artificial distinctions which industry and genius can hardly- surmount, nor hereditary rank hardly sink below.

the hereditary distinctions conferred hj birth nor wealth. In our country, merit is the reward of individual ett'ort, and distinction the price of intelligence, industry and virtue; and the competition is open to all. We are all endowed with natural capacities for improvement, like the soil we cultivate; and our reward, like the harvest, will l)e greater or less in proportion to the measure of our solf-improveinent. But, as with the rich soil, where nature has done most man generally does least, so with the mind; where the expectations from parental aid are the greatest, the ofi'spring seem least anxious to exert themselves to fulfil the high obligations imposed upon all. Poverty and want are often the strongest stimulents to physical and mental exertion; and when a laudable ambition is awakened to excel in any useful pursuit, it seldom stops at mediocrity. Adversity more than prosperity is the school in which men learn wisdom. There are high responsibilities resting on the farmer and mechanic, which should stimulate them to mental and moral exertion. They constitute the physical and political strength of our country. If they are ignorant, poor and dependent, they are very liable to become the tools of demagogues and the corruptors of public morals. If they are intelligent and prosperous, they will be exemplary in their habits, strong in their influence, and independent and patriotic in the bestowment of their suffrages. With these incitements to improvement, and these duties and responsibilities before them, the farmer and mechanic have abundant cause to put forth their best exertions, to study the principles of their business, and to profit by the genius and talents and discoveries of others who excel in their respective callings; for however high a man may be naturally gifted, or however successfully he may call his physical and mental powers into action, he may learn much from the skill and practice of others.

"Agriculture has too generally been considered a business requiring mere physical power, with which the principles of natural science had little or nothing to do. To plow, to sow, and to gather the crop, has been the general routine of farming operations, regardless of tlie poverty which such a practice was inflicting upon the soil. Thus the richest and most productive lands of the Atlantic States were rendered almost worthless, and the scanty crops, diminishing from year to year, reproached the cultivator for his ignorance and ingratitude. But within the last few years, the attention of the farmers has been directed to the improvement of the soil, and, having called to his aid the light produced by scientific investigations and discoveries, he has restoi'ed tlie soil to its original fertility and realized ample compensation for his labors.

"And are we not practicing as bad a system of husbandry as our fathers did in Kew England ^ Oar beautiful prairies, with their rich and productive soil, have presented inducements for too extensive cultivation. Some of our richest lands are already nearly rendered worthless by the slovenly manner in which they have been cultivated. The ease with which the first and second crop, perhaps, have been obtained, has induced many of our farmers to undertake more than they could well perform. The land has been but half tilled - the weeds have been permitted to grow and ripen their seeds, and the winds, the birds and other operators, have distributed them profusely over the land. (Our soil is well adapted to the growth of weeds, and under the skillful cultivation of many of our farmers, produces an abundant harvest.) Tnough our soil is at present productive, and good crops can be obtained without the use of manure, yet without it, the capa- bilities of the soil will be yearly diminishing. Our lands, rich as they are, will be benefited by the application of manure, and those who apply all they can obtain will be abundantly compensated for their labors.

"Probably the most of those whom I now address, have learned by their own experience, something of the inconvenience, not to say actual loss, they have sustained by half cultivating their land. Let us imj^rove by past experience, and attempt no more than we can well accomplish. Let us avail ourselves of the labors of others, and profit by their experience and improvements. Science and art are now uniting their labors, and are deriving mutual aid from each other on the farm, as they have for some time been doing in the manufactory and in the shop of the artisan. A new era is dawning upon the vision of the farmer; new light is illuming his path, and a new interest and new pleasures are urging him on to improvement. He begins to study the laws which Providence has ordained for the government of improved culture, and he finds in 'their application to his labors, the means of increasing profits and high intellectual enjoyment; and the more he studies and is guided by these laws, the more does he become satisfied of his former errors and his comparative limited sphere of usefulness. Science is probably capable of rendering more important services to husbandry than to any other branch of labor, and presents a wider field of useful study to the cultivators of the soil, than to any other class of society.

"One great obstacle to agricultural improvement, is the subordinate rank to which this employment Jias been consigned, and to which the farmers themselves have contributed, by a want of respect for themselves and respect for their vocation. The wholesome habits of society have been so broken up by the civil and political convulsions of the age and the inordinate thirst for acquiring wealth and fashionable coilsequence through speculations of various kinds, that honest productive labor has been thrown entirely into the background, and considered not only ungenteel, but menial and servile. Yet he who provides for the wants and comforts of himself and family, and renders some service to society at large, by his mental and physical industry, performs one of the high duties of life, and will ultimately be rewarded in the conscious rectitude of his life, by a greater measure of substantial happiness, than he who makes millions by fraud and speculation, to be squandered in extravagance or wasted in folly by his children or grandchildren.

"The revolutions constantly taking place in families sufficiently admonish us, that it is not the wealth we leave to our children, but the industrious and moral habits in which we educate them, that secure to them worldly prosperity and the treasure of an approving conscience..

"Not content with the gains which are ever the reward of honest and prudent industry, and which might be greatly increased by the culture of the mind; not content with one of the most independent conditions in society, hundreds of farmers have sought other and new employments, and some of truly menial character, to get rid of labor, the greatest blessing to man, and raise themselves in the imaginary scale of fashionable society; and if they cannot participate themselves in this imaginary greatness, and it is seldom anything more than imaginary, they are anxious to inflict the evil upon their posterity. What class of society have within their reach so many of the elements of human enjoyments as the independent tillers of the soil? 'The farmer,' says Franklin, 'has no need of popular favor; the success of liis crops depends only on tlie blessing of God upon his honest industry.' If discreetly conducted on the improved principles of husbandly, agriculture offers the certain means of acquiring wealth, and as rapidly as is consistent with the pure enjojmlents of life, or with the good order and prosperous condition of society. It is the golden mean, secure jalike from the temptations of mushroom opulence and the craven sycophancy and dependence of poverty.

"'The success of the farmer in producing profitable crops depends, as far as human means are concerned, in a great measure upon preparing the soil properly for the reception of the seed, in ada]jting the crop to the soil, and bestowing upon it the necessary culture. A great obstacle in the way of improvement is ignorance of the principles or science of agriculture, and a blind adherence to old practices. I would not reject a practice that had been proved to be useful and important; neither would I adhere to one merely l.»ecause it had been sanctioned by age. But I would prove all things, and hold fast that which is good. From the disc(jveries of science and chemistry, as applied to agriculture, we are taught many important lessons. Why has such signal success attended the practice of some of the ^ best informed farmers in our country of alternating their crops? Chemical science answers the inquiry. The elementary matters which constitute the different kinds of vegetables are similar, and exist in various proportions both in the soil and in the products of the soil; and those elements are so combined as to furnish food for one species of plants one season, and that peculiar kind of food having been exhausted, the same species will not flourish on the same soil in successive seasons. Every kind of plant has its peculiar food ada]»ted to its support, and hence we see the importance of a rotation in cro]:)s in order to obtain complete success. It is true there are some soils so abundantly supplied with vegetable matter that they seem for a time inexhaustible. I have known fields on the American Bottom, which is one of the richest portions of the fertile "West, and even of the world, where Indian corn has been raised successfully for more than twenty successive years, and yet the crop is aljundant, and the caj^acities of the soil do not seem to be diminished. But even that fertile soil may be worn out and its stock of vegetable food exhausted under improper cultivation, and a change of treatment may be found necessary in order to perpetuate its fertility. The primitive elements which constitute all animal and vegetable substances, combining in various forms and in various proportions, are oxygen and hydrogen, the constituents of water, nitrogen, which mixed with oxygen forms the atmosphere, and carbon. These elementary matters are found in all the combinations of matter - in a solid form in animals, vegetables, and rocks. By the interposition of caloric, or the matter of heat, they are rendered liquid and gaseous. When they disappear in one form they take another - they are never lost, never annihilated. They perform a constant routine under the fixed and established laws of nature, for the benefit of man and for the order and preservation of the natural world. As soon as the animal and vegetable cease to live, a decomposition, or separation of their elementary parts, commences, if exposed to the agency of lieat, air and moisture, and goes on until their organic forms are lost, and their elements are mingled with the soil and fitted again to enter into new vegetable combinations and become again parts of new and living organic matters. Hence we may see the necessity of studying and observing those laws of nature which govern to a greater or less extent the whole business of the farm, and which can never be violated with impunity. And, in order to study those laws to the best advantage, we should avail ourselves of all the helps within our reach. We should profit by the labors and experience of others, as they are communicated in the agricultural journals of the day. Every farmer should by all means take some agricultural paper, and store his mind with all that is valuable, and thus have a stock ready for use as occasion may require. Individuals have been benefited hundreds of dollars by the outlay of one dollar for a publication of this kind, in consequence of the useful information it has given them in the prosecution of their business. And here let me call the attention of this society to the " Union Agriculturalist," published monthly at Chicago. Though there are valuable agricultural papers published in other sections of our country, and which are most al.»ly conducted, and in themselves may be superior to Ihat of our own State, yet they are not as well adapted to our peculiar wants as one in which the experience of our prairie farmers is imparted for the benefit of their brethren. The " Union Agriculturalist " is the organ of the State Agricultural Society, and is published by the Union Agricultural Societv, and, with a becoming zeal, we should take hold and help sustain it and*^ make it worthy the high destiny of the Prairie State. Ko one is so poor but he may find some means to raise one dollar a year to pay for such a periodical. Better divide his means between that and the political journal than to be deprived of its benefits.

'' Thus far, in our county the orchard has not received that attention its importance demands. I need not here enumerate the advantages of good fruit. A tree that will produce fruit worth one dollar per bushel oc- - cupies no moi-e ground than a tree whose fruit is beneath the notice of the hog. One of the first labors every farmer should perform is to prepare a suitable piece ot land and plant his orchard, and let that orchard be selected from the best improved fruit, and in a very few years he will be abundantly compensated for all his labor and expense.

" There has been much written upon the raising of silk within the last few years, and many experiments have been detailed to prove that it may be made a profitable auxilliary to farming operations. TJie Multicalis speculation has gone by, and those who are supplied with the tree can make the experiment of silk raising for themselves. If it can be made profitable in any part of our country, it deserves a fair trial here.

" Laboring under the disadvantage of the want of a ready market for our surplus produce, we should direct our attention to those articles which will pay the expense of transportation to a distant market, or which can be converted to useful purposes among us. As much as possible, we should aim at being independent; we should raise and produce among ourselves the most of the necessaries of life. Our farmers must raise the materials, and our clothing must be manufactured among us. Where can wool be raised with greater ease and more profit than on our fine prairies? Let every farm be well stocked with good sheep, and all the wool which is not manufactured among us will bear to be transported to a distant market, and bring in return those foreign articles which are regarded as necessary, and which are draining the country of the little money there is in circulation. Before Ave can be in easy and independent circumstances we must revert the present order of things. Instead of sending our money away to procure necessaries from abroad, we must not only produce articles to exchange for those necessaries, but have a surplus to convert into funds for other purposes. The improvement of cattle and hogs demands the immediate attention of e^ery farmer. Some few individuals have directed their attention to such improvement with laudable zeal, and they will iind themselves abundantly repaid for all trouble. Beef and pork will soon become staple articles" of this countrv, and the farmer who would obtain the lari^est profit from his beef and his pork will raise and fatten those animals, which, with the least amount of food, will produce the most meat. If a hog of one breed, at a given age, and with the same amount of food and the same attention, wdll weigh twice or three times as much as one of a diiierent breed, is it not impin-tant that our stock should be improved? And besides, the hog which will weigh -iCXI, will sell in market more readily for $4.00 pei" hundred than than the hog which weighs 150 or 200 will sell for $2.50 or $3. I will not now sj)ecify the best breeds of cattle and hogs. If we should have a fair next ()ctober, which we now contemplate, all will have an opportunity of seeing and judging for themselves. Such exhibitions are highly important, as they excite a spirit of emulation, and important results may be expected from them when properl}^ conducted. ^

"Flax is an important article for the farmer to raise; if it can not be manufactured into cloth at present, it will bear transportation, and the seed can be manufactured into oil among us, and thus save the expense of sending abroad for that important article. A manufactory tor small rope would do a good business at once and would find a ready market for all that conld be produced. Some one should also engage in the manufacture of stai-ch, and thus save the expense of sending our wheat to the east to be made into the article, and then go there to procure our supply. If sugar can be made from the beet profitably anywhere, it deserves a trial here. The ease with which the beet is raised, and the high price of sugar, offer strong inducements to the capitalist to engage in its manufacture.

"I have thus endeav-ored to direct your attention to the importance of agricultural improvements; and though this society has commenced operations at a time of great pecuniary embarrassments, yet let us not despise the day of small things. Other societies have commenced under as unfavorable circumstances as this, and they have steadily and perseverijjgly advanced until their salutary influence has been apparent to all. I could name instances did time permit, but I leave that for the present.

"The object of this society is a noble one, w^orthy the philanthropist and the patriot; and though you may not reach the goal of your wishes, your labors will not be lost.

"The seed which you sow will produce its tens and its twenty fold, though you may not live to gather the harvest. The work of improvement which you began will progress and be fraught with blessings on your children and on yonr State."

Sir: - The undersigned, a committee appointed by the Winnebago County Agricultural Society, respectfully solicit of you the favor of a copy of your able address delivered before said society at their last meeting. We are aware. Sir, that owing to the multitude of publications on the subject of agriculture, pains should be taken to select such as have the merit of givina- useful information, or of containing matter of interest to tlie muss of readers. But while we in common with others who -were present to hear your address were highly gratitied, we think you cannot do the cause of agriculture, so important in itself, and espe- cially so embodying the leading interest of the West, a greater favor than to allow your address to be published, that all who will may read and learn.

Gentlemen: - Your favor of Aug. 21 is before me, and in reply you will permit me to say that 1 am not insensible of the flattering notice the society has taken of my address. I feel a deep interest in whatever may be calculated to promote the objects of the Agricultural Society, but upon matui'e deliberation I am not yet satislied that the cause of agriculture will be materially benefited by the publication of the address I read before the society, while so many others, more able, are published. I would, therefore, respectfully decline furnishing a copjr for publication. Yours Respectfully,

Murder Of Sheriff John F. Taylor

After the killing of the Driscolls, the arrest, trial, conviction and sentence of Oliver, idcDowell and Bridge, in 1845, as members of the band of outlaws that held dominion here for a number of years, the community seems to have been peculiarly fortunate in its freedom from outlaws and dishonest personages. From the time West and McDowell were sentenced until November, 1856, there was but little of a criminal nature to disturb the quiet of the people. What few crimes were committed were, for the most part, of a petty character, and confined to that grade of crimes and evil-doers that are to be found in all communities. When the "Bandits of the Prairie" had been dispersed and banished from the country, the people settled down to hard work, giving but little heed to anything but the improvement of their farms and the general industries of a new country.

In the month of November, 1856, however, an event occurred that threw the entire county into a fever of excitement, the like of whicli had not been experienced since the cold-blooded murder of John Campbell by the Driscolls and Bridge on Sunday, June 27, 1841. This excitement was created by the murder of John F. Taylor, Sheriif, by Alfred Countryman, and but for the firmness and decision of the more thinking of the citizens of Rockford, Countryman would have received the same summary judgment and execution that hurried the two Driscolls into eternity. The circumstances attending this aflfair were as follows:

On the 11th day of November, 1856, Sheriif Taylor had taken Countryman under arrest on the charge of stealing cattle, and was taking him to jail. When approaching the jail door. Countryman broke away from the Sheriff, jumped over the fence on the Elm street side of the square, and fled southward, towards Kent's creek. When at the corner of Elm and Church streets, seeing that he was likely to be retaken, Countryman drew a pistol from his pocket, turned and fired at Mr. Taylor, who was in close pursuit. His aim was good, and Taylor fell to the ground and expired almost instantly. The alarm was at once given, and hundreds of citizens started in pursuit of Countryman, who kept on towards the grove south of Kent's creek, and where he was finally captured. He was brought back to town in a wagon in the midst of the most terrible excitement ever witnessed in the streets of Rockford, and it was with the utmost difliculty that the officers who had him in charge, assisted by some of the more prominent

"And provided, further, that the amount that would have to be paid to Mr. Gay as his commission for plans and specifications, shall be paid in sums in proportion as the work progresses."

'On motion of Mr. Cowles, a resolution was adopted instructing the Building committee, that when they advertised for bids for the erection of the new court-house, they advertise that they would receive bids on the proposition that the exterior walls of the same he built of Rockford stone.

At the September session (Sept. 14th) the County Clerk was directed to levy such rate of tax on the taxable property as would raise a revenue of $65,000 for county purposes. A subsequent resolution provided that "from the amount ot county tax which shall be raised under the foregoing resolution, on the taxable property of the several towns of this county, as entered on the assessment rolls for 1875, there be appropriated the sum of $30,000, to be used in paying part of the expense of the erection of a court-house, in the city of Rockford, for said county; and that the said sum be set apart as a separate fund, to be known as the Court House Fund, and to be used for the purposes above stated, and none other."

Wednesday, November 24th, the Board went into Committee of the Whole to consider the bids for erectino^ the court-house. At three in the atternoon, the committee rose and reported progress, when, on motion of Mr. Hemenway, a further consideration of the subject was laid over to an adjourned meeting of the Board, to be held at 2 o'clock p. m., on Monday, the 6th of December.

At that meeting of the Board, Mr. Ferguson presented the bid of E. C. Roberts for building the court-house, which M^as referred to the Building Committee, when the Board adjourned until Tuesday morning.

That the Board does hereby reject all bids or proposals made to the Board for the building of a court-house for the county of Winnebago, under a resolution of the Board passed at the last July session of the Board, and that were lodged with the Clerk of the Board on or previously to the 23d of last November."

Proposal for the erection of a court-house, to he located at Roclford, Winnebago County, III., made to the Board of 8uj)ervisors, of the County of Winnebago, by William D. Richardson, of Springfield, Sangamon Co., III. Dated at Rockford, Dec. 7, 1815.

I will furnish all ot the materials and complete the building according to plan and specification, using stone for all cornices, balustrades and papier mache work over entrance to front door, for the sum of one hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars ($165,0(t0).

I propose to do all architectural work, furnish all drawings, specifications and details for 2 per cent, upon a cost of $104,000, and $10 per day and traveling expenses when called to Rockford to consult, examine and superintend work upon the proposed new court-house.

''" Resolved, That tlie building committee be authorized, and are hereby directed to accept the bid of W . D. Richardson for the building of the court-house in accordance with the plans and specifications of lienry L. Gav, architect, with substitution of stone for cornices, etc., in place of iron, as providetl in his bid. and that they be atithorized and directed to enter into contract with said W. D. Kichardson for the building of the said court-house at the price bid, $165,000, to be paid as the work progresses, and in the manner provided for in the plans and specifications, until the building is completed, when the balance appearing to be due the contractor, shall be paid him at par in Winnebago County orders or bonds, bearing 7 per cent, interest and running not to exceed ten years - at the option of the board as to the length of time the bonds shall run, or to pay the cash as they may elect. In case the committee think it advisable to reduce the cost of the building by not putting in the steam heating, and substituting straight steps for rear of building, they are authorized to do so by the proper amount for same being agreed upon.

'"The committee are also instructed to provide in the contract that the walls of the building may be put up and the building enclosed during the season of 1ST7 so as to be completed in ftill by the first day of March, 1878, and that the county shall not be called upon to pay any faster than in the ratio as to time.

"In case there should be any disagreement as to details in making contracts with the contractor that are not arranged satisfactorily to the committee, then the acceptance of the bids shall be null and void."

On Monday, March 6, 1876, on motion of Mr. Hemenway, the Board adjourned to the City Council rooms where, after the regular order of meeting had been disposed of, the following provisional bond, presented by Mr W. I). Richardson, was approved and ordered to be spread upon the records of the Board:

"Know all men by these presents, that Mr. William D. Richardson, of the city of Springfield, Illinois, as principal, and Thomas S. Ridgway and George M. Brinkerhoff, of the same place, as sureties, are held and firmly bound unto the county of Winnebago, in the State of Illinois, in the penal sum of one hundred thousand dollars, lawful money of the United States, to be paid to the said the county ot Winnebago, or its assigns, to which payment we bind ourselves, our heirs, executors and administrators, jointly and severally, firmly by these presents. Witness our hands and seals, this 7th day of December, A. D. 1 875.

"Whereas, the above, William D. Richardson, has entered into contract bearing even date herewith, with the county of Winnebago above mentioned, for the erection of a court-house at Rockford, Illinois, for the said county, upon the terms of the character and within the time of said contract expressed; and in consideration of the making of said contract, the said Richardson has agreed to make and deliver to said county, his bond with sufficient security, in the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, to secure and make certain the full and faithful performance of said contract, and of each and every provision thereof, on his part; an-d this instrument is made and executed and delivered to said county, pursuant to such a_o;reement.

"Xow the conditions of this obligation are such, that if the said William D. Richardson shall in all things on his part, faithfully keep, observe and perform the said contract, and each and every provision thereof, then this obligation to be void; otherwise to remain in full force. Audit is expressly understood and agreed that no change, alteration or modification of the plans, drawings or specifications in the contract mentioned, or the terms of said contract, shall invalidate this bond, but the obligation of this bond shall extend to and embi'ace any such change, alteration or modification, as though the same had been incorporated in the plans, drawings, specifications or contract, at and before the execution of this bond.

Wednesday, March 8, 1876, the building committee submitted to the Roard of Supervisors a ver}^ elaborate report of their action in the premises, setting forth that thej had found it to the interest of the county to employ an attorney to assist them in preparing a good and sufiicient contract, that all parties in interest might fuUy understand their duties and responsibilities; that, after a good deal of time spent in the examination ot points presented for consideration, a contract had been agreed upon, and was therewith submitted for the approval or rejection of the Board. That it was thought proper that one or more of the committee should go to Joliet to see the quality of the stone intended for the court-house, and A. Haines and D. Ferguson, with Mr. Gray, went there on the first of February, and met Mr. Richardson, who pointed out the kind of stone he intended using in the building, a large amount of which he had on hand. The architect and committee were satisfied that the stone pointed out would be satisfactory.

The building committee also reported that they had contracted with Stephen Inman for the removal of the old court-house from the site it had occupied, so that it should front on Court street, for the sum of §220, the said Iniiian agreeing, on his part, to place the building in good shape for occupation by the county by the 8th of March. That the committee after consultation with the architect and builder, had determined to have the specifications printed, as a number of copies would be required, and it would cost no more to have a few written than it would to have fifty printed. The report was signed by Duncan Ferguson, A. Haines, J. B. Merritt, Hugh Mackey, F. E. Latham, Committee.

This agreement, made and entered into this 7th day of December, A. D. 1875, by and between the county of Winnebago, in the State of Illinois, paity of the first part, and William D. Richardson, of the city of Springtield, in the county of Sangamon, and State of Illinois, party of the second part, Wttnensetli:

That said party of the second part, in consideration of the promises and agreements, hereinafter expressed, on the part of the party of the first part, to be kept and performed, has, and hereby does promise and agree, to prepare the foundations, furnish all the materials, build, erect, and complete, for the party of the first part, a court house, in all respects according to the plans, drawings, and specifications therefor, furnished and provided by

Henry L. Gay, architect, and the terms of this contract. All of the materials for said building, and all the work thereon, shall be done and furnished under the direction of, and to the satisfaction and approval of tiie architect, who may at the time be in charge of said work. Said plans, drawings, and specitications, above mentioned, are rel'erred to, and made a part of this agreement. That all work performed under this agreement shall be lirsi-class mechanical work of its kind; and all materials for and used in the erection of said building, shall be of the best quality and ciuantity sufficient for the purpose intended. That the stone used in the construction of said building (save as in the specitications otherwise provided) shall be of the best quality of Illinois limestone, to be taken from the quarry of E. 8. Walker, or from some other quarry of the same color, and of as good quality. The said building shall be completed and finished on or before March 1, 1878, and at that time ready for delivery to the party of the first part. The building shall be inclosed and the roofon, on or before December 1, 1876, but the plastering shall not be put on before the spring of 1877, and shall be completed on or before Nov. 1, 1877.

" That this Board elect by ballot-, some suitable and qualified person, to act as superintendent of the building of the court-house for Winnebago County. The duties of said superintendent shall be as specified in the contract and specifications, for building said court-house, and shall be under the control of the building committee, and shall be subject to removal at any time hj the building committee; subject to the approval of the Board. Said superintendent to receive for his services, the stun of three dollars per day, for the time actually employed. Said superintendent shall not commence work until the building committee shall direct; the superintendent shall only receive pay for such time as they may direct and approve of when the work is in progress, and he shall devote his whole time when the committee direct."