Jordan Township (part 3 of 5)

This phraseology thus used would seem to favor the construction assumed in the complaint ; but when the reason and object of the enactment is considered, the intent of the Legislature evidently was that the provisions of the act may be applied to a district existing within the bounds of a single county. Indeed, the words " several " and " each " and " county " and the phrase "Board of Commissioners," in the connection in which they are used in the act, plainly allowed the construction that a district in an old county may be formed into a new county, provided such district contains an area of 400 square miles, and that such new county, when so formed, does not reduce the old county below that area. In this instance, we will judicially notice that the old county of Jasper contains an area of at least 800 square miles, and that consequently it may be divided so as to form two counties, each having the requisite area.

An inquiry is raised as to whether the plaintiff has adopted the proper remedy. The appellants contend that the case stated in the complaint is not one in which a writ of prohibition can be sustained. The statute allows such a writ, but fails to point out the causes for -vj-hich it may be allowed ; hence for these causes we must look to the common law.

Blackstone says : " A prohibition is a writ issuing out of the courts of King's Bench, Chancery, Common Pleas, or Exchequer, directed to the Judge and parties of a suit in an inferior court commanding them to cease from the prosecution thereof, upon the suggestion that either the cause originally, or some collateral matter arising therein, does not belong to that jurisdiction, but to the cognizance of some other court."

This writ, says the same author, may also be issued to courts of special jurisdiction, as ecclestiastical courts ; when " in handling of matters clearly within their cognizance, they transgress the bounds prescribed to them by the laws of England, as when they require two witnesses to prove the payment of a legacy, a release of tythes and the like. For, as the fact of signing a release, or of actual payment, is not properly a spiritual question, but only allowed to be decided in these courts because incident or accessory to some original question clearly within their jurisdiction, it ought, therefore, when the two laws differ, to be decided, not according to the spiritual, but the temporal law, else the question might be decided different ways, according to the court in which the suit is depending (.3 Blacks. Comm., 112; Tomlin's Law Dictionary, 242 ; 8 Bacon's Abr. [Bouvier's Ed.], 206 ; Bouvier's Law Die, 377 ; 2 Chitty's Gen. Prac, 388).

This exposition of the cases for which a writ of prohibition may issue at common law at once shows that, under our system of procedure, it can only be used for one cause, namely, to command the Judge and parties of a suit in an inferior court to cease the prosecution thereof, upon a suggestion that the cause originally, or some collateral matter arising therein, does not belong to that jurisdiction, but to the cognizance of some other court (Perk. Prac, 489). If this position be correct, and we think it is, the writ of prohibition in this instance was not the proper remedy, because the Board of Commissioners of Jasper County had, in the case pending before it, original and exclusive jurisdiction. Indeed, we perceive no reason why the party, instead of prosecuting the writ in question, did not adopt the usual remedy of appeal, because such an appeal is plainly authorized by express statutory enactment (1 R. S., p. ^29., Sec. 31).

This utter defeat of the remonstrants not only decided the legal status of the question, but also put an end to the division of sentiment in the district involved in the action. The general sentiment was that Newton was victorious and should go in peace to the accomplishment of her own destiny. The final action upon the separation of Newton was taken by the Board of Commissioners, December 8, 1859, when the board ordered the following entry upon their records :

Wfiereaa, The action of this court was heretofore so restrained by an order of the Jasper Circuit Court as to preclude the entry of the following order, and

^Vhereas,The Supreme Court of the State, on an appeal from said Circuit Court, reversed the action of said Circuit Court in said case; it is, therefore, now ordered by this court that the following report, the entry of which was heretofore restrained by said Circuit Court, be spread upon the order book, to wit: To the Honorable Board of County Conimissinncrs of Jasper County, Ind. : We, the undersigned committee, appointed by your houorabh' body at the December terra, A. D. 1857, for the purpose of establishing and laying off the boundaries of Newton County, Ind,, make the following report: Commencing at a point on the State line between Indiana and Illinois, at the southwest corner of Town 07 north. Range 10 west, at the corner of Beuton and Ja.'^per Counties; thence east along the line of said counties of Jasper and Benton, between Townships 5H and 37 north.to Ilange line between Ranges 7 and 8 west; tlience north along said range line of 7 and 8 to the Kankakee river; thence west along the channel of said river to State line between Indiana and Illinois; thence south along said line to place of beginning^ and hereby establish the above as the boundaries of the aforesaid County of Newton, Ind.; all which we respectfully submit to your honors.

Deceased Origin Of Name

The name of the county at this date was a revival of the name originated in 1835. It seems that " The Story of Marion's Men " had just then been published, or that the members of the Legislature especially influential in forming the new purchase into counties greatly admired the heroes of the narrative. It was appropriate that the adjoining counties, at present so similar in size and shape, and so closely related in their early history, should be named for the two Sergeants in this noted band of Revolutionary troops. Sergeant Newton was a compatriot of Jasper, and the two were often united in deeds of daring. One of these occasions is represented as follows : " Like many families of that time, Jasper's was divided on the great question. His elder brother took the side of the English, and served in their army. Out of affection to his brother, and a wish to examine into the strength and condition of the enemy, he resolved, with another patriot soldier. Sergeant Newton, to pay the British a visit. His brother's position enabled him to receive his two friends without any suspicion of their being spies, and they were entertained for two or three days with great hospitality.

" While they were thus engaged, a small party of Americans were brought in prisoners, and, as they had deserted from the British, and enlisted in the American ranks, their doom would have been death. This the brother of Jasper assured him was to be their fate. With them were the wife and child of one of the prisoners. Her distress at her husband's approaching fate touched the heart of Jasper. Confiding his purpose to his friend Newton, they bade adieu to Jasper's brother, and took their leave. They had no sooner got out of sight of the camp than they made a detour, and stretched across the country, so as to elude all suspicion should they meet with any British soldiers.

" It was the custom of the English then to send all the prisoners taken in that quarter to Savannah for trial. At a little spring, two miles from Savannah, Jasper and Newton secreted themselves, awaiting the arrival of the British escort with their prisoners. It had occurred to Jasper that, as they must pass this spot, it was very probable they might rest here for a short time to refresh themselves, and the woody nature of the spot would favor a rescue.

"After some hours' anxious suspense, they saw the escort, with their prisoners, approach; the guard was ten in number, and armed. The Corporal with four men conducted their captives to the water, and told them to rest themselves for an hour, at the same time giving them provisions. The guard then stacked their arms, and seated themselves. The prisoners threw themselves upon the earth in hopeless despair. Near to the wretched man sat his wife and child. Two of the guards alone kept their arms as sentries. As the rest of the men were filling their canteens with water, Jasper and Newton came stealthily from their ambush, seized two of the muskets that were stacked, shot the two sentries, and rushing upon the others, stunned them with the butt of their weapons. Depriveil of their weapons the others abandoned the conflict and fled."

It was such deeds as these that made each man in Marion's band a hero, and the names of Sergts. Jasper and Newton may well be given a perpetual place in history as the names of the Twin Counties that form the subject of these pages.

Physical Fkatures

Newton County lies just north of the hydrographic basin of the Wabash River, and embraces an area of 401.2 square miles, or 256,720 acres. Its topography does not differ widely from that of Jasper County, which joins it on the east. Along the banks of the Kankakee some timber is found fringing the southern bank. The Iroquois, which flows in a general westerly course through the southeast part of the county, has a belt of timber of varying width along its banks. South of this timber belt lies that portion of the Grand Prairie of Illinois, which covers the southern tier of townships. This is the most fertile part of the county, and contains a larger proportion of inhabitants to the square mile than any other part. North of the Iroquois, until the Kankakee is reached, there are alternate groves of timber, much of which is of inferior value, and low prairies, which, when drained, will form quite valuable farming lands. Beaver Creek runs through the western half of the center of the county, and flows into the Illinois. Between this stream and the Kankakee lies Beaver Lake, which, at one time, covered nearly an entire Congressional township. The waters, which were, in places, of a depth of twelve feet or more, were drained off into the Kankakee, some twentyfive or thirty years ago, by an inexpensive ditch, some six miles in len^-th, under the swamp land law. The entire original area of the lake, except a portion of its southern part, is now susceptible of cultivation, and much of it is covered with fertile farms.

Then And Now

During the fifty years that have marked the presence of the white man here, groat changes have been wrought, and what appeared to the earlv settlers a dead level of prairie and swiimp, is now a pleasant area of tliriftv farms. This transformation has been achieved not by physical chan-^es, but by the natural effect of tillnge. The open land was originally eovei-ed with a rank growth of prairie grass ; on the high lands the grass did not reach its normal height, while on the lower levels, its growth was of astonishing proportions, frequently reaching a height which would hide a man on horseback, and would thus tend to create the illusion of a perfectly level plain. In the timber lands the change has been still more marked. The dense forests of young growth, underbrush and saplings did not exist fifty years ago. Then the timber, save along the .streams, was marked only by scattered groves which farming localities preserved from the ravages of the annual fires that swept over the prairies. These were started by accident from the fires of the hunters, or by the Indians to keep the timber in check and to clear the country of the rank grass stubble. These fires which kept the beautiful vista of prairie unobstructed, were most to be dreaded of all the early contingencies with which the settler in the region had to deal. Those only who have been awakened at the " dead hour" of the night by the lurid light of the approaching flames, can appreciate the horror connected with such an event. The feeling of utter helplessness in face of the unequal combat ; the wall of fire, from ten to fifty feet high, advancing with the speed of the wind; the winged denizens of the prairie flying affrighted and screaming before its approach ; the maddened rush of deer, wolves and other animals, forgetting all other fear in the presence of this overshadowing calamity ; the terrible granduer of its irresistible advance ; the saffocating heat of its presence ; the charred and blackened waste which marked its fateful course ; the bewilderment of the isolated family grouped on the only bare spot that offered safety - all this cannot be imagined ; it must be feit to be appreciated. The excitement of its approach, passage and retreat, followed by the contemplation of the smoking ruins of a house, and improvements which had cost months of toil, or of a crop that was the only hope of sustenance during the approaching winter, burns upon the brain of an interested spectator, a sight never to be forgotten, and one the early farmers took pains never to see repeated.

" From the time the grass would burn, which was soon after the first frost, usually about the first of October, till the surrounding prairie was all burnt over, or if not all burnt till the green grass in the spring had grown sufliciently to prevent the rapid progress of the fire, the early settlers were continually on the watch, and as they usually expressed the idea, ' slept with one eye open.' When the ground was covered with snow, or during rainy weather, the apprehension was quieted, and both eyes could be safely closed. A statute law forbade setting the prairie on fire, and one doing so was subject to penalty, and liable in an action of trespass for the damage occurring ; but convictions were seldom effected.

a? proof was difficult to obtain, though there were frequent fires. These, started on the leeward side of an improvement, while dangerous to property to the leeward, were not so to property to the windward, as fire progressing against tne wind is easily extinguished, and the temptation to start one of these fires for some trivial purpose was often quite irresistible.

" Various means were resorted to for protection. A common one was to plow several furrows around a strip, several rods wide, outside the improvements, and then burn out the inside strip ; or to wait until the prairie was on fire and then set fire outside of this furrowing, reserving the inner strip for a late burn, i. e., until the following summer, and in -July burn both old grass and new. The grass would start afresh immediately, and the cattle would feed it close in preference to the older grass, so that the fire would not pass over it in the following autumn. This process repeated would soon, or in a few years, run out the prairie grass, which in time would be replaced by blue grass, which will not burn to any serious extent. But all this took time and labor, and the crowd of business on the hands of a new settler, of which a novice has no conception, would prevent his doing what would now seem a small matter : and even when accomplished, all such precautions often proved futile. A prairie fire driven by a high wind would often leap such barriers and seem to put human eff"ort at defiance.

" A prairie fire when first started goes straight forward with a velocity proportioned to the force of the wind, widening as it goes, but the center keeping ahead ; it spreads sideways, but burning laterally, it makes but comparatively slow progress, and if the wind is moderate and steady, this spreading fire is not difficult to manage ; but if the wind veers a point or two, first one way and then the other, it seuiis this side fire bevond control. The head fire, in dry grass and a head wind, is a fearful thing, and pretty sure to have its own way unless there is some defensible point to meet it. A contest with such a fire requires such skill and tact as can be learned only by experience, and a neighl)orhood of settlers called on bv such an exigency at once put themselves under the direction of the oldest and most experienced of their number, and go to work with the alacritv and energy of men defending their homes ami property from destruction.

" The usual way of meeting advancing fires was to begin the defense where the head of the fire would strike, which was calculated bv the smoke and ashes brought by the wind along in advance of fire. A road, ciittle-path or furrow is of great value at such a place ; if there was no such, a strip of the grass was wetted down, if water could be procured, which was, however, a rather scarce article at the time of the annual fire. On the side nearest the coming fire, of such a road or path, the grass is set on fire, which burns slowly against the wind until it meets the coming conflagration, which latter stops of course for want of fuel, provided there has been suificient time to burn over a strip that cannot be leaped by the head fire as it comes in. This is called ' back-firing ; ' but in this method great care must be exercised to prevent the fire getting over the furrow or path, or whatever is used as the base of operations. If it gets in the rear of this and once under way, there is no remedy but to fall back to a more defensible position. The head of the fire successfully checked, the force of fire-fighters divide, part going to the right and part to the left, and the back-firing continued to meet the side fires as they come up. This must be continued until the fire is checked along the entire front of the premises endangered, and the sides secured.

-' Various implements were used to put out a side or back fire, or even the head of a fire in a moderate wind. A fence board, four to six feet long, with one side shaved down for a handle, was very effective when struck flat upon the narrow strip of fire. A bundle of hazel brush, a spade or shovel was often used with effect. The women frequently lent their aid and dexterously wielded the mop, which, when thoroughly wet, proved a very efficient weapon, especially in extinguishing a fire in the fence. When the fire overcame all opposition, and seemed bound to sweep over the settlement, a fear of personal loss would paralyze, for the moment, every faculty, and as soon as the danger seemed imminent, united effort ceased, and each one hastened to defend his own as best he could. It is due to historical truth to say that actual ' losses were much less than might have been expected, though frequently quite severe. The physical efforts made in extinguishing a dangerous fire, and protecting one's home from this devouring element, were of the most trying nature, not unfrequently resulting fatally.

" The premises about the residences and yards being trampled down by the family and domestic animals, after a year or two became tolerably safe from fire, but the fences, corn and stubble fields were often attacked. When the open land was all fenced and under cultivation, so that these fires were a thing of the past, the residents of the prairie were happily released from the constant apprehension which for years had disturbed their peace by night and caused anxiety by day, though the early settlers still retain vivid recollections of the grand illuminations nightly exhibited in dry weather, from early fall to late spring, by numberless prairie fires. The whole horizon would be lighted up around its entire circuit. A heavy fire six or seven miles away would afford sufficient light in a dark night to enable one to read fine print. When a fire had passed through the prairie, leaving the long lines of side fires like two armies facing each other, the sight at night was sublime ; and if one's premises were securely protected, and he could enjoy the exhibition without apprehension, it was a sight well worth going far to see.

Material Resources

Geological data are rather meager in Newton County, and have never formed the subject of a report by the State Geologist, though it is expected that the forthcoming report of this year (1883) will furnish something of a survey of this interesting feature in the county's history. Boc ore is found in considerable quantities in the marshes, but to what extent, or what its commercial value may be, is uncertain, as no systematic effort has as yet been made to ascertain the facts concerning it. Should railroad facilities and cheap freight ever be supplied, this deposit may prove the source of considerable revenue, as there is no reason to doubt that it differs materially from that found in Jasper County. Good limestone is found for building and lime purposes in the southern part of the county between Kentland and Goodland. The outcrop, some two miles east of Kentland, has caused some difficulty to amateur geologists, and various theories have been mooted to account for its phenomena, but not satisfactorily. It lies upon a shallow bed of sand, and some sixtyfive feet above the nearest rock below, and seems to " stand upon its edge.'' The State Geologist made an examination of this quarrv in 1882, and finds difficulty in explaining the presence of certain fossils found here. Timber is found in quantities sufficient for all the demands thus far.

[Note. - Since the above remarks were put in type, the report of John Collett, State Geologist, for 18S-2, and issued in 1883, has come to hand, and we think that portion which relates to Newton Countv will be acceptable reading to our subscribers, and therefore make room for it here. - Pubs.^

Newton County contains four hundred square miles, of which the number of acres subject to taxation is 252,079, with an additional area of wet and swamp lands, in part belonging to the State, and not taxed, of about 2,000 acres, making a total of 2.5 4,079 acres.

The whole of this area was originally about ^'6 per cent prairie, and at that time the number of acres in good timber was about 60,000 ; to which may be added about 25,000 acres of brush and small timber.

The Kankakee River flows from east to south of west alom"' the whole of the northern boundary, forming the dividing line between it and Lake

County. Throughout its whole course it is sluggish and tortuous. The Iroquois River flows across the county in a nearly west direction, through the southern half, while Curtis Creek flows in a general southeasterly direction near the east-central part,joining the Iroquois in Jasper County, and Beaver Creek (the former outlet of Beaver Lake) runs south and west through the central parts into the State of Illinois.

These were originally strong streams of water, with a full flow, generally yellowish in color, from the decay of vegetable matter on its banks and from the iron in the marshes and swamps, while from the present constant source of supply of water they are not addicted to extreme very low stages or to sudden overflows. Their waters being of gentle current and muddy bottoms, are well adapted for the homes of non-migratory fishes, especially of the lake type ; hence the Kankakee, Iroquois and other streams are the delight of fishermen, who are rewarded with the best and brightest of the finny race.

Beaver Lake, near the central part of the county, was formerly drained in a south and west direction by Beaver Creek. Its original area was about 25,000 acres, having a depth of from two to six feet, averaging about three and a half feet. It was drained by the State ditch from its northern extremity into the Kankakee River, and now the area covered with water is less than 1,000 acres. Of this original lake bed, 2,500 acres are at present in cultivation, while the balance is being rapidly drained and prepared for tillage.

Little Lake, in the southwestern, and Mud Lake, in the northwestern, corner of Colfax Township, are smaller bodies of water, lying south and east of Beaver Lake.

Surface Qonfiguration. - The general aspect of the county is a great plain, being an elevated plateau well up toward the summit of the glacial drift.

Since, and during that epoch in geological history, the surface has been molded by sluiceways from melting ice and the waters of the present actual streams, formerly in greater volume. This has resulted in the formation of wide valleys, through which all the streams flow, with intervening ridges of from fifty to eighty feet above the valley centers.

The ridge dividing the waters which flow into the Iroquois from those of the Wabash system, is close to the southern boundary of the county. Another important ridge, not quite so well defined, divides the Iroquois from the Kankakee.

These ridges afl"ord ample facilities for the drainage of the northern and central districts, which will be treated further on, under the head of "Economic Geology."

In the northern third of the county, the soil is largely composed of loose sand ; hence, while it is not so well adapted to ordinary agricultural purposes, yet for special crops, with manures, it has been found productive and profitable.

This last district is palpably lacustral in its characteristics. Sloughs, swamps, and marshy thoroughfares indicate the old beds of lakes, while the sandy divides between them show the ancient shore lines. But, significant of that time of many lakes, the whole region is traversed by sandy ridges on the northeastern shore of such lakes, having an invariable trend from northwest to southeast, with sloping sides to the southwest, and abrupt banks to the northeast. Heretofore it has been supposed that these were simply the shore lines of such bodies at different stages of water.

The foregoing circumstances, however, added to a careful examination of the fact that these sand ridges are not laminated as by a deposit by water, show that their origin is due to other causes.

The prevailing summer and autumnal winds at that time, as at present, were from the southwest. It is well known that loose sand is rapidly and powerfully drifted before a strong wind, as is seen at the '- Hoosier Slide " and adjoining regions at Michigan City, as well as in the donnes or sandy lands of France. Hence, in the direction from which the winds came, the slope of these sand ridges faces toward the southwest, and their abrupt bank is opposite to it, or toward the northeast.

At occasional points, where an uninterrupted wind impinged against these ridges, or where the grass and brush had been removed bv Indian encampments, or by the passage of herds of buffalo, a break would occur upon the surface; the loose sand would be subjected to the action of the winds, and portions- of such ridges would be blown away, to be built up in the shape of new ridges, or mounds and hillocks, leaving behind cupshaped basins or hollows, at the place of removal. Instances of such action may be seen all along the eastern and southeastern ridges surrounding Beaver Lake. These knolls and sharp conical mounds naturally attracted the attention of our Mound-Builder predecessors, and are sometimes mistaken for their own handiwork.

On the divide between the Kankakee and the Iroquois are ridc'es, knolls and areas, underlaid by good beds of gravel, which had scarcelv been noticed until the time of my visit. This matter, of considerable practical value, will be noticed under the head of " Economic Geolo<>v."

Recent Geology. - 'Y\\(; surface of the county is so deeplv covered with soil, sand and loam, which had their origin in causes still in action, such as lake, river and pond deposits, that but little study is afforded of the greater modifying causes of the glacial and ancient lacustral epochs. The presence of the great ice drift is attested by the bowlders, gravels, and imported rocks from the distant North, as seen in the ditches and hillsides of this region, as well as occasionally in the open prairies. The deep wells throughout the county pierce the great bowlder drift. or clays of the " Ice age," and there is found a constant bed of this material covering the underlying rocks to a depth of from sixty to one hundred and fifty feet or more. This would indicate that powerful denuding currents swept from east to west over the county, cutting out deep, wide valleys in the rocky beds below, and removing remarkable amounts of stony material.

Following upon this came the great northern ice flow, which filled up these valleys, and deposited its immense burden of clay, bowlders and gravels upon the surface to the depths mentioned above.

The phenomena of these ancient erosions and denudations and the replacement of the surface of the county are indicated by the following sections of bores and deep wells : section at besicker s. Section 14, Township 28 north. Range 10 west, eight miles northwest of Kentland, one and one-half miles east of State line.

Half A Mile West Of State Line Section On Same Farm

Other wells in the adjoining regions of Illinois give slate and limestone at 110 to 125 feet, showing the deep erosion of the ancient valley of the Iroquois from northeast to west-southwest, and invites drainage in that direction.

Section At W. C. Russell'S Section At J. V. Speck S.

In the Iroquois Valley many wells have been bored close along the stream ; all of these, so close to the river that the high water backs up to them, flow the year round. All are charged with iron and some with burning gas.

This average section indicates a great thickening of fluviatile deposits, and suggests the possibility that the channel of the Iroquois is being filled up.

And Near Kentland

Burning gas was discharged with violent periodic bursts, throwing sand and water thirty feet in the air. When gas was discharging, the tube trembled with agitation, and the outer tube became electrified, giving shocks.

From these bores it is evident that the ancient valley of the Iroquois River existed one to two miles south of its present bed, and had a depth below the surface from 150 to 200 feet, deepening to the west. It is also known by a bore near the south line of Iroquois County, 111., that one of these east-west valleys had a depth of 500 feet through soil and bowlder drift to its rocky bed.

These indications seem to show that a new bed for the Iroquois, opened one or two miles south of the present channel, and produced across the line to some water-course 100 to 150 feet lower than the present surface of that valley, would cut for itself a deep channel through the clay sub-stratum, drain this and adjoining regions to the east, and benefit the citizens

Section In Well At Morocco

Paleozoic Geology. - As before mentioned, nearly the whole surface of this county is deeply covered with glacial drift impenetrable to the geologist's eye. It is known from the geology of the adjoining regions to the north, and from deep bores, that the northern part of the county is underlaid with Niagara limestone of the Upper Silurian age; that the Valley of the Iroquois is underlaid by Genesee shale (or black slate) of the Devonian age. Inferentially, the southern portion of the county should be underlaid by rocks of the Upper Devonian groups, or of the Subcarboniferous age.

But three and a half miles southeast of Kentland the rocky beds come to the surface, or nearly approach it. over an area of more than 100 acres. At one of these exposures the bedding is nearly horizontal ; at the other, in close proximity, the rocks were in nearly a vertical position, with a north-south trend, showing either serious dislocations or deposition under circumstances which gave origin to the most pronounced false bedding.

At the latter station, the stone was a slightly crystalline, bluish-gray limestone, with great nodules of cone-in-cone one to two feet in diameter, indicating pressure of superimposed material while it was in a plastic condition.

At the time of my first visit, accompanied by Assistant George K. Greene, after a most careful and thorough search, not a single fossil, or fragment of a fossil, was found which could determine the aaje of these rocks.

On a subsequent visit, Mr. Greene was alile to find, at one of these - McKee's Quarry (Section 26, Township '11 north. Range 9 west) some slabs, containina the followintr fossils : its transportation during the ice period ; while the uniform, undisturbed condition of the strata of this and adjoining States will not allow the presumption of upheaval and such dislocation of strata as would account for these phenomena.

As shown by the bores reported, it is surrounded to the north and west, and at levels 150 to 200 feet lower than this point, by later Devonian shales and limestones ; on the south and east, still at a lower level, are the rocks of the Keokuk group of the still later Carboniferous age.

This quarry is a mystery. Its investigation invites and will reward the future geologist, who may be enriched with better light than is now available. At present the only explanation which can be here given is that once the Silurian rocks of this and adjoining regions may have been built up to a thickness of 200 or 300 feet more than they are at present, and that eroding forces at the close of the Silurian age removed all the upper beds of that age to a depth of 200 or 300 feet, leaving this small area an immovable island in the surging waters, and afterward the later Devonian and Carboniferous beds were deposited around and against the sides of this monumental island. More light and research is needed and invited.

Near Goodland, eight miles east of Kentland, the following exposures occur upon Cherry Creek, which show the occurrence of the Keokuk and Knobstone shales of the Subcarboniferous, and the black slate of the Devonian rocks.

Section On William Foster'S Farm

Archceology. - ^toriQ implements of the pre-historic age are often found scattered over this county, more especially those used for the taking of fish. While the sand hillocks and knolls of the northern part of the county are often mistaken for works of the Mound-Builders, it is true that many such elevations have been capped by the homes and tumuli of that race. The elevated sandy ridge east of the southern part of Beaver Lake, built up by the winds to a height of seventy or eighty feet, which gives a wide outlook toward the rising sun and a grand view of the lake in its ancient dimensions, was extensively occupied by the Mound-Builders.

Several clusters are reported, one of which contained seven mounds from two to twelve feet in height, and from twenty to eighty feet in diameter. Partially explored, two of these gave up bones, pottery and implements of our extinct predecessors.

Economic G-eology. - The soil of the southern half of the county is a rich, black pond alluvium or mold, varied by areas of loamy soil. It has been enriched and manured by the decomposition of plants for thousands of years, and is fully equal to the richest and best lands of the world. No manures are used or required. Since the first settlement, these farms, instead of deteriorating, have increased in productive power, and will continue for years to grow richer and better as the country is improved. The oldest fields of the county were seen bearing full crops of corn, oats and other cereals, while it is even better adapted to the growth of grazing and meadow grasses.

The northern areas, as before mentioned, are sand ridges, sandv loams, with intermediate aUuvial lake basins. These need special treatment, and are being cultivated by immigrants from Chicago and the East, with astonishing success.

To enable the farmer to reap full returns from the rich soil above mentioned, drainage is a necessity. The alternate ridges and valleys of this country afford a certain mode of elTectuallv bringing these soils to the highest state of cuUvation h\ the ficilities they oft'er.

A plan devised by a competent engineer - runuinir open ditches from the southern part of the county to the Iroquois, or from the northern riilges to the neighboring sttoams, located upon each north-south section line, and cut down to the underlying clays, will, by their pronounced fall, continually deepen and clear their own way. These will aftord ample facilities tor the use of tiles on adjoining lands, make improved roads possible along their banks, and bless the people of the county with boun-

Bores in deep wells show that the ancient valley of the Iroquois, a short distance south of its present course, was in early ages deeply eroded, and when a new course is re-opened through this channel, as in the future it may and will be. it will offer ample facilities for the drainage of all the center of this and the southern parts of Jasper County.

In time of wet weather, the roads of this county are simply abominable, and deny the citizens the proper enjoyment of civilization, the fruits of labor and social life.

With the system of open ditches before mentioned, a possible roadbed is attainable. The stone of McKee's quarry, when properly broken, will afford abundant material of excellent quality for " metaling" the highways of the southern part of the county.

Throughout the region north of Kentland, the common excuse for the impassable roads was the lack of material with which to improve them. Upon examining the knolls and dividing ridges north of the Iroquois, beds of gravel from six to twelve feet in thickness were found, near to and south of Morocco, at Kennedy's and A. Doty's. Four miles southeast of Morocco, in Section 31, Town 29 north, Range 8 west, there is a gravel hill having an area of ten acres, indicating a good supply, as also on the land of G. W. Carmichael. This gravel is the detritus of the bowlder drift, and of such quality as to offer the best possible material for constructing turnpikes and other good roads.

Other beds exist along the whole course of this ridge, and the supply is sufficient to afford good roads, passable at any season of the year in every part of the county. It seems strange that this bounty of nature, this grand source of comfort has hitherto been so constantly overlooked.

Clays, for brick and tile, of good quality, are found in all parts wher heavy growths of timber have existed, and in some of the island groves they invite use by the prudent builder and farmer.

On rolling lands, or those partially ditched, the crops of corn, wheat and oats were excellent, showing heavy and profitable yields. Sorghum is cultivated and does well, while the cultivation of flax seed could be made profitable.

The black lands, in a state of nature, were covered with a luxuriant growth of wild grass, and when subdued they readily set to tame grasses, including blue grass.

The more elevated sandy hills and ridges are well suited to the growth of fruits. Grapevines and the small fruits are especially productive and profitable, and meet a ready market in the city of Chicago.

Garden vegetables grow luxuriantly in the warm, rich soils of this county, with profit to the farmer and joy to the housewife. The remuneration "in their cultivation invites the devotion of larger areas to this purpose.

Several farms in the northern parts are devoted to the raising of garden seeds for the great dealers in Michigan, New England and the Eastern seaboard. The choicest grades of seeds, raised on Indiana soil, are bettered (?) and largely improved (?) by shipment from hence to the great dealers, who return them with flashy show bills, well engraved envelopes, and doubled prices!

The garden seeds produced here are equal if not superior to those raised elsewhere, and return a handsome profit, or 200 to 300 per cent, upon the labor bestowed.

Timber consists principally of oak, and is used for mechanical purposes and for fuel. Coal is used to some extent in the villages, but rather on account of its convenience than on account of its cheapness. The soil, however, is the great resource of the county. This is principally a dark or black loam, with here and there in the north, a sand ridge. The sloughs and ponds are being gradually drained, and the promise is that in a few years the county will be transformed from a low marshy country to fine grain lands and grazing farms.

The prairie fires did not cease altogether before 1860. and systematic farming found but little encouragement here before ISTO. The county is still too new, and its soil too little exhausred to enforce the necessity of such cultivation to any considerable extent. The chief products are corn, wheat, oats, flax, potatoes, etc. Corn and hay, cattle and hogs are, however, the principal source of revenue to the fanner. Wheat is sown to some extent, and one gristmill in the county finds custom business enough to keep it in operation the entireyear, though a large part of the business is preparing feed and grinding corn. Generally this grain is not found to be , a reliable crop in this locality. A large part of the county is prairie, nearly level, with great capacity for supporting water. What little snow falls, does not rest tjuietly where it settles, but is blown about by the winds, which have almost unbroken sweep. This leaves the wheat plant at the mercy of the thawing, freezing and heavintr-out process during February and March. Systematic draining, by means of open ditches and of tile, and libera! coatings of coarse manure applied before the middle of February, may solve the problem of successlul wheat culture here. Small fruits, straw, rasp and bhick berries, are not extensively rultivated, although both soil and climate are favorable. Grapes do well, tlie commoner kinds being iiardy, and yielding sure crops of good fruit.

Some varieties of pears may be grown with success, but with moderate returns only. Peaches and quinces are subject to severe cold in winter, and die badly, while apples prove hardy and return a pretty sure and abundant crop.

This is emphatically a cattle and hog producing district, and probably more attention has been paid to the raising and improvement of these classes of stock than to any other of the branches of husbandry. The aim has been to produce beef to the neglect of milkers, lience short-horn breeds have been the favorite with cattle-growers. Large herds of cattle are less frequently met than formerly, not that there are fewer cattle bred, but they are scattered around more generally and not kept together in large bunches as in the days before the county was so thickly settled. Among those who have been prominent in this branch of industry, are A. J. Kent (deceased), William Russell, Thomas Barker, Joseph Law, Dr. Triplett, G. N. Stewart, T. S. Brecount, L V. Speck, Blake Wilson and others.

Corn holds a prominent place among the sources of revenue to the farmer, eighty bushels to the acre, in a good year, being a common product, the county reaching an aggregate of upwards of two and a half millions of bushels. A large proportion finds its way to market through the three large elevators at Keutland and one at Goodland. Hay is becoming a large feature in the marketable produce of the county, a considerable quantity finding its way to market each year. Next to cattle, corn and hay, hogs find an important sale here. The breeds are Berkshire, Poland-China, and Jersey Red, with a decided preference for the first named, either pure breed, cross or common grade. Sheep hold a modest place, no large flocks are kept, but many farmers own from a dozen to fifty head. The long-wool breeds, and their crosses with the natives are the favorites. The horses are chiefly what may be called general-purpose animals. The introduction of the Norman and Clydesdale breeds has made the stock on many farms much more serviceable and marketable than before their advent. The quarter crosses of these large breeds upon scrubs are excellent horses for the general use of the farmer.

Swamp lands constitute a large part of the territory of Newton County, and, as in Jasper County - of which Newton was then a pare - were the prey of unprincipled schemers. These lands were granted to the State by the General Government for the purposes of drainage, and by a law enacted in 1852, the State provided for the drainage of such counties as needed it by the revenue arising from the disposition of these lands. Newton was one of the counties most directly interested in this provision.

and had the property thus granted been properly administered, most of the land now a barren waste would have been long ago reclaimed. The plan of operations by which the frauds were carried on are thus described in an official report by a committee of the Legislature :

"The Commissioner, at a letting of a large amount of ditching under the law of 1852, let almost the entire work to one man for the sum of 20 cents the cubic yard, although at this letting there were other good and responsible bids for the same work at 14 cents the cubic yard, and one as low as 10 cents. The ditching contracted for at this letting has never been finished according to the plans and specifications, and some of the ditches are worthless. The entire estimate of this work, amounting to $39,451.59, has been paid to the contractor. According to the testimony before us, this one transaction has resulted in great loss to the Swamp Land fund, and loss to the value of real estate in the vicinity of the work."

So easily were these frauds committed, and so little check were the officials in charge of this interest, that a spirit of speculation entered into these operations, and several companies were formed which obtained deeds for large amounts of land in Newton and adjoining counties. When these proceedings were discovered, an act was passed by the Legislature requiring the return of these fraudulent conveyances, but providing that the loose contracts, by which these frauds had been effected, might be ratified and confirmed by the Swamp Land Commissioner. Through the loop-hole thus left the balance of these lands, amounting in this and Jasper County to some one hundred and seventy-five thousand acres, were absorbed without the return of any adequate equivalent. This, of course, could be done only through the complicity of officials, but where there was so great a corruption fund, and so little check against malfeasance, the officials were readily won. Under the provision that the contractor might at any time, by depositing §1.25 per acre with the County Treasurer, for tiie whole or any part of the lands in liis list, take out certificates and procure patents for the same, and that the monev so paid into the county treasury should then be retained', to be repaid to the contractor at the rate of seventy-live per cent upon estimates of work done, until the contract was completed, when all should be repaid, tlie officer in charge confirmed old contracts at prices niucli higher than originally let for, and contractors were permitted to file lists of lands to any amount they desired. Hy arrangement with the proper official, oven this requirement was abated, and many obtained certificates of purchase for which no deposit had ever been made. The land, being thus absorbed and there being no money on deposit to compel the completion of the contract, the great project for which there was originally abundant means to carry out failed and the county at large is no better for the generous donation of the General Government. Newton takes pre-eminence in this general raid upon the swamp lands, in that a considerable amount of land was acquired without the observance of even this limited show of legality. In reference to this transaction, the report above cited, goes on to say : brother and others, certificates of purchase for a large amount of these lands previously filed for, by contractors, and upon these fraudulent certificates obtained patents ; and that the contractor, whose lands he had thus stolen, in order to avoid troublesome and expensive litigation, compromised with him, permitting him to retain 3,500 acres of these lands thus obtained, of which M got a portion."

A considerable portion of this county is now suffering from this general misappropriation of the drainage fund, but the settlement and tillage of these lands will, in the near future, effect what the State failed to do. Already a great transformation had been eft'ected, and every year brings new energy and new resources to this effort, of such vital importance to lands bordering the Kankakee.

The change that has been effected in the character of the surface of the country since the settlement of the whites is marvelous. Only the pioneer, who beheld the broad prairie covered with ever-present joint grass, the varying height of which rendered the broad expanse a deceptive level, and contrasts that with the rolling area of cultivated forms of the present, can fully appreciate the change. The timber lands that fringe the margin of the streams have undergone a hardly less remarkable change. Unlike the experience in a timbered country, here the wooded area has increased. The young growth and saplings which the fires of early times kept in check, have developed into considerable trees under the fostering care of the farmer, and the timber has encroached upon the open land, so that the area of woods is now mucli larger than fifty years ago.

The prairie fires were as regular a phenomenon as the recurring seasons, and while, fortunately, they were less destructive than the uninitiated might expect, they were none the less serious to deal with. The pioneer farmer built as few fences as possible, and such as he was obliged to construct cost him an expensive outlay of time. When these with his rude barn and stacks of grain began to mark the home of the thriving settler, his very prosperity made him the readier victim of this early scourge. Against this evil, there was no sure defense, but eternal vigilance. So great was the danger from this cause, the State forbade the wanton fir- ing f.f the grass, which at certain times of the year burned like tinder; but the subject was one little able to be controlled by legislative action. The inadvertence of hunters or teamsters was sufficient alone to account for most of the fires. It was the habit, too, of many farmers to plow a few furrows along the line of their fences and then a few rods further out to plow another series of farrows. Between these lines of plowing the grass was burne<J, care being taken that the flame did not leap these barriers. This arrangement, when successfully carried out each year, proved a sufficient protection against an ordinary fire, as the flames would not h-ap the space thus bared of fuel. This operation, however, often proved the direct cause of igniting the prairie beyond, and once thoroughly fired there was no checking its fury until a stream or heavy body of timber checked its progress.

The tall joint grass was of considerable body nearer the ground, and when dry and partially broken down by frost and wind, it aiforded fuel substantial enough under a high wiml to feed a terrible flame. The fire when once started proceeds with the rapidity of the wind which propels it. The heat which precedes it prepares the dry grass to ignite at the touch of the blaze, and the fiery tide passes almost like a flash. The central portion keeps the direction of the wind, but the tinder like material needs but little fanning to burn, and the fire spreiids slowly sideways as it advances. The lateral fire advances but slowly, and is successfully checked by back firing, /. >'., by starting from some barrier, and firing the grass, and allowing it to burn slowly' to meet the approachini; conflagration. The property principally endangered was the fences. The cabins and stacks, after a few years at least, were generally safe from distruction. The joint grass was destroyetl by the constant tramping of animals, and the mowing and grazing to which it was subject, and its place supplied by the blue grass which springs upon its place spontaneously, and will not burn. Blazing grass, however, is often carried far out of the track of the fire, and in very dry.scascuis, this caused some anxiety, as there was danger that a stack or even the roof of the cabin might aftord material for it to ignite. With all the precauti()ns that were taken several severe losses were experienced in this county', and the fires did not entirely cease to run nnlil about 1860.

Traces Of Earliest Inhabitants

The wdiite, if the evidences of arcluBology teach anything, is the third race to inhabit this region. The traces of former inhabitants, while not the most perfect or abundant, are .sufficiently well attested as to leave no doubt but that there are some relics of that i)re- historic race that scientists have agreed to call Mound-Builders. The principal remains of this race have been discovered are several mounds, which furnish in the characteristics of their construction the evidence of their origin. One is found in Washington Township, and is plainly marked. Others are to be seen some three miles north of Morocco, where excavations have been rewarded by the discovery of human bones and primitive stone implements. Still another mound, with large sized trees growing upon its surface, is found near the Illinois State line, on the south bank of the Iroquois River. No scientific examinations of these structures have as yet been made, and it is quite probable that the bones and implements found belonged to the Indians, and were placed there by the intrusive burials, which are so frequently found elsewhere in these mounds. Still other evidences are so complete as to leave little doubt that this mysterious race once had their existence here.

Robinson Crusoe's unexpacted discovery of a human footprint upon the sands' of his solitary island, was hardly more startling than have been the discoveries of antiquarians in Europe within the past twenty-five years. Scientific followers of Usher and Petarius had placed the various migrations of men, the confusion of tongues, the peopling of continents, the development of types - the whole evolution of human society, within the narrow compass of a little more than four thousand years, when the discoveries of the geologist and ethnologist developed the trace of human existence dating back to a possible period 30,000 years ago. Nor are confirmatory evidences to the truth of these discoveries entirely wanting in the new world. The gold-drift of California has supplied abundant testimony to the high antiquity of man, and notably the " Pliocene skull," the popular conception of which is derived more widely, perhaps, from a characteristic poem by Bret Harte than from scientific publications. Explorations in Illinois, Missouri and South Carolina have yielded similar testimony, and while it should be stated that in many cases these evidences rest upon the testimony of single observers, and that there is not that recurrence of " finds " which would render "assurance doubly sure," yet there seems to be no doubt in the minds of scientists that the " eider man " was also an inhabitant of this neiv world.

Descending to a later time, and one probably falling within the historic period, we find the more tangible traces of an early race of men. Of this race, named from the character of their remains, the Mound- Builders, we find the evidences vastly multiplied, and of such character as to afford means of forming a reasonable conjecture as to their mode of life, their advancement in civilization, and final destiny. These evidences, though first accepted with great distrust, have been so amplified and con- firmed by more recent researches, as to leave no room for reasonable doubt as to the former existence of this race. The remains upon which this conclusion is based, " consists," says Mr. Foster, " of tumuli symmetrically raised and often inclosed in mathematical figures, such as the square, the octagon and circle, with long lines of circumvallation ; of pits in the solid rocks, and rubbish heaps formed in the prosecution of their mining operations, and of a variety of utensils, wrought in stone, or copper, or molded in clay."* To the uninstructed mind these mounds, doubtless, seem a very slight foundation upon which to construct the fabric of a national existence, and yet to the archaeologist they furnish "proofs as strong as Holy Writ;" in them they find as distinctive characteristics as mark the pre-historic remains of the Pelasgi, the "wall-builders" of Europe, a not dissimilar race in many respects, and one who long ago found a place in the realities of history : and while they diifer in external form and are scattered over a wide scope of territory - characteristics in marked contrast with those of the aboriginal race found here in possession of the country, yet the scientist finds in each mound the neverfailing marks of a race peculiarity.

The widest divergence from the typical mound is found in Wisconsin. Here, instead of the circular or pyramidal structure, are found forms, for the most part, consisting of rude, gigantic imitations of various animals of the region, such as the buffalo, bear, fox, wolf, etc.: of the easrle and night hawk, the lizard and turtle, and in some instances the unmistakable form of man. These, though not raised high above the surface, and even in some cases represented intaglio, attain the largest dimensions : one representing a serpent extending 700 feet, and anotiier representing a turtle, had a body fifty-six and a tail 1^50 feet long. The significance of these peculiar forms has not been determined, but unmistakable evidences have been discovered which mark them as the work of the same race whose structures are found elsewhere, so numerous throughout the Mississippi Valley. Typical structures are sometimes classified with reference to their purpose, as " Inclosures - 1. For defense ; -. Sacred: 3. Miscellaneous. Mounds - I. Of sacrifice: 2. For temple sites : 3. Of sepulture; 4. Of observation." Of the first class, the inclosures for defense seem to have been constructed simply for protection against hostile attack. The locations chosen are those best adapted naturally to repel a military attack. The only approach is generally by a steep and narrow way, requiring- the assailant to place himself at immense disadvantage, while the t^arrison provided with parapets often constructed of rubble stone, could fight umler cover, and may bo found in these stones his store of ammunition.

The "sacred" inclosure included within its lines the mounds of the three leading classes, as the uses to which they were put were all sacred to this people, and yet in the "American Bottom" in Illinois, where the mound system reaches, perhaps, its highest development, the mounds of these classes are not inclosed. The mounds of sacrifice, or altars, as they are variously termed, are generally characterized by the fact "that they occur only within the vicinity of the inclosures or sacred places ; that they are stratified ; and that they contain symmetrical altars of burned clay or stone, on which were deposited various remains, which in all cases have been more or less subjected to the action of fire."* In relation to this latter characteristic, it should be said that it is not at all plain that the use of fire was intended for cremation. A thin coating of moist clay was applied to the body nude, or wrapped in cloth, and upon this a fire was maintained for a more or less prolonged period, but in most cases the heat was not sufEcient to destroy the cloth sometimes found in a good state of preservation. This evidently did not result from a lack of knowledge, as cremation and urn burial was also practiced.

Temple mounds are described by Squier and Davis as " distinguished by their great regularity of form and general large dimensions. They consist chiefly of pyramidal structures, truncated and generally having graded avenues to their tops. In some instances they are terraced or have successive stages. But whatever their form, whether round, oval, octangular, square or oblong, they have invariably flat or level tops," and upon these were probably constructed their temples, but which, constructed of perishable materials, have left no trace of their existence. This class of mounds are not found along the lake region or that line which seems to mark the farthest advance of this people. The principal structures of this class are found at Cahokia, in Illinois; near Florence and Claiborne, in Kentucky ; at Seltzertown, Miss. ; at Marietta, Newark and Chillicothe, in Ohio, and at St. Louis, Mo. The mound at Cahokia, " the monarch of all similar structures in the United States," may well serve as a type. When in all its integrity, this mound formed a huge parallelogram, with sides at the base, respectively, 700 and 500 feet in length, towering to the height of ninety feet. On the southwest, there was a terrace, 160x300 feet, which was reached by a graded way, and the summit was truncated, affording a platform, 200x450 feet. This structure, upon which was probably reared a spacious temple, perhaps the principal one in the empire, covered an area of about six acres, while in close proximity were four elevated platforms, varying from 250 to 300 feet in diameter. The great mound of St. Louis reached a height of thirty-five feet, and that at Marietta to about the same height.

"Sepulchral mounds," says Mr. Foster in his volume oa the pre-historic races, " consist often of a simple knoll, or group of knolls, of no considerable height, without any definite arrangement. Examples of this character may be seen at Dubuque, Merom, Chicago and La Porte, which, on exploration, have yielded skulls differing widely from the Indian type. * * * The corpse was almost invariably placed near the original surface of the soil, enveloped in bark or coarse matting, and, in a few instances, fragments of cloth have been observed in this connection. Sometimes a vault of timber was built over it, and in others it was inclosed in long and broad flags of stone. Sometimes it was placed in a sitting position, again it was extended, and still again it was compressed within contracted limits. Trinkets were often Strang about the neck, and water jucs, drinking cups and vases, which probably contained food, were placed near the head. Over the corpse thus arrayeii, a circular mound was often raised, but sometimes nothing more than a hillock." Other mounds have been found that favored the theory that many of these structures were used for miscellaneous burial. A notable example is the " Grave Creek Mound," in West Virginia, twelve miles below Wheeling. This mound is something over seventy feet high, of circular form, with a circumference at the base of about "JOO feet. In the center of this mound, on a level with the original surface, was found a vault with twelve human skeletons, and thirty-four feet above this was found a similar vault, inclosing a skeleton which had been decorated with a profusion of shellbeads, copper rings and plates of mica. In a mound at Vincennes, " a bed of human bones, arranged in a circle eighteen feet in diameter, closely packed and pressed together." In another, at Merom, three tiers of vaults were found, in each of which were found from five to seven human skeletons. Mounds of observation is a rather fanciful classification intended to mark mounds found on elevated points of land. The authors of this classification think tliat these may have been used as platforms on wliich to buihl signal fires, and such is their elevation and outlook that such signals could have been seen at great distance. This theory of a special purpose, however, has not been accepted, as supported by any special evidence. They may have been so used, or simply as an eligible site for residence.

There is in addition to these mounds a large number which are not embraced in this classification, which, following Mr. F. W. Putnam, whom Mr. Foster (juotes at length, may be called " Habitation Mounds." A large number of these are described as located at Merom, Ind., and " a grou[) of fifty-nine mounds " at Hutsonville, 111., a few miles above the former place and across the Wabash River. These mounds were care- fully examined " to ascertain if they were places of burial," without discovering a single bone or implement of any kind, but, on the contrary, the excavations " showed that the mounds had been made of various materials at hand, and in one case ashes were found, which had probably been scraped up with other material and thrown upon the heap." In the ancient fort at Merom, in depressions found within the earthworks, were found striking evidences of food having been cooked and eaten there, and the conclusion drawn by Mr. Putnam is " that these pits were the houses of the inhabitants or defenders of the fort, who were probably further protected from the elements and the arrows of assailants by a roof of logs and bark, or boughs." Another writer in a paper* read before the American As.sociation for the Advancement of Science at their Boston meeting, August, 1880, says: "There is in this region a peculiar class of mounds that was for a long time a puzzle to me. They are usually found in groups of from two or three to twenty or thirty, and even more, and are generally on some pleasant knoll or rising ground in the vici:iity of a spring of water-course, especially in the vicinity of our prairies or level areas of land. These mounds are from one to three, and in a few instances, even four, feet in heiglit, and from twenty to fifty feet in diameter. One mound of the group is always larger than the rest, and always occupies the commanding position. Sometimes the group is arranged in a circle ; other groups have no apparant design in arrangement. Numbers of these mounds can be seen in the cultivated fields.

" Although I have made excavations in them, and dug trenches entirely through them, I have found nothing but ashes, charcoal, decayed portions of bones of fishes and animals partially burned, shells from the adjacent streams, flint chippings, and in one or two instances a flint implement of a rude character.

" After examining many of these structures, I am induced to believe that they are possibly the remains of ancient dwellings, made by placing in an upright position the trunks of young trees in a circle, or in parallel rows, the tops of the poles inclining inward and fastened together, the whole being covered with earth and sod to form a roof, or in the same manner as many Indian tribes make their mud lodges; as, for instance, the Mandana and the Omahas. Such a structure, after being repaired from time to time by the addition of more earth on top, would finally, by the decay of the poles, fall inward and the ruins would form a slight mound.

Conant and Putnam describe such mounds in Missouri and Tennesee, some of the largest of these ancient towns being provided with streets and highways. They are also found in Southern Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Putnam has rlescribed an inclosed town in Tennessee, in which were many low mounds, or rather, as he calls them, earth circles, that he has pretty conclusively shown to be sites of the lodges or houses of the people."

To which of these classes the mounds in Newton County shall be referred can only be determined by a thorough investigation, but it is probable, from such reports as are current among the well informed persons of the county, that they are pretty well described in the language of Mr. Mc Adams.

These mounds, with the implements formed in stone, metal and pottery (of which the scope of this work allows no mention), form the data upon which is founded the historical speculation concerning this people. Once having reasonably established the former existence of this extinct race, the absorbing question presents itself - Who were the Mound- Builders? The limited space devoted to this subject, however, forbids any extended consideration of the interesting scientific deductions made from these data, though the conclusion arrived at may be briefly stated in the language of Mr. Foster,* as follows : "Their monuments indicate that, they had entered upon a career of civilization ; they lived in stationary communities, cultivating the soil and relying on its generous yield as a means of support ; they clothed themselves in part at least, in garments regularly spun and woven ; they modeled clay and carved stone, even of the most obdurate character, into images representing animate objects, even the human face and form, with a close adherence to nature! they mined and cast copper into a variety of useful forms ; they quarried mica, steatite, chert, and the novaculite slates, which they wrought into articles adapted to personal ornament, to domestic use, or to the chase; utdike the Indians who were ignorant of the curative properties of salt, they collected the brine of the salines into earthen vessels molded in baskets which they evaporated into a form which admitted of transportation ; they erected an elaborate line of defense, stretching for many hundred miles, to guard against the sudden irruption of enemies ; they had a national religion, in which tlie elements were the object-^ of supreme adoration ; temples were erected upon the platform mounds, and watchfires lighted upon tlie highest summits ; and in the celebration of the mysteries of their fiith, human sacrifices were probably oftered up. The magnitude of their structures, involving an infinitude of labor, such oulv as could be expended in a community where cheap food prevailed, and the great extent of tiieir commercial relations reaching to widely separated portions of the continent, imply tlie existence of a stable and efficient government, based on the subordination of the masses. As the civilizations of the old world growing out of the peculiar conditions of soil and climate developed certain forms of art which are original and unique, so on this continent we see the crude conception in the truncated pyramid, as first displayed in Wisconsin, Ohio and Illinois, and the accomplished result in the stone-faced foundations of the temples of Uxmal and Palenque. And finally, the distinctive character of the Mound- Builders' structures, and also the traditions which have been preserved, would indicate that this people were expelled from the Mississippi Valley by a fierce and barbarous race, and that they found refuge in the more genial climate of Central America, where they developed those germs of civilization originally planted in their Northern homes, into a perfection which has elicited the admiration of every modern explorer."

The obvious inquiry suggested by these conclusions is. Who succeeded this extinct race? To this question science offers no answer. Two hypotheses are entertained as the origin of Mound-Builders here, the one supposes them to be of autothionic origin, aiid that semi-civilization originating here flowed southward and culminated in the wonderful developments of the Toltecs of Mexico ; the other supposes them to have originated in the South American continent or in Central America, and to have emigrated northward from natural causes, and later to have returned to Mexico, driven from their northern empire by an irresistible foe or by a powerful political irruption among themselves. Upon any theory, the line of their most northward advance is pretty clearly defined, and writers upon this subject generally agree that the line of defenses " extending from sources of the Alleghany and Susquehanna, in New York, diagonally across the country, through Central and Northern Ohio, to the Wabash," accurately indicates the region from whence attacks were made and expected, and marks the farthest extent of the Mound-Builders' empire. But what was the character of the foe, what his action on the retreat of the Mound-Builders, and what his final destiny, is an unwritten page of science, and for which there exists no known data. It is a late suggestion that the North American Indian may be a degenerate but legitimate descendant of the dominant race, but there is a broad chasm to be bridged before the Mound-Builder or his successful assailant can be linked with these aboriginal tribes. Without making any such attempt, however, the Indian naturally succeeds this people in regular historical order, and passing over the vexed question of his origin, it is sufficient for the purposes of this work that the whites found him everywhere in full possession of the country.

gan the ''irrepressible conflict" which was destined never to cease so long as the red man retained a vestige of power. In this struggle the absence of national organization or affiliations on the part of the Indians, made the final success of the whites inevitable from the beginning. Taking each tribe or section of country in succession, the little band of adventurers conquered this vast country, and planted here one of the mighty nations of the world. It was due to this lack of any bond of union that the Indiana tribes were allowed to rest so long undisturbed in their fancied security. Rumors of the conflict waging on the Atlantic border were borne to their ears by chance visitors from other tribes, and later by remnants of vanquished tribes who sought with them an asylum from their fjes, but still no apprehension of impending disaster dawned upon their superstitious ignorance, while the reflection that the Iroquois, the enemy which their experience had taught them most to fear, had met an overpowering foe, gave them no little satisfaction .

The great family to which these tribes were allied by language, physical and mental peculiarities, was the Algonquin. Before the encroachment of the whites the numerous tribes of this family occupied most of the territory now embraced in the United States, between the 35th and 60th parallels of latitude, and the 60th and 105th meridians of longitude. According to Davidson,* the starting point in the wanderings of the Algonquin tribes on the continent as determined by tradition and the cultivation of maize, their favorite cereal, was in the Southwest. Passintr up the western side of the Mississippi Valley, they turned eaat\yard across that river, the southern margin of their broad tract reaching about to the 35th parallel, while the center probably covered the present territory of Illinois. On reaching the Atlantic coast, they seemed to have moved northeasterly along the seaboard to the mouth of the St. Lawrence; thence ascending this river and the shores of the great lakes, they spread northward and westward to Hudson Bay, the basin of Lake Winnipecrand the valley of the Upper Mississippi ; and tiience the head of the misratory column, circling round thesource of tlie great river, re-crossed it in a south easterly direction above the Falls of St. Anthony, and passintr bv wav of Green Bay and Lake Miciiigan came into the present limits of Illinois. Indiana and Ohio. Thus after revolving in an irregular ellipse of some 3,000 miles in diameter, they fell into the original track eastward. This extended course of migration, induced by a ^rariety of causes and circumstances, continued through a long period, the original stock probably receiving considerable accessions from the nomadic tribes of the Pacific .slope, and leaving behind large numbers at each remove, until the head of the column came to rest from sheer lack of momentum or other moving influences. Thus scattered over a large expanse of country, and broken into numerous tribal organizations, they lost much of their family aflSliations and characteristics, and the early whites found the Algonquins e'^erywhere possessing the border lands, and waged with them their first and bloodiest wars. Situated within the ellipse above described, were the nations of the Iroquois family, who held together by circumstances and posted advantageously on the inner side of the circle, able at any time to mass their forces upon a single point of the circumference, soon proved a devastating scourge to the Indian world, and especially so to the Algonquins.

Of the tribes of this latter family, the Pottawatomies are the only ones closely identified with this county. The various tribes of this nation, to the number of 4,000 persons, occupied the northern part of the State up to 1832. 'Their chief village was early at Ohitchakos, near the Tippecanoe River, where the earliest French explorers found them, and where a mission was established nearly 300 years ago. The nation originally occupied a part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, whence they were driven by the irresistible Iroquois. They subsequently found a place of refuge in VVisconsin, but when the power of their enemy was broken by the whites, they returned to a place near their own haunts. The Pottawatomies were a bold, warlike people, and were generally found allied against the whites. Among them were found some of the most prominent warriors and chiefs of the Western nations, the record of whose eloquence and feats of daring is found in all the history of the frontier wars. They were allied with the French against the Iroquois and English, with the English against the Americans, and took a prominent part jn Pontiac's conspiracy, yielding only to the inevitable in the general pacification which closed the war of 1812. Notwithstanding their bitter hostility to the whites, arising from their conviction that the pale face, if unresisted, would drive them to the western ocean, when once they had plighted their faith, they were less vacillating than many of the tribes. During the Winnebago outbreak in 1827, they resisted the entreaty of the hostile tribes, and again in 1832, when Black Hawk strove to unite the savage nations in a combined attack upon the whites, he met a fatal obstacle in the faithful attitude of the Pottawatomie nation. Shabbona, who shares with Shakespeare the distinction of having his name spelled in an endless number of ways, was a prominent civil chief of the nation in Eastern Illinois. He was known among the natives, as the " white man's friend," and when Black Hawk was betrayed into hostilities, at the news of the Indians' first blow and success, he sent his son and nephew in difi"er- ent directions, while he went in still another to warn the settlers of the impending danger, thus saving the lives of many in the isolated settlements. In the operations which followed, with Waubonsie, " Billy Caldwell," and a considerable number of Pottawatomie warriors, he enlisted with the army under Gen. Atkinson, who at once placed Shabbona in command of the Indian contingent.

The State of Indiana was the last retreat east of the Mississippi. When finally subdued here and removed to the West, the race of the red man was henceforth no longer independent. Though assuming an attitude of tribal freedom, the Indian yet accepted the position of " ward " toward the Great Father at Washington. The section of the State of which Newton County forms a part, was occupied some years after the larger part had been abandoned, and,here they trapped and hunted, oblivious of the fate which was delayed but not thwarted. The earlier settlers had but little knowledge of them by actual contact. Hunters, whose occupation took them far beyond the lines of the frontier settlements, found them along the Iroquois River, here and there, in small villages, and the settlers aftersvard saw the traces of their habitations and corn-fields. The Algonquin was the great family to which these tribes belonged. Traditions among them set forth their wanderings over a great scope of the country. Early settlements along the Atlantic coast, from Florida to Maine, and explorers along the great water-way from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the farthest shores of Lake Superior, found the traces everywhere of this great family of the Indian. Much has been written of the origin of the tribal division and peculiarities, but research has done but little more than to show how little has been developed of this interesting question. Of this family, the Pottawatomie tribe was found here - a small village or two of the three or four thousand that occupied the principal portion of the northern part of the State. Their chief village was on the Tippecanoe River, where the earliest explorers had found them some three centuries before. In their relations to the whites during the early history of the country, they were bitterly hostile, and not until defeat after defeat did they yield their enmity in the treaties which closed hostilities in the West at the close of 1813. From that time forward, they wore as firm in their loyalty to the whites as thev had been vindictive in their hostility, and in the subsequent Indian disturbances in 1.S27 and IS'S'I their friendly disposition prevented the outbreak of a general Indian war.

During their stay in this vicinity of the country, they were frequently visited by French priests from Vincennes. who gained a strong influence over them. The Kickapoos were sometimes found in this region in quest of game and fish. They seem to have received durable impressions from the teachings of the priests, and incidents are related of their peculiar forms of worship while here. The Pottawatomies that were found along the Iroquois, however, were not marked for their observance of Christian institutions. They were, nevertheless, well disposed to the whites on that account, and during their stay not a single rupture of this friendly feeling is reported. There was but one village within the limits of Newton County, and that was situated a few miles north of Morocco, This had been abandoned before the whites had made settlements here. The country was the Indian's typical paradise; the river swarmed with fish, the prairie supplied innumerable deer and grouse, while the marsh lands attracted thousands of aquatic birds, and afforded some of the best trapping grounds in the State. Indian corn-fields were found in a number of places about the county, and the sites of many of them are still pointed out, with the places of the hills plainly to be seen. The character of these fields indicate a peculiar cultivation, which would seem odd enough to one acquainted with the white man's method. The lack of proper implements, as well as ignorance of the best methods, had its influence upon the Indian's practice. The squaws worked with a rude sort of a hoe, and, selecting a site where the joint-grass could best be kept down, the seed was planted in hills, irregularly placed in the chosen area. The practice in planting was first to remove the sod from a small spot, which was placed in a small pile near. The next year the spot covered by the piled-up sod was found free from grass, and here another hill was planted, and this plan was continued until the whole availnble area was occupied or sufScient was had for the needs of the family. A hill once used, was pknted on each subsequent season, and the successive seasons of hoeing gradually raised small mounds, which are now the lasting monuments of female industry. The character of the product was quite as peculiar as the culture. Those who have seen it, often describe it as invariably of a blue and white color and soft texture, never attaining that flinty texture which the white farmer finds a necessary characteristic. Fish was a staple article of food with the Indians, and the whole village would repair to the rapids of the Iroquois, where the Indian method of catching was most successful. Here the men would wade the stream at night with a torch and paddle in either hand, and by a dexterous dip, would toss la*rge numbers of fish on the bank. The dog fish was the only variety the Indians used, and these were prepared in large quantities by the squaws for winter use. The plan was to bake and dry them, and finally reduce them to powder between the palms of the hands. Thus prepared, this powdered fish was stored in deer skins to furnish the winter's chowder. The Indians were formally removed in 1838 or 1839, the larger part having left this county before.

The Eaklt Settlement

It would be difficult to determine who was the first white man to settle temporarily in this county. Something more than one half of its territory was originally a wet, marshy country, inhabited by a vast number of fur-bearing animals, which early attracted trappers. There is but little definite information to be had of this country during that period. The beo'inning of the permanent settlement was not later than that of Jasper County, but the nearer location of the county seat, for several years after 1839, operated to the disadvantage of this section. Immigration naturally gathered about the county seat, and this western settlement remained at almost a " stand still," and showing only a slow growth up to 1854.

Josiah Dunn and John Elliott are known to have been in the county, on the Iroquois, as early as 1832 ; among the very oldest settlers was an old man Joseph Redding, who came from Ohio, and settled near the Iroquois River, in the western part of the county. He subsequently moved further west. About the close of the year 1832, the Brook settlement was formed by James W. Lacy. G. W. Spitler, Squire Lyons, settled on the river in the western part of the county, but left on the breaking-out of the Black Hawk disturbance, returning, however, and settling on the eastern side of the county. About this time came, James Cuppv, Jacob Trout, John Meyers, Bruce Dunn and Matthias Redding.

About 1836, Jacob Kenoyer came from Southeastern Indiana, to near Spitler's Creek, and about 1845 erected the first saw mill and corncracker in the county. It was run by a dam thrown across Spitler's Creek, and stood near the present residence of Zachariah Spitler. Samuel and Frederick Kenoyer came in soon afterward, and Amos Clark and Charles Anderson. These families formed the nucleus for the entire settlement which gathered in the middle-western part of the county. This colony was further reinforced at an early date by Amos White, Michael Haney and Philip Earl.

In 1838, John Murphy came to this region and settled north of the Kenoyer settlement on Beaver Creek. He was a native of Virginia and removed to Ohio in 1808. In 1825, he removed to Indiana, choosimT a site on the Tippecanoe River, opposite the site of the city of La Fayette, which was then a wilderness. In 1838, he came to the territory which is now Newton County. At that time, there were but about twelve families in the county, among whom were the families of Bridgeman, Cuppy, Smith and himself in the edge of the Beaver timber, while on the Iro(pois there were but a few families - John Lyons, Job Hunt, Frederick Kenoyer, John Myers and a few others. The rest of the county was an unbroken solitude.

The first time he went to Chicago was in June, 1822, when he assisted in driving cattle from Ohio to Green Bay, for the United States garrison located there. It took two months and two days to make the trip. From Piqua, Ohio, to Green Bay was an unbroken wilderness, except a small settlement at Fort Wayne, and the garrison at Chicago. Just after the town of La Fayette was laid out, Taylor and Linton opened a store, and Mr. Murphy engaged to take an ox team and find a road to Chicago for them, by which goods could be bought at less expense than to haul them from the east. In company with two other teams, he proceeded through Parish Grove, to Buncombe, 111., and thence to West Point. Buncombe, at that time, consisted of four or five log cabins and a French trading post about a mile up the Iroquois River, on the north side. From this point, he had to make his own road, there being no trace to Chicago. The latter place had increased since his first visit to some twenty-five dwellings, but land was still very cheap. Mr. Murphy was offered lots, near where the 2Vj6MMe building stands at $10 each, the payment to be made in potatoes or oats at 50 cents per bushel. Murphy was subsequently joined on the Beaver Creek by James Elijah, John Darroch, David Kestler, Daniel Deardorff, Benjamin Roadnick, Silas Johnson and others.

Prairie Banditti

In the interval between the actual possession of the Indians and the coming of the class of permanent settlers, a transient class of whites took possession of this region. It was not unusual for professional trappers to take up their abode here for the larger part of the year, and even squatters found this a congenial location, and gathered here in considerable numbers. Under cover of this practice, a class of outlaws found their way to the northern part of the county, and from the jungles that skirted the banks of the Kankakee, plied their vocation to the no small detriment of Newton County's fair name. As originally constituted, Newton alone furnished refuge for these people, but by the change of division line, Jasper shared the opprobrium of their presence. Horsestealing and counterfeiting were the prevailing crimes of pioneer times, and so common were they that the practice was looked upon by the com- munity as more inconvenient than criminal. As society became more firmly established, the orderly and law-abiding element became the controlling power, and these peccadilloes became crimes and were safely practiced only by banded outlaws, who had to resort in some obscure corner of the country. This, Newton County supplied, and for fifteen or twenty years was the abode of a most desperate gang. Their method was to take the lighter horses of one State and sell them in another, making the return trip with a heavier class of horses, which were in demand in the timber country of Iowa and Michigan. For years, these operations were carried on almost in open daylight. Their perfect acquaintance with the country, their many sympathizers who aided, while not engaged in the business, enabled them to elude pursuit. An incident is related of a farmer being awakened by some unusual noise in the night ; he rushed out, fearing that some one might be after his team, and startled two men who were sleeping on his haystack. They did not stop to parley, but made their escape as rapidly as their feet could carry them. He found two good horses left behind, and for a considerable time had no reason to believe them stolen, save from the manner in which they came into his possession. Subsequently they were found to belong to farmers in an adjoining county and were restored. Such a state of affairs could not long continue without some attempts being made to bring such depredators to justice, but these early attempts were made too often single-handed or without sufficient organization, and too often resulted in failure. When once involved in the meshes of the law, so complete was the organization of these bandits, that suflScient evidence was always forthcomina: to clear them of the charge. Counterfeiting was closely allied to horse-stealin<-T. The stolen horse was frequently traded for a better one, and the difference paid in counterfeit money. The horse then rapidly changed hands by means of accomplices, and usually no trace of either man or animal could be found. Occasionally, when a pursuing party came close upon the thieves, discretion seemed the better part of valor, and the chase was given up. So prevalent was this experience throughout the State, that the Legislature passed '- an act authorizing the formation of companies for the detection and apprehension of horse-thieves and other felons, and defining their powers." Under this act, a company was formed in February, 1858, to ferret out the author of these crimes. This companv consisted of a captain, and two men from each township. Their proceedings were extra-judicial, and partook somewhat of the character of a vigilance committee. The members were volunteers, and served withoiit pay. Their discipline was of the strictest sort, and implicit obedience the rule. The Captain would summon a man to be ready in an hour's notice.

armed and rationed. Alone, or in company with one or two others, he would be sent to investigate some clew, or to arrest some suspected individual. No warrant was required, and the culprit was hauled before a Justice forthwith.