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The University of Chicago
TRANSPORTATION AS A FACTOR IN THE
DEVELOPMENT OF NORTHERN
ILLINOIS PREVIOUS TO 1860
A DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY
OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND LITERATURE
IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
BY
JUDSON FISKE LEE
LEE
Private Edition, Distributed By
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LIBRARIES
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Reprinted from
THE JOURNAL OF THE ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Vol. X, No. 1, April, 1917
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​The University of Chicago
TRANSPORTATION AS A FACTOR IN THE
DEVELOPMENT OF NORTHERN
ILLINOIS PREVIOUS TO 1860
A DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY
OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND LITERATURE
IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
BY
JUDSON FISKE LEE
Private Edition, Distributed By
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LIBRARIES
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Reprinted from
THE JOURNAL OF THE ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Vol. X, No. 1, April, 1917
MUNGE
17
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رتع
21
Reclass
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30 ´A.V. M.
Онар говий
Transportation-A Factor in the Development of
Northern Illinois Previous to 1860
By JUDSON FISKE LEE
LEWIS INSTITUTE CHICAGO
INTRODUCTION
In the following pages an attempt is made to trace the
development taking place before 1860 in that portion of
Illinois lying north of the southern prairie line. This includes
most of the State north of the mouth of the Illinois River.
The development, too, of the transportation facilities which
serve this area, and the relation of this development to that
taking place in the district itself, form a part of this study..
This portion of Illinois is composed of two distinct sections,
the river land, and the prairie. These two divisions had, for
the most part, distinct and separate histories. The prairie
looked to the north for a commercial outlet; it was developed
only as that route-offering lake and rail transportation-
was made efficient in its carrying facilities. While the river
land looked to the south for connections with the outside
world, this river section was developed and settled as that
route or as steam navigation upon the rivers (imports came
in part via Cincinnati and the Ohio River; exports in part via
Cincinnati and in part via St. Louis and New Orleans)
improved in its carrying power. The chief stimulus to settle-
ment and development in this section came from river trans-
portation; in the prairie from transportation by lake and by
railroad.
River transportation began earlier than the lake and rail
transportation, and as a result the river counties were settled
earlier than the prairies. In this treatment of the subject,
however, this order is not followed; instead, the development
of the lake route and the settlement depending on it are first
traced. Lake transportation and the development of Chicago.
344489
18
and her hinterland before 1850 are considered in Chapter I.
The method of presentation is to set forth (1) the develop-
ment of the hinterland; (2) the development of Chicago;
and (3) to show that the development in both Chicago and
the immediate back-country was dependent upon the lake
transportation. Chapter II traces the building of plank roads
within this area and shows their influence upon it. Chapters
III and IV treat of the construction of the railroads centering
in Chicago, and show their influence upon the growth of the
prairie region previous to 1860. Chapters V and VI deal
with the history of the river counties. Beginning with the
earliest settlement under the American government, the his-
tory of this river section is brought down to the year 1860.
During this period transportation facilities upon the river
passed through the pirogue and keelboat and also the steam-
boat stage. By 1860, however, the railroads had been built,
and as they were more serviceable than the steamboat, for
the general purposes of the country, river navigation steadily
declined. The railroads were stimulating growth even of
the towns and counties lying nearest the river. The history
of the river counties is the history of these agencies of trans-
portation in relation to the development of the river counties.
19
CHAPTER I
LAKE TRANSPORTATION-THE STIMULUS TO DEVELOPMENT OF
CHICAGO AND THE IMMEDIATE BACK COUNTRY
PREVIOUS TO 1860
The rapid rise of Chicago to her position as a world metrop-
olis was one of the great facts of the last century. In 1830
Chicago was a mere trading post; today, in agricultural
products the prices of the world are governed by her markets.
Then, the number of inhabitants at this frontier port was
less than two hundred; now, of American cities, New York
alone surpasses her, and of the cities of the world she ranks
fifth. The transformation was from a country market to one
of the greatest centers of trade and industry in the world.
The rapidity of this growth was due to her location. Situ-
ated in the center of the world's greatest agricultural region
and, at the same time, on the greatest internal waterway,
Chicago inevitably became an important commercial and rail-
way center. For, while the size and position of Lake Michi-
gan, which lies directly across the lines of east-west traffic,
compelled all railroads from the north and west to pass
around the southern point of the lake, and hence through
Chicago in order to reach the eastern markets, so also the
thirteen hundred miles of water transportation connecting
Chicago with the Atlantic coast made. that city a matural
center for railroads coming from the south and west. Exports
shipped to eastern markets from the states lying southwest
of Lake Michigan could be sent to Chicago by rail and then
east by water more cheaply than by a direct and all-rail route.
As a result of these conditions, twenty-five railway systems
focus at Chicago, making the city the world's greatest rail-
way center. Thus a richly productive hinterland, the Great
Lakes, and the Erie Canal, and especially the position of
20
Lake Michigan compelled the growth of a metropolis at
Chicago.
In 1830, however, only a small portion of the neighboring
territory could have been tributary to Chicago. For no rail-
roads, no canals, and not even respectable wagon roads led
to the newly surveyed town of Chicago, and Peoria and Galena
were the only other settlements in the entire northern section
of the State (1). The condition and extent of this area, nev-
ertheless, rapidly changed. "This country," said the Chi-
cago American of 1835, "from Lake Michigan to the Illinois
and Mississippi is not now an uninhabited, uncultivated re-
gion, but the emigrant has broken upon the stillness which
reigned there, molested the forest grove, and turned up the
rich soil to the sun. These fields which but yesterday were
broad wastes, are now waving with corn and enriching the
cultivator with plenteous harvests (2)." An immigrant,
settling in this territory in this same year, believed that he
had arrived just in time to secure a desirable site, and that
before another autumn had passed not a suitable location
would be left vacant (3). The whole northern part of the
State exhibited a most extraordinary improvement in the
years immediately preceding 1836 (4). The settlement of
the country which began during these early years continued
steadily throughout the period from 1830 to 1850 (5). A
report of Kane County for 1841 said: "This county is march-
ing onward with gigantic strides. * Improvements are
continually being made, new farms are being commenced, her
prairies begin to assume a less desolate appearance.
Good roads, bridges, fences, the schoolhouse, the courthouse,
the church are seen in every direction" (6). A traveler pass-
ing through the country lying to the west of Chicago expressed
amazement at the growth and advancement made during the
early forties. "So great an increase of wealth and popula-
tion, *** such a deluge of men, women and children, horses,
cattle and sheep, and every kind and description of personal
property as has within that period literally poured over these
vast plains", he declared, "outruns all parallel in the growth
of a new country" (7). Belvidere, Rockford, Freeport and
St. Charles grew to be towns of considerable importance, and
the surrounding country was placed under cultivation. Chi-
**
* * *
21
cago's immediate hinterland was rapidly developed during
the period just previous to 1850.
This settlement and development, however, took place
chiefly along the rivers (8). The rest of the country remained
for the most part, unpeopled and unimproved. This condition
existed because the rivers furnished power for the mills and
factories and were the main channels of commerce. Because,
too, of transportation upon them they provided markets for
the surplus products of the soil. Grain was exchanged at
these river markets for clothing and articles of import. There,
also, wheat was ground into flour and corn into meal. St.
Charles on the Fox River, "buzzing and roaring and rattling'
with all kinds of machinery, was likened, in 1845, to the city
of Lowell, Massachusetts (9). Thus almost every pioneer
activity was confined to the river districts, which became well
settled and well developed, while the prairie remained unin-
habited and unorganized.
Not only were the counties lying along the rivers more
densely populated than the prairie regions, but within them
the river townships were the most thickly settled. Ogle
County, bordering the Rock River, increased its population
from 3,479 (10) in 1840 to 10,020 (11) in 1850. It had twenty-
four townships and the five (12) bordering the river, for which
statistics can be given, had at this latter date almost one-
fourth the total population of the county. In Winnebago with
sixteen townships the seven along the river had more than
half of the county's population (13). In Lee County, although
Rock River runs across only Dixon and Palmyra townships,
yet in 1850 more than one-fourth of the total population lived
in these two townships (14). Along the Fox River, too, this
same relative density of population was to be found. In Kane
County, where there were sixteen townships and a total popu-
lation, in 1850, of 16,703, more than half of that number, 8,652,
lived in the five townships bordering Fox River. Kendall
County, with nine townships, had a population of 7,730, more
than half of whom lived in the four river townships. In
McHenry County, too, the three river townships, Richmond,
McHenry, and Algonquin, had a population respectively of
1,078, 1,176 and 1,455, and were the most densely settled town-
ships within the county.
22
Growth in commercial activity naturally followed this rapid
peopling of the district. The immigrants, at first merely con-
sumers, soon settled and became producers (15).
Thus
exportation as well as importation increased and before 1850
important commercial relations sprang up within the area.
To what extent Chicago became the market for this terri-
tory is shown by the commercial growth of her port. During
the first few years Chicago's trade was primarily an import
trade, as would be expected in a new country. By 1836,
though the exports were valued at but $1,000, imports were
worth $325,203 (16). During the following years this rela-
tionship changed. Imports in 1842 were estimated at $664,347,
while the exports were valued at $659,305. By 1847 imports
and exports were worth respectively $2,641,852 and $2,296,299.
The commerce of Chicago's port, both imports and exports,
grew steadily during this period from 1830 to 1850. Previous
to 1839 the increase in exports was slow because many of
the newcomers, instead of applying their energies to the
labors of production, were devoting themselves to speculation.
The result was that although the surrounding country had
changed remarkably in the course of five or six years, never-
theless it was not developed sufficiently to supply the home
market. The price of food was necessarily high because of
the great demand created by the wants of visitors, newcomers,
and land speculators who were thronging into the State (17).
The natural result was to restrict exportation and increase
importation. Later conditions, however, tended to equalize
the export and import trade. The panic of 1837 drove specu-
lators from the market and forced men into labors of produc-
tion. Consequently, more grain was raised and exportation
during the latter part of the period greatly increased. The
heavy immigration, the unwillingness of many to cultivate
the soil, and the panic of 1837, were factors which determined
in the main the commercial movements of the period.
Much of the importation to Chicago, which, as we have seen,
increased in eleven years from $325,203 to $2,641,852, was to
supply the city of Chicago. Some of it, however, was for
people farther inland (18). Merchants from interior villages
were as a matter of economy, beginning to use the Chicago
or northern route for shipping goods from the East, and as a
23
consequence the warehouses of the Chicago forwarding mer-
chants were glutted with merchandise destined to these inter-
nal points (19). At that time goods were sent from Chicago
as a forwarding station westward to Freeport, Galena, and
Prairie Du Chien; southward to Peoria, Tazewell, and Sanga-
mon Counties; and to Crawfordsville and Terre Haute, Indi-
ana (20). Thus, because of cheap transportation to and from
the eastern markets Chicago became a forwarding center for
a larger area of country (21).
Having taken note of the gradual peopling of northern
Illinois, of the fact that the land bordering the rivers was
first taken up, and of the extent of territory for which Chi-
cago was a forwarding point, we may now consider the export
trade in more detail in order to discover from how great a
distance articles of export were hauled to this central market.
Grain, the direct product of the soil, was the chief article of
export. Wheat, the most important cereal, was first shipped
from Chicago in 1839 (22). The initial consignment was
small, but it is significant that there was any surplus, since in
1837 flour readily brought $13 per barrel in Chicago (23), a
fact which would indicate a scarcity of wheat at that time (24).
But in these two years conditions had changed; flour and
wheat were both in surplus, and exportation had begun. So
much wheat came into Chicago that in 1841 there were not
vessels enough to carry it away. Trains of from thirteen to
twenty wagons, loaded with wheat, were a customary sight
in Chicago, and at times, lines of eighty wagons might be
seen en route for the city (25). This was due to the fact
that merchants in the small towns were buying great quanti-
ties of grain and hauling it in wagons into this central market.
One firm alone, in Ottawa, advertised in 1842 for fifty teams
to haul wheat to Chicago. As a result of the activity of these
inland towns, shipment from this port to eastern markets
increased rapidly. In 1842, 586,907 bushels of wheat were
sent from Chicago port (26). The increase in size of ship-
ments continued until 1848, when the cultivation of other
grains was given greater attention, and wheat lost its relative
importance in the Chicago market (27). At the close of the
period, about 1860, corn began to come into Chicago in greater
quantities than ever before. The raising of wool, too, was
24
found to be exceedingly profitable, the first being marketed
in 1842 (28). Beef (29) and pork (30) were also brought in
large quantities to this central market and forwarded for
eastern consumption. Though the relative importance of
these various articles of export varied, nevertheless there was
a steady aggregate increase.
These articles of exportation were hauled to Chicago from
distances of 150, 200 and 250 miles (31). Chicago, in 1841,
was the market for "about one-half the State of Illinois, a
large portion of Indiana, and a very considerable part of
Wisconsin" (32). Farmers hauled grain through the interior
towns to Chicago, where higher prices could be secured and
goods purchased at fifty or one hundred per cent. less than at
the nearer markets. In September, 1842, when Chicago was
paying 53 to 54 cents cash for wheat, Springfield offered but
372 cents in trade (33). In 1841, on the same day that Chi-
cago was paying $1.00, Peoria bought wheat at 40 cents (34).
In various places during the season of 1841, throughout south-
ern, middle and northern Illinois, but 50 cents was paid for
wheat, while Chicago was giving on the average of 87 cents.
This ability to pay such high prices gave Chicago a supremacy
over these competing towns and made her the grain center
of northern Illinois.
The commercial growth of Chicago made necessary an
increase in the number and size of business houses at that
place. In 1831 Chicago had only one store (35), but in 1832
there were three (36), and by 1835 the number of dry goods,
grocery, hardware and drug stores, was more than fifty (37).
Moreover, the spacious streets were crowded with carts and
wagons; there was a bustling trade, where but a short time
before was the unbroken prairie (38). In 1837 one hundred
and twenty stores, twenty of which were wholesale, were
required to transact the business of this crowded mart (39).
The one-store market had become a city of many wholesale
and retail stores.
The growth of Chicago and the building up of her tributary
area were, as we have seen, very closely related. The devel-
opment of the one was impossible without the development
of the other, for a thickly settled and highly cultivated back
country was an absolutely essential factor in the building of
25
a great Chicago. And, conversely, it was true that such a
condition in the nearby farming section was possible only
when Chicago offered to that area its money, wealth, and
commercial advantages. Because of these facts the inter-
dependence of Chicago and her hinterland has been very
marked. However, in spite of this interdependence and
although the development of either Chicago or northern Illi-
nois was impossible without the development of the other,
yet the building up of neither could have taken place without
a third factor-efficient transportation facilities connecting
them with the eastern markets. Such an element was sup-
plied by the rise of lake transportation. This agency made
the commercial growth of Chicago possible. It allowed her
to sell cheaply and buy at rates sufficiently high to give profits
to the farmer. It made Chicago the point of contact between
the East and the West, and furnished the chief stimulus
which changed northern Illinois from a totally dependent
importing country to one having a considerable export trade.
Lake transportation facilities, in turn, were dependent upon
these other elements. For as Chicago and her surrounding
country were developed and as their commercial demands
increased, the transportation facilities serving them became
more efficient.
In 1830 no vessels had come to Chicago, and by 1833 only
two had visited her port (40). During the season of 1836, 456
entries were made (41), and by 1839 a regular line of eight
boats ran from Buffalo to Chicago, taking sixteen days for
each trip. The following year the number of boats increased
to forty-eight, and in 1841 seventy trips were made between
Buffalo and Chicago (42). The number of entries and
departures for the season of 1841 averaged 150 per month;
and during the year 1842 there were 705 arrivals with a ton-
nage of 117,711 (43). This was almost twice the tonnage of
1836. Thus, the increase in steam tonnage at the port of
Chicago was very great.
Since the carrying power of other than steam vessels was
at that time not inconsiderable, however, a full knowledge
of the water transportation agencies required a study of the
tonnage of the sailing vessels. In 1831, before even a single
steam vessel reached Chicago, the port was frequented by
26
four small sailing vessels-two brigs and two schooners (44),
and after that date these sailing vessels continued to do a
heavy business. The following statement, taken from the
Buffalo Advertiser of 1846, gives an idea of the amount of
freight carried by the sailing vessel: "The sail craft upon
the lakes are doing better this season than they have for
several years past. Every vessel returns full freighted, and
so increasing is the demand for conveyance by this means
that our forwarders have established a regular line to the
Upper Lakes. Six of our largest brigs have been selected
for this purpose and will depart weekly from this city and
Chicago, touching, of course, at all the important points on
Lake Michigan. The merchants and forwarders of Michigan
City, St. Joe, Milwaukee, etc., who fancy they have been
neglected by steamboat lines during their trips to Chicago,
will now be enabled to ship regularly and by the best class
of vessels" (45). The sailing craft did a heavy carrying
trade even though the steamer tonnage had made such a
remarkable growth.
The increase in both steam and sailing tonnage though
great, did not, however, equal the growth in the actual carry-
ing power of that tonnage. Newly acquired speed upon the
water enabled the same tonnage to make more trips and thus
carry more freight. The increased capacity of vessels, the
substitution of steam for hand labor at the docks, and the
erection of numerous newly improved warehouses, all added
to the carrying power of a given tonnage. The amount of
traffic actually carried by ships of the same tonnage in 1851
as compared with that carried in 1841, was ten fold more.
Great as had been the growth in steam and sailing tonnage,
the increase in carrying power was even greater.
NOTES FOR CHAPTER I
(1) Chicago Historical Society Manuscripts, Vol. 31. Letter of Charles Butler telling
of a journey from Michigan City to Chicago: 'On my left lay the prairies bounded only
by the distant horizon like an expanse of ocean;
There was an entire absence of
animal life, nothing visible in the way of human habitation or to indicate the presence of
man.
99
(2) The Chicago American, June 27, 1835.
(3) Chicago Hist. Soc. MSS., Vol. 17, Letter of George I. Goodhue to Hazard B.
Terrill, descriptive of Northern Illinois in 1835: "Emigration is going on with wonderful
rapidity through the whole state and before next autumn not a desirable location will be
left vacant. I arrived in the exact time and selected a place that many desired. I have
traveled nearly the whole time. I have been here and seen most of this State, Indiana,
and Michigan Territory; also part of Missouri. I find the north part of this State the
most desirable ***"
27
(7)
Chicago American, July 16, 1836.
De Bow's Commercial Review of the South and West, V., p. 372.
Chicago_Weekly American, Sept. 3, 1841.
Prairie Farmer, V, p. 152.
(8) Stewart, Catherine, New Homes in the West (Nashville 1843), p. 132: "The
country around the Fox and Rock Rivers and westward into Galena, which five years ago
disclosed little more than an unbroken waste, is now almost entirely filled up with smiling
settlements; the land yielding seventy, in some instances a hundred, bushels of corn an
acre; equally productive of other grains and every kind of vegetation suited to a northern
climate. Chicago American, July 16, 1836: "The whole line of that portion of Fox River
included within her borders is strung with neat and animated villages.
Prairie Farmer, V., p. 152.
(9)
Sixth Federal Census.
Seventh Federal Census.
(10)
(11)
(12) Ibid. Byron, 644; Nashua, 703; Marion, 595; Oregon, 540; Grand De Tour, 378.
(13) Seventh Census, 6,924 out of a total of 11,773.
(14) Seventh Census, 1,661 out of a total of 5,292.
(15) Chicago Daily Journal, March 27, 1845: "From consumers we became producers,
and are in fact but emerging into importance. Chicago, naturally from her position, keeps
pace with the improvements in the extent of country, of which she is legitimately the
market.”
(16) Andrew's Report on Colonial and Lake Trade (1852), p. 175.
Year
1836
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
Imports and Exports from Chicago
Imports
$ 325,203
373,677
379,174
630,980
562,106
564,347
664,347
971,849
1,686,416
2,043,445
2,027,150
2,641,852
Exports
1,000
10,000
16,044
38,843
228,635
348,862
659,305
682,210
785,504
1,543,510
1,813,468
2,296,299
(17) Chicago American, June 20, 1835: "Our market is almost bare of all kinds of
provisions. The prodigious influx of emigrants and visitants for the last month has produced
a great scarcity of the leading articles of subsistence. Most kinds of provisions are now
selling at enormous prices: Flour has been sold the present week at twenty dollars per
barrel; butter at thirty-one cents; and many other articles proportionately high.'
(18) An advertisement given in the Chicago American of December 31, 1836, for
unclaimed packages at Hubbard and Company's Express, showed the following_destinations:
Elkhart, Goshen, Michigan City, and Terre Haute, Indiana; Independence and Clinton, Iowa,
and Joliet, Galena and Danville, Illinois.
(19) Chicago American, Sept. 26, 1835.
(20) Chicago Weekly American, Oct. 29, 1841; Sept. 9, 1844.
(21) It is not to be assumed, however, from these facts that Chicago was the chief
forwarding point for all this territory. Only this conclusion can be drawn that Chicago
and the northern route, was a competing channel of commerce through which at different
times package freight was sent to these distant places.
(22) Hunt's Merchants Magazine and Commercial Register, XXVI, p. 926.
(23)
Chicago Weekly American, Sept. 10, 1841.
(24) This unusually high rate was due in part to the inflated prices which ruled the
markets just previous to the panic of 1837.
(25) Chicago Weekly American, Aug. 24, 1842.
(26) Ibid.
(27) Hunt, XXVIII, p. 560. The decrease in receipts of wheat is not to be explained
by a change of route unfavorable to Chicago, but by a change of crop in the tributary
country.
(28) Chicago Weekly American, June 29, 1842. The prairies were suited to growing
wool, and, although per acre as much could not have been produced had the market been
close at hand, yet because wool could be shipped at one-fourth the price wheat could, the
net gain on wool was greater than_that on wheat.
(29) Chicago Daily Tribune, Dec. 28, 1850.
(30) Chicago Weekly American, Jan. 5, 1842.
(31) Chicago American, Sept. 17, 1841.
(32) Ibid.
(33)
Chicago Weekly American, Sept. 27, 1842.
(34) Chicago Weekly American, Sept. 17, 1841.
(35) Andreas, A. T. History of Cook County, Illinois (Chicago 1884), p. 115-116.
(36) Chicago American, Aug. 15, 1835.
28
4
(37) Andreas, Cook County, p. 142; Chicago American, Aug. 15, 1835. There were
in 1835 four large forwarding houses, two book stores, one brewery, one steam mill, and
twenty-five shops of all descriptions.
(38)
Chicago American, February 4, 1837.
(39) Hunt, XXVI, p. 425. Illinois in 1837, p. 135.
(40) Hunt, VI. p. 189. Illinois in 1837, p. 135. A letter from a "Rambler,” states
that there were four arrivals in 1832.
(41) Hunt, XXVI, p. 425.
(42) Hunt, VI, p. 189.
(43) Senate Documents, 1842-43, IV., No. 234.
(44) Gerhard, F. Illinois as it is (Chicago 1857), p. 388.
(45) (Chicago Weekly American, July 31, 1846.
29
CHAPTER II
PLANK ROADS, OR THE PRE-RAILROAD LINES OF
TRANSPORTATION
During the first fifteen years of settlement of northern
Illinois and while the remarkable growth outlined in the pre-
ceeding chapter was taking place, very little was done to
connect Chicago with her adjacent hinterland (1). No good
roads were built, and what commerce centered at Chicago,
did so because of her naturally advantageous position. At
the close of this period, however, an enterprising spirit
demanded that roads be built, which should offer to the inte-
rior region advantages similar to those which lake transpor-
tation was giving to Chicago (2). True, internal improve-
ments had earlier been undertaken by the State, but from
these efforts little other than evil results came. The short
railroad which was completed had small value, no canals
were built, and the rivers were not yet improved. Now, how-
ever, conditions had changed. These distant settlements had
grown and were demanding good roads which would connect
them with a primary market. In response to this demand
these later improvements were made. They were but natural
steps in the building up of the country, results of an earlier
development and aids to a later one.
These improvements consisted in the laying of a system
of plank roads, the construction of railroads and the building
of the Illinois and Michigan canal. The plank roads, more
primitive than any of the other improvements undertaken,
did not radically change the course of economic develop-
ment, but simply intensified that which had already taken
place (3). Their results, though important, were not so far
reaching as those of the other improvements. The canal and
the railroads were much more powerful agents (4). They
reached farther into the country and changed the character
་
30
both of Chicago and of the rural districts. They greatly
increased Chicago's wholesale business and transformed the
unbroken prairie into wheat fields upon which were built
many grain store houses and shipping stations. Plank roads
on the other hand merely supplanted the old "black ditch"
and made it possible for trains of wagons to come from a
much greater distance into the city. Their influence was to
give the market a steadiness otherwise impossible, and to
increase the retail trade.
The history of plank roads in Illinois is the history of a
State-wide movement. They were built out from almost
every important town. Those of primary concern led out
from Chicago. In 1849 a general Plank Road Corporation
act was passed whereby corporations might be formed for the
purpose of constructing and managing plank roads (5).
Under this law, and even previous to it under special char-
ters, corporations were formed, each of which built a road
from Chicago into the country. The North-western, Western
and South-western were the principal plank roads built.
Attention has already been called to the fact that the earl-
iest settlements were along the rivers, and that to the west
of Chicago they were on the Mississippi at Galena, and upon
the Fox and Rock Rivers. These distant settlements were at
first disconnected, for the prairie between the lines of settle-
ment was then unbroken. The first trail across the prairie
to Galena was made in 1825, and not until nine years later
was the first stage line in this section of the country estab-
lished (6). It ran from Chicago to Dixon, and thence into
Galena from a southerly direction. Trade followed this stage
line and because of this fact the towns through which it
passed became more prosperous. On the other hand, the
settlements that were lying to the north of this road and
directly west of Chicago, and which had no good outlet, were
placed at a disadvantage. The result, with trade following a
route favorable to some towns and unfavorable to others, was
that jealousy sprang up and a demand for new roads was
created which later materialized in the building of competing
trade routes.
These first roads, however, were but openings through the
timber land and marked out routes across the prairie. Nev-
31
ertheless, they met the requirements of the time. But as the
distant settlements increased in their productive power the
importance of well-built roads was more fully realized (7).
The result was that in 1844 the Illinois State legislature was
petitioned for the power to construct a plank road. Although
the bill introduced in response to this petition became a par-
tisan measure and was defeated, yet the spirit demanding
it was uncompromising (8). The Chicago papers were urg-
ing the building of plank roads (9). At Bryan, Ogle County,
meetings were held to discuss plans for building better roads
to the principal market. The preamble to resolutions adopted
at a meeting in Elgin sets forth as follows the urgent need
of plank roads: "Whereas, the large and increasing amount
of agricultural products yielded by the fertile soil of Illinois,
even in the present beginning of its cultivation, which requires
transportation from the Fox and the Rock River Valley to
the city of Chicago, with the vast and equally increasing
amount of merchandise, lumber, iron, salt, etc., rendered
necessary from the city to the country, call urgently for some
better thoroughfare than is now possessed" (10). The needs
both of the country and of Chicago, it was felt, demanded this
improvement.
Finally, as a result of the growing need and of this unceas-
ing clamor, the necessary legislation was secured, corpora-
tions were formed, and plank roads were built from the city
to these distant settlements. The first of the kind extending
from Chicago was the South-western Road (11). It was com-
menced in May, 1848, and by 1850 sixteen miles of the road
had been completed (12). It then reached to Brush Hill, or
to the eastern boundary of DuPage County (13). As exten-
sions to this road the Naperville and Oswego, the St. Charles
and Warrenville (14), the Sycamore, and the Oswego and
Little Rock roads were built, thus making a continuous line
of plank roads leading out from Chicago for a distance of
sixty miles (15). These roads formed the main line, which,
together with the branch roads connecting it with the small
towns, made a network of improved roads throughout the
section of country lying southwest of Chicago.
Similar routes were extended from Chicago to the west and
to the north-west. In 1849 the North-western Plank Road was
32
begun and built to Oak Ridge, a distance of eight miles, and
during the following year was extended to Dutchman's Point
(16). From this main line branch feeders were thrown out
to the Des Plaines River (17). The purpose was to connect
with Chicago the distant but important trading point of
Wheeling, situated on the upper Des Plaines River, and by
this main route, with its branch roads, to secure to the city
of Chicago the surplus products of the whole Des Plaines
valley. The Western Plank Road was built from this line at
Oak Ridge eight miles from the city. From thence it ran to
the east line of DuPage County, where it connected with the
Elgin and Genoa Plank Road, which passed through Elgin
and terminated at Genoa (18), a distance of over fifty miles
(19) from Chicago.
Besides these main plank roads two other short ones led
from the city, the Lake and McHenry County, and the South-
ern plank roads. The former connected Waukegan with
Hainesville, McHenry County (20). In 1850 plans were made
to extend this road from Waukegan to Chicago and from
Hainesville to Woodstock. Whether or not these plans were
executed is uncertain. The Southern Plank Road was built
from Chicago as far as Kyles' Tavern, ten miles from the
city. The purpose was to extend the road through Momence,
in Will County, to Middleport in Iroquois County, a distance
of seventy-five miles. But this extension was never made
(21). Running north from Clark Street, nearly parallel to
the lake shore, still another road was planked (22). This
route passed by the tavern of Rees and Hundley to Little
Rock River; thence through Pine Grove to Hood's Tavern on
the Green Bay Road. Thus, plank roads were built from
Chicago as a center to the north, north-west, west, south-
west and south. Each led to a rich agricultural region and
served as a connecting road between it and the great primary
market of the West. Over these roads the surplus of this
productive country poured into Chicago.
These plank roads proved to be good business proposi-
tions to the corporations owning them. The Southern Road,
but ten miles in length, declared a dividend in 1851 of fourteen
per cent. (23). The North-western Plank Road Company,
without declaring dividends for a time, used the earnings
33
to extend the road. During this period the amounts received
were equal to about one-fifth of the first expenditure (24).
In 1851 a net income was received from this road of thirty
or forty per cent. on the original cost (25). The statistics
for the year 1852 are not given, yet a comparison of tolls for
the month of February with the same month of 1851 indi-
cates for 1852 a much larger income (26). The South-western
Road likewise proved very remunerative (27). Upon the first
two miles of this road more than eighty per cent. of the orig-
inal cost was received in tolls (28). Each of the roads proved
a wise and winning investment to the stockholders.
Not only were these roads beneficial to those who promoted
them, but they aided in the development both of Chicago and
the surrounding country. They were far superior to the
railroads in building up a retail trade (29). "From no other
improvement", said a writer of the period, "has Chicago
derived more direct and manifest benefit in proportion to
the capital invested than from the plank roads which connect
it with the adjacent county" (30). They changed a fluctu-
ating market into a steady and reliable one, thereby removing
the conditions so harassing to a successful merchandise busi-
ness, and so destructive to a well regulated system of inter-
change (31). Curtiss, in his Western Portraiture, pronounced
them improvements "that greatly facilitate the business be-
tween Chicago and the country” (32).
So clearly connected are Chicago and the tributary country
that the benefits of the one were advantages of the other.
The results already pointed out are those which directly
affected the city. The country, however, through which these
roads passed was likewise greatly benefited. Transportation
was so accelerated that one could travel ten or twelve miles
on the plank road with greater ease and in less time than six
miles upon a common road (33). The farmer could haul
larger loads and make better time than formerly, and with
much less destruction to property and animals (34). "Stiff-
ness, decay and death", said the Chicago Daily Democrat,
"are the necessary results of overtaxing the animal's energy
where it is long continued. In this respect alone, plank roads
would confer a lasting benefit to the country; they would save
an immense loss in the wear and tear of wagons and in the
34
deterioration of stock" (35). The farmer, because of them,
became more independent. Instead of being compelled, as
formerly, to deliver his last year's crops during the best
weather for farming, he could take advantage of sunny skies
in caring for his new crop. Still other advantages than these
accrued directly to the farmer because of plank roads. His
lands became saleable at new and higher prices (36). Wood,
being easily conveyed, could be sold with profit, and because
of this fact timber lands rose in value (37). Better improve-
ments were made upon the farms lying along the line of the
plank roads (38). More farms were opened and new houses
and barns were built. The plank roads brought prosperity
to the country through which they passed.
These roads have been viewed as agents in the develop-
ment of the city and of the adjacent country. Their full and
complete history is not required, nor will it be pursued fur-
ther than to show their usefulness as a primary developing
agent. The period considered is from 1848, the date of their
first inception, until the railroad relegated them to a sec-
ondary factor. In their first function, the plank roads were
the main through routes from the back country to Chicago.
Later, railroads usurped this through traffic, and plank road
stock went below par (39). From this time the function of
plank roads was not to furnish through transportation
routes, but to serve as branch lines to the railroads and the
canal. This phase, though important, becomes secondary, and
will be traced only in a general way. The railroads and the
canal assumed primary importance as transportation agen-
cies, and their history becomes the logical continuation of this
aspect of the subject.
The use of the plank road in this secondary phase may best
be illustrated by the consideration of those running into
Freeport. This town with railroad connections to Chicago
once established, began the building of plank roads out into
the surrounding country. One road was built by the way of
Cedarville and Oneco to Monroe, in Green County, Wiscon-
sin (40). Other routes were to Rock Run and to North Grove,
and still another to the mills on Yellow Creek. These roads
connected the territory within a radius of thirty miles of
Freeport with a cash market. This territory, too, like that
35
immediately adjacent to Chicago, was enhanced in value (41).
Other roads were in contemplation, the progress and full
history of which will not be followed here, but whose purpose
was the connection of tributary country with through trans-
portation lines, and not directly with the central market itself.
These were the Oswego and Indiana lines (42), the Fulton
County Road connecting Canton with the river (43), and the
road connecting Virginia with Beardstown on the Illinois
River. Pittsfield, too, was connected with Florence, as was
Lockport with Plainville (44). These were some of the many
minor plank roads built out from various local centers. The
produce of the country was hauled over them to the smaller
towns, only to be sent ultimately to Chicago.
During this early period, Chicago passed from a stage in
which the immediate country was largely undeveloped, and
where there were no good roads leading to the distant river
settlements, to a stage in which the country tributary to her
had so developed that into her store-houses poured millions
of bushels of grain. Chicago herself was building up a large
commerce, and to this transformation from a small town to a
large commercial center the plank road system, "one of the
greatest improvements introduced into the state", contributed
its part. The plank road made Chicago's retail trade, and
was an important factor in developing northern Illinois. It
was an efficient agent in conquering the prairie land.
(1)
NOTES FOR CHAPTER II
Chicago Daily Journal, Sept, 9, 1844.
(2) Ibid.
(3) "The roads are constructed with either a single or a double track. The single
track is eight feet wide with plank, and as much more without it, upon which wagons may
turn out. The whole (sixteen feet) is graded at the rate of about six hundred feet to the
mile, or one foot in twelve. The road being first covered with clay spread evenly over it,
sills are laid down at the sides, and the ends of the planks are made to rest upon these, and
at the same time also upon the clay of the intervening road. The ends of the planks are
not pinned or fastened in any way whatever, care only being taken that they shall not lie in
a straight line upon the sills, but irregularly, so as to give a better hold to wagons coming
from the clay on the plank roads. There is also a good ditch at each side of the road so as
to drain it well." Baltimore American reprinted in Niles Register, LXXV, p. 221.
(4) The railroad is discussed in the succeeding chapters. The Illinois and Michigan
Canal, however, is not treated because Professor J. W. Putnam, of Butler College, Indiana,
has been for some time making a special study of this subject. See Journal of Political
Economy, May, June and July, 1909; also "The Illinois and Michigan Canal, A Study in
Economic History," by the same author.
(5) Illinois Session Laws, 1849, 1st Sess. Sixteenth General Assembly, p. 128.
(6) History of DuPage County (1882), p. 150. In this year Mr. Kellogg pioneered
his way from Peoria to Galena, hitherto unreached save by the river.
(7) Chicago Daily Journal, Sept. 9, 1844.
(8) Daily Journal, Dec. 12, 1844.
(9) Chicago Democrat, Sept. 11, 1844; Chicago Daily Journal, Sept. 9, 1844.
(10) Daily Journal, Sept. 14, 1844.
(11) Chicago Daily Tribune, Dec. 28, 1850; Chicago Daily Democrat, May 31, 1850.
36
(12) Chicago Daily Tribune, Dec. 28, 1850.
813
(13) Chicago Daily Democrat, May 31, 1850; Chicago Daily Tribune, Dec. 28, 1850;
Hunt's Merchants Magazine, Vol. XXVI, p. 442.
(14) Chicago Daily Democrat, May 31, 1850.
(15) Chicago Daily Democrat, Jan. 10, 1851; Chicago Daily Democrat, May 31, 1850.
(16) Chicago Democrat, Dec. 18, 1850; Chicago Daily Democrat, May 31, 1850.
(17)
Hunt, Vol. XXVI, p. 442.
(18) Chicago Daily Democrat, May 31, 1850.
(19) Chicago Daily Tribune, Dec. 28, 1850.
(20) Chicago Daily Democrat, Dec. 20, 1850.
(21) The reason this project was not carried out is uncertain. A factional fight over
the route (Chicago Daily Democrat, Nov. 17, 1849) has been assigned as a reason. One
authority (Chicago Daily Tribune, Dec. 28, 1850) notes that the people living along the
line requested that the roads should not be built. Competition of the I. & M. Canal may
have been feared by its directors as was that of the I. C. R. R. Hunt, XXVI, p. 443.
(22) Moses & Kirkland, p. 304. Hunt, XXVI, p. 442, Chicago Daily Dem. Jan. 21, 1851.
(23) Chicago Daily Democrat, Jan. 9, 1852; Hunt XXVI, p. 443.
(24) Chicago Daily Tribune, Dec. 28, 1850.
(25) Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, XXVI, p. 442.
(26) Chicago Weekly Democrat, March 14, 1852.
The tolls for February, 1851, were
but $757.12; while for the same month 1852, this amount was more than doubled, being
$1,516.54.
(27) Chicago Daily Democrat, Dec. 9, 1848.
(28) Chicago Daily Democrat, Oct. 2, 1848.
(29)
Chicago Daily Democrat, Dec. 9, 1848; May 31, 1850; June 8, 1849.
(30) Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, XXVI, p. 442.
(31) Chicago Daily Democrat, Jan. 16, 1849; Feb. 1, 1849; March 31, 1850.
(32) Curtiss' Western Portraiture, p. 53.
(33) Chicago Daily Democrat, Sept. 4, 1849.
(34) Chicago Daily Democrat, June 27, 1851.
(35) Chicago Daily Democrat, July 31, 1850.
(36) Chciago Daily Democrat, June 27, 1851.
(37) Chciago Daily Democrat, May 13, 1850;
(38) Chicago Daily Democrat, July 17, 1851; June 13, 1851; Chicago Daily Democrat,
Nov. 17, 1849.
From ten to fifty per cent.
Oct. 9, 1848; June 28, 1851.
(39) History DuPage Co. (1857), p. 31. The South-western Road was torn up in 1857.-
(40) Chicago Daily Democrat, Sept. 9, 1851; Chicago Weekly Democrat, Sept. 13, 1851.
(41) Chicago Daily Democrat, Sept. 9, 1851; Sept, 2, 1851.
(42) Chicago Daily Democrat, June 27, 1851.
(43) Chicago Daily Democrat, Jan. 10, 1851.
(44
Chicago Daily Democrat, Oct. 25, 1851; Chicago Daily Democrat, Nov. 7, 1851.
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CHAPTER. H:
THE PRAIRIE LANDS
NORTHERN ILLINOIS & THE MILITARY TRACK
1850-1860
}
37
CHAPTER III
RAILROADS IN THE PRAIRIE LANDS OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS AND IN
THE MILITARY TRACT, 1850-1860
The building of railroads out from Chicago brought about
a new era in the development of that city, and of the tributary
country. Previous to 1850 settlements were made chiefly
along the rivers, which were then the lines of through traffic.
Yet before 1860 the railroads had been built, and as a result
the prairie had been settled, new farms had been enclosed,
and the hitherto unclaimed land had become the home of an
industrious laboring people.
Agitation for the building of railroads began early, but
nothing advantageous was accomplished until the Galena &
Chicago Union Railroad was built. The purpose of this road
was to make Galena and Chicago the terminals, thereby con-
necting the upper Mississippi and the lake traffic (1). Chi-
cago desired to handle Galena's lead, and to supply the
laborers in the lead mines of that place with the necessaries
of life. Moreover, the carrying trade of the Rock and Fox
River settlements would also be secured by the building of
such a road. This road was started in 1846, and by Septem-
ber 1, 1850, the main line to Freeport was carrying freight
(2). Previous to this date the St. Charles (3), the Aurora
(4), and the Beloit (5) branches had been completed, and on
December 16, 1855, the line from Dixon to Fulton City was
opened. Thus, by the close of the year 1855, the main line
to Freeport of 122½ miles, the Beloit branch, 21 miles, and
the Chicago-Fulton road, 105½ miles, were all completed,
making a total of 249 miles (6). This system of roads con-
nected the Mississippi and the Lakes, gave two separate lines
of communication across the prairie, joined the settlements
lying along three separate river systems, and touched twelve
different counties in northern Illinois.
38
At this time, too, other roads were built through this prairie
lying north and west of the Illinois River (7). The main line
of the Illinois Central was constructed through the division
of territory now under consideration. This road crossed
both branches of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad,
touching the Fulton line at Dixon, and the terminal of the
other branch at Freeport; and joined the latter named place
with Galena and Dunlieth on the Mississippi. The Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy system of the present time formed
by the consolidation of the Central Military Tract Railroad,
the Aurora branch, and the Peoria and Oquawka was con-
structed during this era of railroad building. This system
ran through the center of the Military Tract (8). It passed
between the sources of streams which run to the great river
systems on either side, opened up a prairie hitherto undevel-
oped, and reached the Mississippi at Quincy, a distance of
210 miles from Chicago (9). The branch of the road, formerly
the Peoria and Oquawka, left the main line at Galesburg, 173
miles from Chicago, and running westward 100 miles, touched
the Mississippi at Burlington. The Rock Island, which, run-
ning from Chicago, paralleled the Illinois and Michigan Canal
and the Illinois River as far as Peru, turned westward at
this point, ran across the northern part of the Military Tract,
crossed the Illinois Central at La Salle, and the Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy at Mendota, and reached the Mississippi
at Rock Island. The entire length of this road, 181 miles,
was opened for use in 1854 (10).
Thus throughout this prairie land lying to the north of the
Illinois River four systems of railroads were constructed.
These improvements, carried to a completion between 1850
and 1856, crossed almost every prairie county (11), and by
means of them prices nearly equal to those given at the Chi-
cago market were offered at stations easily within reach of
all. The old difficulty of marketing surplus produce could no
longer seriously retard the development of this rich prairie
land.
As the through transportation lines were completed their
terminals and depots became the storehouses of the surround-
ing country. For farmers, instead of hauling their grain to
Chicago, as they formerly had done, were now delivering
39
it at these depots (12). When the Galena and Chicago Union
Railroad was completed to the Des Plaines River, over thirty
loads of wheat were there deposited awaiting transportation
(13). St. Charles, with only the advantages offered by a
branch road, built up a good business and became the grain
center for a large area. The Kane County Democrat said
of the town: "Life and animation courses every avenue.
She has built a branch railroad, procured cars and a good
engine by the voluntary subscription of her own citizens dur-
ing the last year, and is now reaping the fruits of her labors
by a rich trade from the surrounding country" (14). During
the first year (1850) this branch road, but five miles in length
and doing the transportation work of St. Charles alone, did
almost three thousand dollars ($2,994.94) worth of business,
which was increased the following year to $4,468.36 (15). In
the year ending April 30, 1856, this amount was still further
increased to $12,559.64. Thus the advantages offered to this
town by the railroad stimulated its business and general devel-
opment.
Upon the completion of the railroad through Marengo, that
town also advanced rapidly in wealth and prosperity, and
became an important trading point. Her export business was
greatly increased. Four warehouses, each with a capacity
of 60,000 bushels, were built; grain could not be shipped as
fast as it was bought by local dealers (16). Morrison, in
Whiteside County, experienced a similar growth. This town
was laid out in 1855, and although the first station was but
a board shanty, yet the historian of Whiteside County reports
that during the same year a large business was done in ship-
ping to and from that point. As a result, the rich farming
lands on all sides were soon improved by an enterprising
class of farmers, and trade increased still more rapidly (17).
A writer in the Sentinel of June 1, 1860, said: "Four years
ago Morrison came into existence. At that time there was
but one house within a mile, and each settler was obliged to
haul his building material from the Mississippi, or Sterling,
or Dixon" (18). Yet in 1859 there were shipped from this
station 131,414 bushels of wheat, 49,996 bushels of corn, and
various other commodities. Though the town was small, it
received much lumber, coal and general merchandise, and a
new impulse was given to every activity.
40
When it was known beyond question that the railroad would
be built through Carroll County, "there was a rapid influx
of aspiring business men" (19). Lanark sprang into exist-
ence and then into importance. "Where but a few months
before there was nothing but an undisturbed prairie, with no
really productive and remunerative farms in sight, all became
hurry and bustle. Stores and trading places were opened
just as fast as accommodations could be secured" (20). The
town of Fulton, in Whiteside County, experienced a similar
growth. When ground was first broken for the railroad at
that place, there were probably not over four hundred inhab-
itants within the limits of the corporation; but within a few
years thereafter there were at least six times this number
(21). Kendall County, too, became prosperous, owing "mostly
to the general incoming of railroads, by which prices of both
produce and real estate were quickened" (22). In Lee County
the building of the Illinois Central caused "not only the rapid
growth of Dixon, but the founding of the Amboy Car Works,
which gave rise to the growth of that young city" (23). Elgin
had a population of 540 in 1850, but in six years it had in-
creased its population to as many times that number (24).
Amboy's growth was not less remarkable. Its population had
grown from 16 to more than 1,300. The railroad stimulated
trade and had an influence upon the development of the
prairie lying north of the Illinois River.
By 1856 and 1857, less than five years after the Galena and
Chicago Union Railroad was completed, every station upon
it was doing an important freight business. Danby, Winfield
and Wheaton, mere villages, built up respectively an annual
freight traffic of 4,135,850; 4,526,730; and 7,294,430 pounds
(25). The freight of the more important places, Clinton,
Elgin, Belvidere, and Rockford, was respectively 11,986,900;
35,860,810; 44,574,980; and 85,405,880 pounds per annum. At
any one of these larger depots the cash value of the freight
was annually more than $20,000, while in some places it was
twice and three times this amount. Even the smallest trading
stations, with two or three exceptions, were annually shipping
freight valued at more than $3,000. What such a growth
means cannot be adequately represented by giving this data.
For it must be remembered that this commerce was built up
41
in a new country. Hence, a freight depot, doing an annual
business of three, five or ten thousand dollars, would indicate
that many new settlers had come in, many farms had been
enclosed, and that land hitherto unbroken was being cultivated
and made to contribute to the needs of man.
The total freight earnings of this road, (the Galena and
Chicago Union), which between 1852 and 1857 increased from
less than $125,000 to almost $1,500,000, affords still further
evidence that a great transformation had been made in the
tributary country (26). Then, too, the eastward tonnage,
which was a surplus product, steadily increased (27). This
growth in exports can mean only that the country had become
more thickly settled, and that the farms were being better
cultivated.
The import shipments also give indication of this trans-
formation. Between 1850 and 1853 the increase in imports
was from 28,244 to 96,627 tons, which would indicate a rapid
settling of the country. But during the late fifties a more
thickly settled and better cultivated area brought about a
decrease in the imports, since the needs of the people could
then be supplied within the district itself (28). Thus an
increase of imports in the early fifties and a subsequent
decrease of imports during the late fifties, alike indicate
a constant development.
The transformation which we have witnessed in the area
through which the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad had
been constructed from a partly settled region to one in a well
developed state of cultivation was experienced, also, by the
regions tributary to the other lines of railway constructed
in Illinois. Along the Illinois Central many new towns were
started, and the older ones developed rapidly (29). The
freight which this road annually turned over to the Galena
and Chicago Union was more than a hundred million pounds,
while that which the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy con-
tributed was more than five hundred million pounds (30).
This growth in towns, in freight, and in the general develop-
ment throughout the tributary country, was due to the many
advantages which the railroads offered. Previous to the
building of railroads, exports were either sent down the river
to the St. Louis market or hauled across the country to Chi-
42
cago at such high rates of transportation that, as was the
condition in Stephenson (31) and DuPage (32) Counties,
nothing was left as profit for the farmers. In Bureau County
between 1840 and 1852, wheat was sent to the southern market
and often sold for but 25 cents per bushel (33). On the other
hand, the farmers from Ogle County as late as 1852 hauled
wheat to Chicago in wagons. But even this method of dis-
posal involved the time and expense of a six-day trip, in
return for which 50 or 60 cents per bushel was received (34).
In exchange for this undesirable situation, the railroad gave
a cash market easily accessible to the farmer (35). Thus
these new conditions furnished the stimuli for the general
development which took place between 1850 and 1860 in the
country tributary to these railroads.
As a result of the increased prices paid for produce, and
hence of the larger returns to the farmer for his labor, this
country was looked upon as a desirable agricultural section.
Immigration increased, lands were taken up, and farms were
placed under cultivation. Land prices rose at once. In Will
County, prairie land which could be bought in 1852 for Con-
gress prices, was in 1856 worth $10.00 per acre, and farms
worth $6.00 per acre at the earlier date sold in 1856 at from
$20.00 to $25.00 (36). A little farther to the north, in Winne-
bago County, lands selling at the earlier date for $1.25, sold,
after the railroads had passed through the country, for from
$12.00 to $25.00 per acre (37). But little prairie land was
to be had in DuPage County by 1856, and farm land was
worth from $8.00 to $30.00 and $40.00 per acre (38); while in
Lee County between 1852 and 1856, land increased ten-fold in
value, and sold at from $50.00 to $100.00 an acre (39). The
land granted by Congress to the Illinois Central Railroad,
and lying along that road, which, previous to this period,
had been for years offered in vain at $1.25 per acre, was worth
in 1852 on the average, $5.00, and four years later sold for
$20.00, $25.00 and $30.00 per acre (40).
The total cash value of farms in this area increased from
one to six million dollars. In 1860 the farms of Henry County
were worth $5,274,000, more than seventeen times the valua-
tion placed upon them a decade earlier. Carroll County
multiplied her total farm value by almost five; Stark, Bureau
43
and DeKalb each by six, and Whiteside and Lee each by
seven. Throughout this whole section of the State the price.
of land was greatly advanced, increasing to five, eight and ten
times its earlier value.
Each of the counties in this area of the State also greatly
increased its population between 1850 and 1860, while many
of them even doubled and trebled it. In Warren County
the total population increased from 8,000 to 18,000. The
population of McDonough County increased from 7,000 to
20,000; Knox from 13,000 to 28,000; Stephenson from 11,000
to 25,000; and Winnebago from 11,000 to 24,000 inhabitants.
The growth of the following counties is even more noticeable:
Henry, with a population in 1850 of but 3,000 souls, had in
1860 more than 20,000. Stark gained in the number of inhab-
itants from 3,000 to 9,000; Whiteside from 5,000 to 18,000;
Carroll from 4,000 to 11,000; and Lee from 5,000 to 17,000.
Kendall, DeKalb and Bureau, having in 1850, 7,000; 7,000
and 8,000, respectively increased their population to 13,000;
19,000, and 26,000. These latter and more remarkable gains,
as may be seen by looking at the map, took place in the
counties most distant from the rivers and traversed by the
railroads. In all the counties throughout the entire district,
population became more dense. The total increase for the
entire area was from 184,917 to 510,287 souls, or more than
250 per cent.
Then, too, the total farm acreage of each county in 1860
was always much larger, and often two, three and four times
that of 1850. These gains were made for the most part in
the interior counties. Warren's farm acreage in 1850 was
75,330, while in 1860 it was 188,161. In this decade the total
farm acreage for McDonough County increased from 51,541
to 164,291; for Henry from 22,983 to 200,078; for Stark from
24,552 to 125,214 acres. Boone, Lake, Kane and DeKalb
counties made similar gains, which fact reveals a healthy
development of the country. Lands were being enclosed and
rapidly placed under cultivation. Moreover, it was not held
in a non-productive state, nor was it owned by non-residents.
The tillers of the soil had selected this area as their home,
and were living upon, and cultivating the land they possessed.
A resume of the preceding pages brings together these
44
facts: The prairie lying north of the Illinois River, and con-
taining more than seven million acres, experienced between
1850 and 1860 a remarkable transformation. Previous to 1850
the prairie was sparsely settled and upon it but little labor
in cultivation had been expended. This was true, for the most
part, because of the lack of an inexpensive outlet for the sur-
plus products. The expense of delivering exports to the
market left nothing to reward the farmer for his labor.
Expediency compelled settlers to shun the prairie and search
for the river land, where commercial outlets were possible.
The incoming of railroads reversed these conditions and made
the prairie land, which was once undesirable, the most valued
and the most highly sought land. Between 1850 and 1860
four main railroads extended their lines across this district,
building up the country tributary to them. As a result, pri-
marily, of the advantages thus presented, settlers poured into
the country; and upon what, but a few years before was
unbroken prairie land with separate and distinct settlements,
more than half a million of people in 1860 were living and
becoming prosperous. Over five-sevenths of the total acreage
was then in farms and had a valuation of $117,501,342. The
entire section had in every way greatly developed.
1) See Map No. II.
NOTES FOR CHAPTER III
(2) This road went into operation as follows: to Elgin by January, 1850; the first
twelve miles west of Elgin, Sept. 1, 1851; the next twelve, Oct. 8; the next twelve and to
Belvidere, Dec. 3, 1851, and the last six March 10, 1852. Fifth Annual Report of the
Galena and Chicago Union Railroad (1850), p. 8.
(3) History of Kane Co. (1878), p. 290.
(4) Ibid. This road was commenced in 1850 and finished in 1851. It was called the
Chicago & Aurora after 1852.
(5)
(6)
Seventh Annual report of G. & C. U. R. R.
Eighth Annual Report of G. & C. U. R. R.
(7) See Map No. I.
(8)
The Military Tract is composed of that territory lying between the Illinois and
the Mississippi rivers.
(9) See Map of river counties.
(10) Hunt's Merchants' Magazine XXXIV, p. 496; the road was commenced on Apr.
10, 1852, and was opened to public, Feb. 22, 1854.
(11) See Map No. II.
(12) As many as 80 teams at a time could be found unloading their wheat at St.
Charles to be shipped to the Chicago market. Chicago Daily Democrat, Feb. 2, 1850.
(13) Chicago Daily Democrat, Nov. 29, 1848.
(14)
(15)
Quoted in the Chicago Daily Democrat, July 20, 1850.
Chicago Daily Democrat, Dec. 30, 1851.
(16) In October, 1853, 60,000 bushels of wheat were stored at Marengo, awaiting ship-
ment. Chicago Daily Democrat, Oct. 6, 1853.
Quoted from the Sentinel, Jan. 1, 1860. History of Whiteside County (1877),
(17)
History of Whiteside County, p. 307.
(18)
P. 308.
(19)
History of Carroll County (1878), p. 367.
(20)
Ibid., p. 368.
45
(21) History of Whiteside County (1877), p. 167.
(22) History of Kendall County (Hicks), p. 272.
(23) History of Lee County (1881), p. 76.
(24)
Gerhard: Illinois as It Is (1856), p. 417.
(25) Twelfth Annual report of the Directors of the G. & C. U. R. R.
(26) Twelfth Annual Report of the Directors of the G. & C. U. R. R. In these fig-
ures the reader should be careful to estimate correctly the value as evidence, for which
they are submitted. Each year the road increased its mileage and consequently should logic-
ally increase its business, even with a country highly developed. This, however, does not
alter the fact that, before the road was extended, there were not even good wagon roads in
this section of the State, and the gain in the freight of this road indicated the transforma-
tion in a hitherto undeveloped prairie. Hence, every mile extension of railroad into this
uncommercial country meant not only added freight to the road, but that much new country
had been developed.
(27) Twelfth Annual Report of the Directors of the G. & C. U. R. R. The panic of
1857 brought a slight decrease, since it reduced prices and caused the farmers to hold their
grain for a time.
(28) Merchandise and lumber, necessaries for the building up of a new country, formed
the greater part of this westward freight. There were 13,585,860 pounds of merchandise
shipped westward over the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad in 1851. In 1854 and 1855
these shipments were respectively 60,832,371 and 117,898,223. Lumber increased from
11,498,187 feet in 1851 to 62,540,090 in 1855. From 1850 to 1856, the tonnage away from
the trade center rapidly increased-a characteristic of the commercial movement of a new
country. After 1856, the tonnage westward decreased. In 1858 the merchandise had fallen
to 101,090,530 pounds, and the lumber to 43,119,430 feet, a decrease of forty-two per cent.
In 1860 the total westward tonnage was but 120,904 tons, a sum but little more than one-
third that of 1857. The movements in a well established country should bear the relation of
about four tons toward market to one in the opposite direction. The freight movements,
then, along the G. & C. U. R. R. were in 1860, approaching this relationship, a fact which
would indicate that the country through which it ran was approximating the condition of a
well developed country.
(29) The population of Dunleith, which in 1850 was only five persons, increased to seven
hundred in 1856. Elleroy, Lena, Scalesmound and Warren, with a population each of twenty-
five or less, at the beginning of the period, increased each to a population of from 250 to
350. Freeport, having but 1,400 in 1850, numbered 5,000 inhabitants six years later, or had
multiplied its population three and one-half times. Of the towns mentioned, the total popu
lation increased in these six years from a little more than two thousand to almost fifteen thou-
sand souls.
(30) The Illinois Central touched the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad at two points,
and by agreement, turned over to the latter road, in 1856, 106,355,200 pounds of freight, and
in 1857, 124,743,360 pounds. This freight had a cash value respectively of $361,088.47 and
$456,657.73. For these two years, the freight which the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy
turned over to the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad was respectively 598,139,950 and
592,898,270 pounds.
(31) History of Stephenson County (1880), p. 272.
(32) History of DuPage County (1857), p. 169.
(33)
Matson's History of Bureau County (1877), p. 400.
(34) History of Ogle County (1878), p. 507.
(35) Gerhard: Illinois As It Is, p. 372-378. These prices are taken from the papers
of January, 1856, in various places which, it will be noted, are located at different distances
from Chicago and in every part of the section considered:
Market Prices, of Corn, January, 1856
Aurora
Batavia
Belvidere
Chicago
Dixon
Freeport
Galena
Galesburg
La Salle
Mendota
Morris
Rockford
Sterling
Shell
34-35
42- 44
40
55-60
40
33- 36
Ear
""
"
"
30 per 60 lbs.
40
37
99
35
45 per 60 lbs.
40 per 60 lbs.
35
35
per 75 lbs.
75
35
"
70
""
30
30-35
30
336
35
per 70 lbs.
30
per 60 lbs.
4.6
Aurora
Batavia
Belvidere
Chicago
Dixon
Freeport
Galena
Galesburg
La Salle
Mendota
Morris
Market Prices of Wheat, January, 1856
Winter
150- 60
Spring
150- 60
125-130
135-140
125
"
112
150-170
"
125-150
145-150
120
135-140
115-125
110-135
"
100-115
100
"
135-140
"9
120-125
125
"
120
130-135
2.2
110-120
"
120-135
115-120
130-135
""
120-125
125
115-118
•
Oquawka
Rockford
Sterling
(37) Ibid.
(38) Ibid.
(39) Ibid.
(36) Gerhard, Illinois As It Is (1856), p. 403.
(40) History of Ogle County (1878), p. 508.
LA. SALLE
OTTAWA
т
GRUNDY,
JOLIET
WILL
AKTON
ODELL of
LIVINGSTON,
KANKAKEE
MELEAN
FORD
IROQUOIS
CHIC
LOGAN
SANGAMON
DE.IWITT
MACON
PIATT
CHAMPAIGN VERMILION
MOULTRIE
TONITTI
DOUGLASS
EDGAR
CHRISTIAN
ουρί
MACOUPIN MONTGOMER
COMERY NA
INDIA
SHELBY
CLARK
CUMBERLAND
MADISON
DISO
MAP Nº 3
CHAPTER 1
M
THE PRAIRIES OF EASTERN ILLINOIS
1850-1860
47
CHAPTER IV
RAILROADS IN THE PRAIRIE OF EASTERN ILLINOIS, 1850-1860
In 1850 Congress granted to the State of Illinois more than
2,500,000 acres of land, the money derived from which was
to be used in the construction of a north and south line of
transportation across the State. A company, independent
of the State, yet later the recipient of this grant, was imme-
diately organized and began to build the road known as the
Illinois Central. The Chicago branch of this road gave direct
overland connection between Chicago and the mouth of the
Ohio River, and ran across the central part of the prairie of
Eastern Illinois (1) and between the sources of the rivers
running on either side, to the Wabash on the one hand and
the Illinois River on the other. Through the western part of
this same prairie was constructed the main line of the road.
Thus, the Illinois Central, which was completed in 1856, gave
two lines of communication across this section of the state.
The Chicago and Alton, which nearly paralleled the Chicago
branch of the Illinois Central, was also built during this
period (2). It furnished another north and south route, con-
nected Chicago and Alton, two important commercial centers,
and ran through the most southern part of the unopened
prairie. The systems now known as the Wabash, St. Louis
and Pacific (3), the Rock Island, and the Michigan Central
were built at this time. Besides these many railroads running
in various directions, the Illinois and Michigan Canal had
been constructed, which gave another commercial route and
made the territory through which it passed much more valu-
able. These railroads, together with the canal, furnished a
system of communication with a primary commercial center.
No sooner was the Illinois Central Railroad surveyed than
new life sprang into existence along the proposed line, and
upon the completion of the road the tributary country was
48
dotted with towns and new farm houses (4). This road at
the time of its location passed through "the most sparsely
settled portion of the State. At several points it was nearly
a day's journey across unbroken prairie from one habitation
to another" (5). Southeasterly from Chicago the engineers,
in laying out the road, found an almost unbroken wild extend-
ing for over 130 miles. Mr. Ackerman, writing of the condi-
tions along the Chicago branch of the Illinois Central, said:
"In 1853 we rode for twenty miles on this division without
seeing a tree, a house, or any living thing, save an occasional
prairie dog" (6). Herds of deer roamed over the prairie.
But by 1856 "these immense uncultivated tracts" had been
transformed into well cultivated farms which were contribut-
ing many million bushels of excellent grain to the general
produce of the State (7).
Comparison of the census reports of 1850 and 1860 serves
to reveal the extent of the development which the prairie
region of Eastern Illinois underwent in this period. In
McLean County, for instance, the population almost trebled.
Her improved area was but 92,540 acres at the beginning of
the period; while in 1860 it was more than three times as
great. The value of her farms increased from $517,169 to
$3,035,168. In 1860 the county produced 84,422 bushels of
wheat and 906,186 bushels of corn, as against 27,125 bushels
of wheat and 311,115 bushels of corn in 1850. The county reve-
nue, amounting to $5,923.07 in 1852, was raised to $15,299.38 in
1853, and by 1857 to $30,453.15. The historian of McLean
County has well said of this period: "Real estate rose rap-
idly, building went on actively, business revived, markets were
brought within reach, lumber was plenty, immigration set
in again, and farmers began to venture out upon the ocean
of fertile lands that everywhere surrounded the island-like
groves" (8). Throughout the county new life was taken on,
new energy expended, and large results were obtained.
The town of Bloomington, situated on the Chicago and
Alton near the junction with the Illinois Central, had in 1850
a population of but 2,200 (9). At that time the life of the
place was quiet, prices for produce were low, and there was
but little traffic (10). But when the "steam horse" entered
the town new energy was created, "property changed hands,
49
and log cabins and little frame houses gave place to large and
beautiful residences. Flower gardens and tastefully arranged
shrubberies were desecrated with the erecting of large blocks
of three storied brick stores; and the very earth seemed to
tremble with the heavy march of improvement" (11). Bloom-
ington became a thriving commercial center for the surround-
ing country.
In Livingston County, also, which for the most part
remained unsettled until this date, a similar change took
place. Nebraska township received its first settler in 1855,
while as late as 1853 Odell Township was the home of the
deer and the "unscared wolf" (12). The land where the
town of Odell now stands was purchased of the government
in 1853, and the first grain was shipped from the station in
1855 (13). So sparsely was the whole section settled at that
time that "with the exception of a few small and unthrifty
villages, there was scarcely a human habitation between Joliet
and Bloomington" (14). The whole county of Livingston had
in 1850 a population of only 1,552. By 1860 the population
had increased to 11,632, the improved farms grew in the same
period from 13,334 acres to 110,738, and the total farm value,
from $114,407 to $3,430,450. In 1850 but 15,517 bushels of
wheat were raised, as against 146,037 bushels in 1860, while
the increase in corn was from 129,785 to 1,002,300 bushels.
The full opportunities offered by these rich prairies were,
however, not yet fully embraced, due in part to the follow-
ing reasons: As early as 1852, and before the railroad was
built, though its location had been determined, speculators
had entered almost all the land and had placed high values
upon it (15). Consequently, farms were not immediately
enclosed and placed under cultivation. The panic of 1857
followed closely upon the sales that were made, and compelled
the surrender of much land which had been purchased for
cultivation. It was not, then, until after the results of the
panic had passed and the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Rail-
road had begun to offer new advantages, that the most rapid
settlement of the county took place.
Grundy and Will, the counties lying immediately north of
the area just considered and near Chicago, are crossed by the
Des Plaines, the Kankakee, and the Illinois Rivers (16).
50
Because of these advantages an early development was
brought about in Will County and by 1850 it had a population
of 16,703 and an improved farm area of 102,578 acres, valued
at almost $2,000,000. In Grundy County, however, other
factors entered which retarded development. Though the
soil was as rich as that in Will County, only 15,916 acres, or
a little more than one-seventh of the improved area of Will
County was improved farm land by 1850. This slow develop-
ment was due to the fact that the Illinois and Michigan Canal
Company had possessed itself of the greater portion of the
county and held it at such high prices that the land could not
be profitably cultivated.
Nevertheless, with the incoming of railroads, these retard-
ing factors were overcome and a great development took place
in both counties. By 1860 the population had increased in
Will to 29,264, and in Grundy to 10,362 souls-more than three
times the population of 1850. Towns sprang up along the
railroad, as also along the canal. Spencer and Frankfort
were built upon the Michigan Central and New Lenox and
Mokena upon the Rock Island. The Chicago and Alton passed
through Joliet, Wilmington and Lockport, giving to each a
direct route to Chicago, and hence, an impetus to growth (17).
Morris, the county seat of Grundy, took on new life because
of the canal and the Rock Island Railroad (18). In 1857 this
town had a population of 3,500 and shipped 547,466 bushels
of corn, 62,862 bushels of wheat, and sold 3,788,464 feet of
lumber. The land of Grundy County, too, had then passed
from the hands of speculators. In 1859 there was not a section
of land owned in Grundy County by the canal company, and
even in 1856 there was no state land in either county (19).
Almost the entire area had been cut into farms, and by 1860
Grundy had an improved farm area of 132,971, and Will of
243,086 acres. The total farm values were then $2,573,250
and $6,824,080 respectively. Will County produced 251,983
bushels of wheat and 1,020,989 of corn; Grundy 54,334 bushels
of wheat and 709,895 of corn. At the close of the period these
counties were well developed, populous, and wealthy sections
of the State.
La Salle County, unlike these other counties, because of its
location on the river, had an early development, yet the great
51
transformation came during the decade just previous to 1860.
During those ten years the population increased from 17,815
to 48,272; towns had sprung up on every commercial channel,
and the agricultural region was well settled. These towns,
too, did a thriving business. Tonica, a village with a popu-
lation of less than 200, forwarded in 1855 17,734 bushels of
wheat and 32,456 of corn. The entire value of freight for-
warded for the year was $8,786.68, while 736,454 feet of lum-
ber were received at the place. Mendota, situated at the
junction of the Illinois Central and the Chicago, Burlington
& Quincy Railroads, likewise experienced an unprecedented
growth. "Nothing was heard but the sound of carpenters
tools, and by the autumn of 1854 the population was nearly
1,000" (20). A trade in lumber was immediately started,
which for some years was the most important branch of busi-
ness in town. Peru, with no considerable population until
the building of the canal, numbered in 1858, 4,700 souls. In
1856, exclusive of the grain purchased by the mill, the amount
bought directly from the producers was 900,000 bushels (21).
La Salle, within a mile of this place, was, in 1858, one of the
most important commercial and mining towns on the Illinois
River. In the decade the population increased from 200 to
3,500, and the freight shipped from the town was valued at
$43,516.09. Ottawa by 1858 had become a large contributing
point to the grain trade of Chicago (22). Throughout the
county new commercial stations were created and old ones
given a new importance.
This development is to be seen not only in the growth of
towns, but also of the country. The tide of prosperity "rap-
idly settled up the unoccupied prairie in the county and
largely added to the improvements of the older settlers. The
county assumed the appearance of an old settled region.
Comfortable houses and barns sprang up with a rapidity
probably unequalled by any other locality. Orchards and
cultivated groves transformed the once naked prairie to an
abode of comfort and beauty" (23). The area in improved
farms increased from 93,098 to 240,463 acres, and in value
farms increased from $1,088,483, to $7,715,294. The corn
yield was 1,305,655 in 1860, as against 637,483 bushels in 1850.
La Salle, although one of the older prairie counties, was quick-
ened, given new life, and developed greatly.
52
Logan, Sangamon, Madison, Macoupin and Montgomery
counties lie in the western part of this prairie, and differ
from the more inland counties in that they were on the early
lines of transportation (the rivers), and consequently
received an early settlement. They felt little impetus to
growth from the construction of railroads until about 1859,
and as a result of these combined conditions made less devel-
opment between 1850 and 1860 than did the counties lying
farther east and at a greater distance from the Illinois and
Mississippi rivers (24). The most noticeable thing in Sanga-
mon is that, although the total farm area increased only from
323,272 to 379,512 acres, the advance in value was from $3,315,-
513 to $11,866,486. Macoupin's farm value increased from
$1,679,466 to $6,481,325, and her production of wheat from
77,022 to 306,670 bushels. Madison, in 1850 the most thickly
settled county in this entire prairie section, increased her
population about one-third. Her total farm area was in-
creased very little, but the gain in farm value was from
$2,435,154 to $6,052,957, while Montgomery's gain was from
$660,765 to $3,336,107. In Logan County the improved farm
acreage increased from 46,699 to 191,035 acres, an advance
of four hundred per cent. The value of the total farm area
at the close of the period, $4,889,350, was five times the earlier
value. These western counties made their greatest increase
in improved farm acreage and in farm value. They were
settled under the influence of steamboat transportation. When
the railroads made profitable the better improvement and
cultivation of their farms, new and higher values were given
to them.
Although the transformation in these western counties was
slight, that in the interior counties was very great (25). The
territory of Kankakee, Ford and Douglas counties was not
sufficiently settled even in 1850 to warrant organization, yet
by 1860 each of these counties had a considerable popula-
tion (26).
A similar development took place in Christian, Piatt, Macon
and Moultrie, the remaining interior counties. Settlement
was at first slight, but with the incoming of railroads which
offered local markets at Decatur and Springfield, better than
the former markets of St. Louis, the hidden resources of the
53
country became manifest (27). In Macon County, townships
without a settler previous to 1850, as was Illini, were thickly
settled in 1860. Austin Township, whose first settlement
dates no earlier than 1845, had in 1855, one year after the
completion of the railroad, less than 300 acres of uncultivated
soil (28). In Christian County the same influences were
at work building up another portion of this undeveloped
prairie. Locust Township had but few settlers before 1850.
The vacant lands of Greenwood Township, upon the construc-
ting of the road, were immediately taken up and land prices
rose from 75 cents to $5.00, $10.00 and $20.00 per acre. In
1850 Assumption Township was a wild, uninhabited prairie,
and, upon the spot now occupied by the flourishing town of
Assumption, a boundless waste of country met the vision,
where herds of deer and the wily prairie wolf roamed at
will. But the construction of the Illinois Central Railroad
and the location of Tacusa caused a wonderful change. A
thrifty class of immigrants at once came in and the prairie
was dotted with farm houses (29).
Portions of Moultrie County entirely unsettled in 1850
were only awaiting the construction of the railroad. After
this improvement, farms in these interior counties were
enclosed and placed under cultivation, the acreage being
sometimes trebled or even quadrupled during the decade (30).
The entire interior area, in a state of waste in 1850, was, by
1860, transformed into a well-settled and well-cultivated farm-
ing district.
Previous to the construction of railroads, the conquest of
new land came not by sweeping in whole territories at once,
but by the slow and gradual process known to the early Amer-
ican settler. The frontier line was never fixed and never
regular, but it was constantly advancing. Its foremost point
was always upon the river, and the small prairies between
were later overrun. This was the process of development
which the border prairie counties, Coles, Cumberland, Clark
and Edgar, were undergoing when the railroads revolution-
ized this method and threw them open to the vitalizing influ-
ences which were transforming the waste prairie into rich,
productive farms. Under the former method of settlement
these counties had received a considerable development. But
54
with the new stimulus offered by the railroad transportation,
they took on a new growth. In Coles County, land that had
been in the market for over thirty years found a ready sale
at advanced prices (31). Paris, by furnishing a good grain
market, greatly stimulated development in Edgar County.
So in each of these periphery prairie counties a considerable
development took place in the years immediately preceding
1860.
Many agencies stimulated development in this eastern
prairie section. Of this, the Illinois Central was the principal
one, yet the Chicago and Alton Railroad and the Illinois and
Michigan Canal performed their parts in building up the
western portion of the district, as did the Wabash, St. Louis
and Pacific in the southern part. Each of these factors con-
tributed its share. But, taken as a whole, the several roads
formed one system which gave life to the whole prairie sec-
tion. During the decade the total increase in population was
from 187,062 to 420,989. The total farm acreage was almost
doubled, and the improved farm area increased from 1,263,-
152 to 4,059,288 acres. The total farm value multiplied itself
four and a half times, and at the close of the period was
$115,632,711. This transformation was brought about pri-
marily by the railroads which opened up and vitalized the
unsettled district.
A summary of the above pages compels these conclusions:
In 1850, the great prairie of the State lying to the east of the
Illinois River, was for the most part undeveloped; and that
across this prairie there were no commercial highways. At
that time the sparse settlements which had been made upon
it were dependent for commercial transportation upon teams
traveling over poor unworked roads, and upon the river.
Because of this condition, land had little value, toil upon the
soil was almost profitless, the life of the agriculturalist was
one of uncertainty, and but little was held before him as a
reward for his life of hardship and danger. No inducement
was offered the foreigner or the restless American to make
this area his permanent home. The country was then without
commercial highways and hence remained undeveloped. But
between 1850 and 1860 railroads were built across this section
and transportation throughout the entire area resulted. Each
55
road had its influence and formed a part of the system which
gave to every portion of the district a commercial outlet, and
good cash markets for their surplus products. This meant
profit to the laborer and inducement to the immigrant. As
a result, the entire prairie, for the most part unsettled in
1850, became within a decade a well settled, thoroughly culti-
vated and highly productive section of the State. These
years were the beginning of the railroad era, a period of
economic revolution. Formerly, men faced the river, but
during this decade they turned and faced the railroad. With
back to the river, whose protective banks were no longer the
desired places for home-building, the pioneer from this time
centered his interests mainly in the vast stretch of prairie
lying before him. Timberland, earlier the most prized land,
decreased in relative value, while the open prairie was given
new and unexpected values. The problem of the prairie had
been solved and the waste area of the State was utilized, a
fact which brought about a great development of this portion
of the State.
(1) See Map No. III.
NOTES FOR CHAPTER IV
(2) Brink McDonough & Company, History of Macon County, Illinois (Philadelphia
1880), p. 42.
(3) The Wabash, St. Louis, and Pacific has had different corporate names. It was first
known as the Great Western, then the Toledo, Wabash and Western, and finally, it was
given the name under which it is now known.
(4) Report of the General Superintendent, 1856.
Fergus. Hist. Series No. XXIII, p. 42,
Ibid.
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
p. 253.
(9)
(10)
(11)
Gerhard, F., Illinois As It Is (Chicago 1857), p. 404.
Le Baron, Jr. and Co., Wm.
Gazetteer of McLean County
and but 800 in 1845.
History of McLean County, Illinois, Chicago (1879),
(1866), gives population of Bloomington, 1611 in 1850
Gazetteer of McLean County (1866), p. 10.
Ibid. History of McLean County (1879), p. 337.
(12) History of Livingston County (1878), p. 468.
(13) History of Livingston County (1878), p. 360.
(14) History of Livingston County (1878), p. 359.
(15) Chicago Daily Democrat, Sept. 26, 1851.
(16) See Map No. III.
con-
(17) History of Will County (1878), p. 336. The Rock Island Railroad was
structed across them in 1852, and the Chicago and Alton in 1854. The following year the
Illinois Central crossed the eastern part of Will, and the Joliet and Northern Indiana Rail-
road, commonly called the "Cut-Off" and now owned and controlled by the Michigan Central,
crossed the county in an east and west direction, giving Joliet, the county seat, connection
with the eastern market.
(18) Curtiss, D. S. Western Portraiture and Emigrants' Guide (New York 1852), p.67.
(19) Report of General Assembly, Illinois, 1859, Vol. II, p. 722.
(20) History of La Salle County (1877), p. 314.
(21) The amount was less the following year, owing not to lack of production, but to
reluctance of the farmers to sell.
(22) Directory of La Salle County (1858), p. 210.
(23) Baldwin, Elmer. History of La Salle County (Chicago 1877), p. 212.
56
(24) The Illinois Central, which was early constructed, did not pass through these
counties. The Chicago and Alton and the Alton & Terre Haute were constructed through
them and placed in successful operation only at the close of the period now being considered.
(25) The "interior counties" are the counties lying to the east of those just considered
and farther away from the Illinois and Mississippi rivers.
(26) Illinois Blue Book, 1905.
(27) History of Macon County (Philadelphia 1880), p. 42. The Wabash, St. Louis and
Pacific and the Illinois Central were both constructed in 1854.
(28) Ibid., p. 215.
(29) History of Christian County (Philadelphia 1880), p. 142.
(30)
. P. 233.
(31)
Combined Histories of Shelby and Moultrie Counties, Illinois (Philadelphia 1881),
History of Coles County, Illinois (Chicago 1879), p. 274.
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57
CHAPTER V
TRANSPORTATION IN THE UPPER ILLINOIS RIVER COUNTIES
BEFORE 1860
The counties included in this group are Peoria, Marshall
and Woodford (1). The change in the methods of trans-
portation in this area and the influence of transportation
agencies upon its development as a whole, can best be shown
by a somewhat intensive study of Peoria County as illustrat-
ing the history of the entire area. The Village of Peoria on
the Illinois River midway between Lake Michigan and the
Mississippi, early became a center of American fur trading
companies, and for that reason received its first American
pioneer at an early time. Settlement, however, was very slow,
for by 1832 the town comprised but fifteen or twenty log
cabins and two frame houses (2). After about 1835 immi-
gration was stimulated by steam navigation and between that
date and 1837 population increased at the rate of one hundred
and fifty per cent. per annum, more than during the sixteen
years just previous to that period (3).
The surrounding country was also slow in settlement during
the early years. In 1821 there was not a white habitation
between Peoria and Chicago, and by 1825 the population of
the whole north half of the State, including Chicago and
Galena, was only 1,286 (4). In 1827 that of the entire county
of Peoria was but thirty or forty (5). Two years later the
Galena Advertiser said: "He who travels by land, after leav-
ing the little village of Peoria on the Illinois River, passing
alternately forests and prairies for the distance of 170 miles,
sees no trace of civilization; all is rude and wild and unculti-
vated, just as nature fashioned it"(6). Soon, however, settle-
ments were started along the Senachwine Creek in what is
now Peoria County. The "upper settlement," located west
of the present site of Chillicothe and fifteen miles north of
58
Peoria, was made in 1824 (7). Medina Township received
its first pioneer the same year and Chillicothe in 1829 (8).
The valley of the Senachwine Creek was one of the earliest
settled portions of Peoria County.
To the west and northwest of Peoria, in what is now Liv-
ingstone, Kickapoo and Jubilee townships, rapid settlement
began about 1834 (9). At this date Kickapoo received its
first settlement, and the year following a pioneer named Hale
erected a sawmill on the Kickapoo Creek (10). Around this
as a nucleus and along the river banks, the country was rap-
idly settled, although no part of the land in the Kickapoo
Valley was brought into market until the year 1835, and not
all of it until 1838; yet by 1839 nearly all that was tillable
had been entered, chiefly by actual residents (11). When in
1836 Clark D. Powell made his settlement in the center of this
valley, he could not see a cabin, though his view extended for
several miles around. Nine months later, within this same
radius, some twelve or fourteen houses had arisen; large fields
of land had been plowed; fences made and two towns laid
off (12). In 1834 or 1835 Mr. Coolidge made a claim thirteen
miles northwest of Peoria, when there were not more than
four or five families within as many miles of him and probably
not one between him and Peoria (13). Within the same
extent, there were in 1839 upward of a hundred families.
Settlement along the Kickapoo Creek during these few years
was very rapid. If one could have taken the road which
leaves this valley three miles to the west of Peoria, and leads
across the open prairie directly to Farmington, he might
have viewed another part of the county. Immigration into
this prairie in 1838 was so heavy that the price of improved
prairie lands had by that time been raised from $1.25 to $5.00
per acre, while near Peoria where the land was more com-
pletely settled, it was valued at from $15.00 to $25.00 per acre.
Thus the prairie lying directly west from Peoria had received
more than a sparse settlement before 1838.
The extreme north-western part of Peoria County lies
beyond the head waters of the Kickapoo, and between that
point and the timber of the Spoon, a river which courses its
way for about seven miles across the corner of the county.
On this high rolling prairie, though twenty-one miles distant
FARMINGTON
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59
from Peoria, the Village of Charlestown sprang up. This
place was situated on the main traveled road leading from
the Illinois River at Peoria to Oquawka on the Mississippi
and also on that running from Canton to Galena. Hence it
was a central point for travelers going in either direction.
Because of these advantages of location this town was started
as early as 1836, though the surrounding country was then
wholly unsettled. This area, however, was soon developed,
and as a result the towns grew very rapidly. Directly south
of this place, "Walker's Settlement" was started, in which
a large area of land was placed under cultivation, while to
the northeast a short distance, near the termination of the
Kickapoo timber, many more farms were opened and im-
proved. Thus travel across the prairie and heavy immigra-
tion were the reasons for the origin and growth of Charles-
town, and also the development of the surrounding prairie.
In 1839 a traveler passing to the northwest of Peoria by
the Great Mounds, and over the Knoxville road, might see
from each prairie eminence a dozen or sometimes twenty
farms, the greater number of which had been improved since
1835 (15). Lumber, for erecting the dwellings and improving
these newly enclosed farms, was secured at Prince's saw-
mill, six miles to the northwest and on the Spoon River.
Princeville, located on the county road leading from Peoria
and also on the road from Canton to Galena, could give a
market for most exports. Cattle and pork were taken from
there to Galena; some pork was sent to Peoria and to the
populated district of Iowa lying directly to the west. Home
consumption, too, created by the needs of the immigrant, gave
a market for grain (16). Because of these favorable condi-
tions, settlement in and around Princeville was rapid.
During this early period of settlement, lack of good trans-
portation facilities made the flour and sawmills, and the
blacksmith shop necessary institutions. Although there were
eleven sawmills in Peoria County in 1839, yet even this num-
ber could not supply the demand for lumber, and it was
necessary to patronize mills in other counties (17). Black-
smith shops were of little less importance to the pioneer.
The work of a blacksmith was a necessity, the location of a
shop an essential to every neighborhood, and though there
60
were very many in the county, farmers would oftentimes have
to take their plows twenty-five or thirty miles to have them
sharpened and pointed. Because of the absolute necessity
of a blacksmith, his first coming into a new settlement was
noted in its annals as an important addition and as an agency
which would make the settlement more prosperous. In Peoria
County a number of these shops were located as soon as the
demand called for them. In the southern part, in Trivoli
Township, one was set up in 1834 (18). In Chillicothe the
first settler was a blacksmith (19). Thus Peoria County was
early supplied with the two primary essentials, sawmills and
a blacksmith shop.
More important than either the sawmill or the blacksmith
shop were the flour mills, since for the pioneer they made
sustenance possible. With Cincinnati and St. Louis the near-
est markets where flour could be secured, with commerce slow
and uncertain, and freight rates high, flour was often scarce
and wheat bread a luxury. For, although the price of wheat
was often low, flour sold at a high rate (20). This was true
because there were not mills enough to grind the wheat. Flour
and grist mills were necessary not only to furnish food, but
also to provide a market for wheat and corn and a surplus
of flour for exportation. This condition made the milling
business profitable and brought flour and grist mills to a set-
tlement soon after it was started. The first flour mill in
the vicinity of Peoria was erected in 1830 by John Hamlin
and John Sharp (21). This mill was three miles west of
Peoria on Kickapoo Creek. It had two runs of stones and
made about fifty barrels of flour per day. It was one of the
best mills in the whole country and made Peoria the milling
center for a large tributary area. Wheat was brought from
the town of Canton, twenty-five miles, and from places in
Fulton, McLean and Tazewell counties. In 1839 there were
five flour mills and one grist mill in Peoria County, which
gave an added impetus to its development (22).
The milling interests, thus early started, prospered, and
exercised an important influence on this and the surrounding
counties. Mr. Davis, writing of Hale's Mill in 1838, said:
"The increased value it will give to land is not worth men-
tioning compared with its great public and private influence.”
61
Mills were public benefactions and, being encouraged on
every hand, continued to prosper. In 1850 the town of Peoria
had flour mills in operation, and the amount of flour exported
and used for home consumption was 33,753 barrels, val-
ued at $151,877.50 (24). Five years later the value of the
flour manufactured was estimated at $650,000. In 1858, with
six mills in operation, 38,000 barrels were manufactured.
Thus the milling industry continued to grow throughout the
period of our study (25).
In Peoria County, then, as we have seen, though pioneers
began to build cabins as early as 1819, rapid immigration did
not follow until about 1835. Settlements were first made upon
the Senachwine and Kickapoo creeks, and along the Spoon
and Illinois rivers. In the prairie, farms were first enclosed
upon the overland wagon roads. Along these roads, too, many
villages were built, such as Charlestown and Princeville.
Previous to the use of good transportation facilities, settle-
ment was slow, commerce was light, and pioneer activities
centered around the blacksmith shops and the saw and flour
mills. But when steamboats began to run regularly on the
rivers, these conditions were quickly changed. The river
towns became markets for the farmers' produce, more rapid
settlement of the country at once followed, and Peoria as
the commercial center began a new growth. These early
advantages gave the town sufficient importance so that when
the railroads were built it was made a railroad center and
consequently received a stimulus to further growth. The
development of the town and county of Peoria started because
they possessed good mill sites, was stimulated by the rise
of navigation, and later was given a new impetus by the
building of railroads.
Peoria was a typical river county, and for this reason has
been studied somewhat in detail. In the remaining counties
it will be necessary to trace only the larger relationships,
and the dissimiliar features of their development. Putnam
and Marshall, in 1831, with nearly the whole of Bureau and
Stark counties, were placed under the one organization of
Putnam County. At that time there had been only a single
steamer above Peoria and few pioneers had settled in what
now forms Putnam and Marshall counties, the first settler
62
being Thomas Hartzell, an Indian trader, who settled in Put-
nam County at the present site of Hennepin in 1816 (26).
In 1831 a ferry at that place, previously established by him as
a private enterprise, was made a public crossing. As a result,
Hennepin became more widely known, and was the center
from which later development was directed. Five miles to
the east of this place, on the west line of Granville Township,
was Union Grove, another early center for the pioneer. In the
extreme south-eastern corner of this same township was
located Magnolia, the oldest settled point in Putnam. Other
places of early settlement in eastern Putnam were Strawn's
Prairie, and Ox Bow Prairie. In the western part of the
county but few early locations were chosen. Thus in the early
period Putnam had only a few neighborhoods or groups of
settlements. Steamboats ran only irregularly and there was
no common stimulus sufficiently strong to develop the entire
county. At a later time, however, the construction of the
Bureau Valley Railroad, through the western part of the
county, of the Illinois and Michigan Canal through the central
part, and of the Illinois Central Railroad not far from the
eastern boundary, furnished new commercial advantage,
which gave the county a steady development, and transformed
it from one having many neighborhoods into one united com-
mercial unit. Thus, during the period between 1850 and 1860,
primitive conditions were succeeded by a thriving commercial
life, the western part of the county was brought under culti-
vation (27), Hennepin grew rapidly, and the eastern part of
the county became more densely populated (28). The county
was small and the population consequently was not large. But
the general development throughout the later period was
steady and substantial (29).
Marshall County, divided by the Illinois River and lying
next south of Putnam, was not set off from Putnam until
1839 (30). This county, like Putnam, but unlike Peoria, had
no stimulus common to all its parts during the early period
sufficient to give it a uniform development. The portion lying
east of the river was settled earlier than that on the west
side, and for different reasons. This eastern part, drained
by small mill streams and provided with timber and beauti-
ful stretches of prairie, attracted the pioneer at a very early
date (31). The later development was stimulated by the
63
Illinois Central Railroad. The western part of the county
received very few early settlers (32). What few did come in
depended upon the Peoria and Galena wagon road for a com-
mercial outlet. But the entire western half of the county
was not brought under cultivation until after the construction
of the Bureau Valley Railroad. The construction of three
commercial lines across the county brought the entire area
into a well-developed state of cultivation.
The growth of Henry, a small town upon the Illinois River,
was at first very slight, there being but five houses erected
between 1833 and 1838 (33). The establishment of a black-
smith shop in 1837 and the location of a postoffice in the town
gave business and enterprise a small stimulus, but even by
1848 the number of families was only twenty-four. After
that time, however, growth was more rapid. Ben Bower and
Brothers in that year put up a flour mill, which, besides fur-
nishing flour, gave a market for grain. Soon afterwards the
Illinois and Michigan Canal furnished a commercial outlet,
and Henry became a grain-buying and shipping center. The
first shipment of grain by the canal occurred in 1852. Mean-
while, the town had grown rapidly, and in 1858 was incor-
porated as a city, having then a population of 1,306. Imme-
diately following this rapid growth, the Bureau Valley Rail-
road was constructed into the place, giving it an additional
impetus.
The history of Lacon, twelve miles south of Henry on the
Illinois River, is similar to that of its neighbor (34). A ferry
was started in 1832, and the year following Swan and Deming
opened the first store. In 1834 there were only four houses,
but by 1838 there were fifty-five or sixty houses and a popula-
tion of three hundred (35). Previous to this date highways
had been surveyed east toward Metamora, and to Caledonia
on the way to Hennepin; and westward to the intersection of
the Peoria and Galena road. Flour and grist mills, too, had
been erected and were doing a good business. The success
of these mills and the general development of the town encour-
aged the erection of the Phoenix and the Model Mill, each
at a cost of $42,000. These mills made the town an important
grain and milling center for an area extending many miles
in all directions.
64
Other milling interests also sprang into importance and
prospered during these years. A substantial steam sawmill
was put in operation in 1836 by Barrows and Case. The
Peoria Register and North-Western Gazetteer said of it:
"The steam sawmill cuts 1,500 feet of lumber per day and has
manufactured during the past year 300,000 feet of lumber"
(36). A second sawmill was built in 1838 by Dennis Barney,
who also erected at the same time a wool-carding and fulling
machine. Farmers had begun early to raise sheep, and with
the building of the wool-carding mill a new impetus was given
the industry. This modest venture grew in a short time to a
first-class carding and wool-dressing mill, 45 by 46 feet, three
stories high (37). During the early period the sawmills and
wool-carding and fulling machines added to the city's indus-
tries, and supplied the needs of the country's development.
But of still greater importance than the milling industries
was the pork-packing business. The first pork packing in
Lacon was done in 1837 by Fenn, Howe and Company. Soon
afterwards, Swan went into the business, cutting up in 1839
3,000 hogs (38). The following year Job Fisher concentrated
his entire packing business at Lacon, and by 1849-50 the under-
taking had so prospered as to warrant the expenditure of
$10,000 in the erection of a large brick packing house, which
was then the most complete of its kind in the West. The
number of hogs packed varied from 750 (the number packed
the first year) to 11,000, and the amount annually paid out
varied from $50,000 to $300,000 (39). “It was no unusual
thing for steamers to take on an entire cargo of pork and its
products and proceed to New Orleans without breaking bulk.
It [this industry] furnished a market for all the surrounding
country, and hogs were driven here from territory now cov-
ered by eleven counties.
The rapid development of
the country and the competence that many men enjoy today
is due to this firm. They made a market for hogs when there
was none other between Chicago and St. Louis and paid good
money when most needed" (40). The pork-packing industry
stimulated growth in Lacon and the surrounding country.
* ** *
As the steamboat was stimulating the development of Lacon
and Henry and the surrounding country in the period between
1835 and 1850, so between 1850 and 1860 the railroad and the
65
Illinois and Michigan Canal transformed the entire county
into a wealthy and populous district. In 1850 the population
of Marshall was 5,180, which increased during the next ten
years to 13,437 (41). The improved farm area at this latter
date was almost five times the unimproved area, there being
132,746 acres of the former and but 26,840 acres of the latter.
The total farm value in 1860 was $4,238,975, as against $820,-
834 in 1850. The development in the county due to these later
forces was very great in the decade between 1850 and 1860,
and gave to Marshall County a goodly prosperity.
Woodford County lying next south of Marshall and entirely
on the east side of the Illinois River, is drained by a number
of small streams. Richland, Partridge, Ten Mile and Blue
creeks are short and empty into the Illinois. Walnut Creek
and Mackinaw River drain the southern part of the county.
This latter stream rises to the east of Woodford, flows south-
westerly across the corner of the county, entirely through
Tazewell County, and into the Illinois River. Near its head
waters the Vermilion rises and flows northward into the Illi-
nois. With relation to these rivers, Woodford County forms
the watershed. The western part is wooded by the timber of
the Illinois, the southern by that of the Mackinaw, while the
northern and eastern parts are prairie, the waters from which
flow toward three water systems. This geographic position
of the county has, in a large measure, determined its history.
The earliest settlements were along Panther Creek in the
south-eastern part of the county, and in the western portion
along Walnut and Partridge creeks. These different places
continued to grow until in 1841 the population was sufficient
to warrant the separate organization of the county. At this
time Versailles, in Olive Township, was made the county seat.
This fact, together with the location of the Lexington and
Peoria State road through the same township gave to Ver-
sailles and the surrounding country a considerable importance
(42). The few years following this period carried the town
to its zenith of power. Bowling Green, to the east in Palatine
Township, was also reaping the benefits of these advantages,
and was for a time very prosperous. The building of the
Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railroad, however, relegated this
wagon road to an unimportant place, and as a result Ver-
66
sailles and Bowling Green rapidly declined, and Eureka, on
the railroad, began its commercial growth (43).
In the western part of the county, Spring Bay and Meta-
mora were early started. But their development was slow
until the rise of steam navigation upon the river. Metamora,
though an inland town, enjoyed some of the advantages of
river transportation, and because of that fact was enabled
to do an extensive business and outstrip the other inland mar-
kets (44). Spring Bay began an unusual growth about 1843.
In that year Munn and Scott started in the grain business at
this place. The following year, 1844, they erected a grain
warehouse, with a capacity of 8,000 to 10,000 bushels. Two
others were soon erected, and Spring Bay became a grain
center for a large area of country. During the next twenty
years the grain trade at Spring Bay equalled that at any
other point on the Illinois River. Nearly the whole county
hauled grain to that place, and a hundred wagons on the street
in one day was a common occurrence. "The amount of grain
shipped from this point before the era of railroads was truly
wonderful, and more than one handsome little fortune was
made in this unpretending village" (45). Spring Bay was
a strong business point almost the equal of Peoria and Pekin
in energy and amount of business. "It was," said the county
historian in 1875, "a shipping point of importance, with one
of the best steamboat landings on the Illinois River.
But times with it have likewise changed; its stores and busi-
ness houses are closed up, its business is dead and everything
around it speaks of decay" (46). In the early struggle steam
navigation won for Spring Bay the supremacy over its rivals.
With the decline of river navigation and the rise of railroads,
this supremacy was in turn given to other points. The town
arose and declined with the rise and decline of the commercial
channel upon which it was started.
*
In the southern and western portions of Woodford County
early commercial routes gave prominence to early towns.
The change of routes brought about their decline, and the
building of new towns in their stead. The north-eastern
part of the county, which had no commercial outlets, remained
undeveloped, and only upon the construction of the Illinois
Central was this area placed under cultivation. The con-
67
struction of this road furnished a common stimulus for the
development of the entire eastern part of the county. The
greater part of Roanoke Township was in its natural state
in 1850 (47). "Not a house, fence, or tree could be seen north,
west or south; there were but five or six cabins only, in the
whole township" (48), yet by 1855 her population was about
200. Along Panther Creek in Greene township there were
in 1840 only twelve families, and settlement was slow until
1850. But in 1855, when the township was organized, there
was a population of about 240. The first settlement in Minonk
was not made until 1854, and in 1855 Panola and Minonk,
together with seventy-two square miles, had but fifty inhab-
itants (49). Yet two years later when organization was given
to the township, and after the railroad had been built, Minonk
had a population of more than a hundred and Panola of about
two hundred and fifty. Linn and Clayton have a history
almost identical with each other and similar to that of these
other and more eastern townships. Linn received its second
settler in 1844. But few others came until the first activity
along the railroad began. Then population increased, and
by 1855 there were 150 inhabitants in the township. Clayton's
population was but half that number. By 1860 these six
townships had increased their total population to 3,644.
Because of the lack of commercial outlets the country was
almost valueless; but by the construction of a railroad great
development immediately followed. The proximity to market
gave value and development to the formerly open prairie, and
caused a transfer of commercial and agricultural activity
from near the rivers to near the railroads.
Viewing the section as a whole, few settlements were made
before 1820, though in general development was earlier than
in the more distant prairie. Steam navigation above Peoria
was of little early importance and consequently stimulated
the early settlement of this country but slightly. This area,
too, was removed from the older and southern part of the
State and was for that reason slow in developing. During
the early period of settlement the pioneers centered their
activities around the blacksmith shops and the saw and flour
mills. This was the result of poor transportation facilities
which made necessary these small industrial institutions.
Early markets grew up because they were on overland roads,
68
and lost their importance with the decline of those lines.
In Woodford County the ascendancy of Versailles and Bowl-
ing Green in commercial affairs was lost when the railroads
relegated to an unimportant place the transportation line
upon which they were situated-the Lexington and Peoria
State Road. Like these towns, Spring Bay arose and fell
with the rise and decline of the transportation agency serv-
ing it. Poor transportation facilities retarded the early set-
tlement; steam navigation stimulated more rapid growth and
built up a few thriving commercial stations. Railroads
brought the hitherto undeveloped sections under cultivation,
built up new business centers, and supplanted in importance
all other commercial highways. Transportation in the upper
Illinois River counties influenced the history of that entire
section.
NOTES FOR CHAPTER V
(1) See Map of River Counties.
(2) The site of Peoria had been selected as the seat of an Indian village and later
of a French town. Yet, although the point was well known when Americans first came into
this area, nevertheless, development was slow. Ballance, C. The History of Peoria,
Illinois (Peoria, Illinois 1870), p. 40; Schoolcraft, Henry R. Travels in the Central Por-
tions of the Mississippi Valley (New York 1825), p. 307; History of Peoria County, Illinois,
P. 449.
(3) Peoria Register and North-Western Gazetteer, April 1, 1837, gives the following
data on the Population of Peoria: Jan. 1835, 418; July 1835, 550; October 1835, 811;
Jan. 1837, 1,658.
(4) Schoolcraft's Travels, p. 316.
(5) Chicago Historical Manuscript, Vol. 17, Jos. M. Street, to Ninian Edwards.
(6)
Galena Advertiser, Oct. 5, 1829.
(7) History of Peoria County (1880), p. 284.
(8) History of Peoria County (1880), p. 606.
(9) In the township histories, it is noted that with two or three exceptions the first
settlements were not made until the early 30's indicating that settlement of the county in
general did not begin until about that date.
(10) History of Peoria County (1880), p. 598.
(11) Peoria Reg. & N.-W. Gaz. Aug. 24, 1839.
(12) Ibid., April 1, 1837.
(13) Ibid., Sept. 14, 1839.
(14) Ibid., July 25, 1838. Ibid., May 26, 1838. Ibid., June 15, 1839.
(15)
Peoria Reg. and N.-W. Gazetteer, May 11, 1839.
(16) Ibid., July 27, 1839. Corn in April 1839 was worth 20 to 25 cents at Prince-
ville; potatoes 25 to 37; and oats 31 to 37 cents.
(17) Ibid., Apr. 13, 1839. History of Peoria County (1880), p. 598, p. 592.
(18) History of Peoria County (1880), p. 617.
(19) Ibid., p. 578.
(20) Ibid., p. 451. Peoria Reg. and N.-W. Gaz. 6/9/'38; Ibid., 8/29/'39. The price of
flour fluctuated from a very low to a very high rate. In wet years when river transporta-
tion was good and also when mills could run on even the smallest streams, prices were low.
But in a dry year when many mills were compelled to shut down for lack of power and when
transportation was difficult, prices were forced to a high rate. The Hamlin Mill, located
near Peoria, often shipped flour to St. Louis and received less than $1.50 per barrel. Yet
in 1839 flour sold at Hale's mill (also near Peoria) for $7, even though wheat was then
worth but 50 cents per bushel.
(21) History of Peoria County (1880), p. 451.
(22) Peoria Register and N.-W. Gaz. Aug. 24, 1838
(23) Peoria Register and N.-W. Gaz. June 9, 1838.
(24) History of Peoria County (1880), p. 452.
69
(25) History of Peoria County (1880), p. 452. The milling industry of Peoria began
to decline about 1870.
(26) Ellsworth's Putnam and Marshall, p. 137.
(27) Eighth Census. (Population), p. 99.
(28) Regan's Emigrants' Guide, p. 332.
Eighth Census (Population), 1860,
Improved farms 50,038 acres; unimproved
(29) Seventh Census (Population), 1850, 3,924.
Eighth Census (Agriculture), p. 34.
5,587.
farms, 20,019 acres; cash value of farms, $1,882,336.
(30) Historic Encyclopedia, p. 353.
(31) Ellsworth's Putnam and Marshall, p. 442. Belle Plaine township is watered by
Crow Creek and Martin's Branch and has Hollenbeck Grove, Wildcat Grove, Four Mile
Grove, and also Martin's Point, which places were all attractive to the early settlers.
Robert Township was watered by Sandy Creek with the Little Sandy and its tributaries
coming in from the north; and from the south the branches of Shaw, Myer, and Gaylord.
Because of the streams this township also was settled very early.
(32) Ibid., p. 434. Evans and Bennington Townships were not placed under cultivation
until after the establishment of Rutland, a station upon the Illinois Central.
(33) Peoria Register and North-Western Gazetteer, Sept. 22, 1838.
(34) Lacon was first known as Strawn's Landing. In 1831, when the town was laid
out it took the name "Columbia." In 1836 the name "Lacon" was given to the town.
(35) Peoria Register and N.-W. Gaz., 9/22/1838; 5/26/1838.
(36)
(37)
Peoria Reg. & N.-W. Gaz., 5/26/1838; Ellsworth's Putnam & Marshall, p. 333.
Ellsworth's Putnam and Marshall, p. 333.
(38) Ellsworth's Putnam and Marshall, p. 535.
(39) Hogs packed in Lacon in 1849, 10,000; Prairie Farmer IX, 199; 1850, Prairie Far-
mer X. 166, 11,500; Regan's Emigrants' Guide, p. 332, 1851, 13,500; 1852, 9,500.
(40)
(41)
Ellsworth's Putnam and Marshall, p. 336.
Census reports for the respective years.
(42) History of Woodford County (1878), p. 322.
(43) Ibid., p. 445.
(44) History of Woodford County, p. 288. Peter H. Willard, who ran a store and
grain buying business in Metamora, was a partner with Munn and Scott, the grain dealers
of Spring Bay.
(45) Ibid., p. 306.
(46) Ibid., p. 248.
(47) Ibid., p. 334.
(48) Ibid., p. 340.
(49) Ibid., p. 400.
71
1
CHAPTER VI
TRANSPORTATION IN THE LOWER ILLINOIS AND MISSISSIPPI
RIVER COUNTIES PREVIOUS TO 1860
In the lands along the lower Illinois and Mississippi rivers,
settlement began earlier than in either the prairie or the
upper river counties. Soon after 1800 some settlers came
to this lower country, but before about 1835 there was no
means of transportation other than by wagons across the
unbroken prairie and by floating on rafts and piroques down
the shallow rivers, consequently life was very simple and
remained so until steamboats began to run regularly on the
rivers. During this distinctively frontier period when easy
connections with the outside world were impossible, commerce
of necessity was very light. The immediate problem for the
pioneer was to eke out a mere existence, and in doing so
almost everything needful was secured by some means in the
community.
The nature of this life, and the kind of institutions which
were needed to supply its wants can be seen from a study of
the early activities and institutions of Fulton County. In
an earlier chapter the influence of these industrial begin-
nings in Peoria County has been shown. But in this lower
region where the pioneer life covered a longer period than in
the upper river counties, they played a still greater part in
the development of the country. The flour and grist mill
seem to have had a very important place in the life of that
period. The first device of any kind which was used for
cracking or grinding grain was the mortar or tin grater (1).
Then the hand mill was introduced, which was a great im-
provement over the former method (2). This in time gave
way to the band mill and mills propelled by horse and water
power (3). With the coming of these conveniences the neces-
saries of life were more easily secured, a fact which gave an
72
added impetus to immigration. So important was the estab-
lishment of these mills considered, that by the right of "ad
quod damnum" they could be placed upon any man's land (4).
This encouragement and the many seats which the rivers and
creeks offered brought about the establishment in a few years
of many, both saw and grist mills, the most important of
which were at Ellisville and at Bernadotte (5). In Joshua
Township there was still another mill which did more than a
local business (6). Mr. Duncan, too, built an early grist mill of
sufficient importance to give its name to a town which grew
up around it (7). Thus, during the period of settlement in
Fulton County flour mills were an essential to the sustenance
of the pioneers already settled, a stimulus to further immi-
gration, and in many cases the specific reason for the definite
location and building up of towns.
The conditions which gave the flour mills their importance
also made necessary other primitive institutions and methods
for securing a livelihood. The blacksmith shop was an abso-
lute essential and was patronized even though sometimes it
was necessary to go fifteen or twenty miles (8). Food was
scarce and clothing was made from the dressed skins of wild
animals. There were not enough sawmills to supply the
demand placed upon them. Coffins, even, were made of logs
in which a receptacle for the body was hollowed out. There
was very little buying and selling, for money was scarce.
Trade consisted mostly in the exchange of one article for
another (9). Occasionally a "farmer would load a flat boat
with beeswax, honey, tallow, and peltries, with perhaps a few
bushels of wheat or corn," and float it down the Illinois River
to St. Louis (10). Here he found a market in which he
exchanged his goods for groceries. A little later, when stores
were established within these neighborhoods, goods were
always sold on twelve months' time and payment made with
the proceeds of the farm. When the crops were sold and the
merchants satisfied, the surplus was paid out in orders on the
stores to laboring men and other creditors. Such was the
primitive life in Fulton County previous to and during part
of the steamboat era.
The very conditions of this early life caused all activity to
center near the river. The flour mills were generally pro-
73
pelled by water power, and the sawmills were of course in the
midst of the timbers, and for that reason they, too, were along
the rivers. Added to these facts was the natural preference
of the frontiersman for the timber land. He chose to make
his "clearing" and plow among the stumps rather than to
venture out into the open prairie. This preference, however,
was not founded entirely upon prejudice. The agricultural
implements of the time were not suited to break and culti-
vate the prairie. It was next to impossible to turn over the
tangled heavy prairie sods, or with that done, to plant and
care for a crop. For all these reasons the main neighbor-
hoods and towns were located near the rivers; Bernadotte,
Ellisville, and Lewistown were all on or near Spoon River,
Canton was near Big Creek, while Liverpool was on the Illi-
nois River.
These towns, started because they were near mill sites,
received a new impetus to growth when steamboats began to
run. Although growth was slow previous to 1835, these new
stimuli greatly increased their population and commerce (11).
This back country was then for the first time made easily
accessible to the outside world. Immigrants, consequently,
began to pour in. New settlements were made and the towns
developed rapidly. By 1839 Lewistown had fifty houses, four
stores, and two taverns. Canton likewise took on new life
and by 1837 had a population of 200 or 225, which was in-
creased in 1838 to two hundred houses and a population of
780. In the number and variety of its mechanics, Canton
then probably excelled any other town in the Military Tract
save, perhaps, Quincy (12).
Other towns were started and incorporated at this time.
Bernadotte was laid out in 1836, and before two years had
passed the population increased to 150 or 200 inhabitants.
Farmington, in 1835, had two frame houses and one log cabin,
but during the following year eighteen houses were erected,
and by 1839 the town had a population of 250 (13). Directly
east of this place and on the Peoria Road there were, in 1838,
twelve or fifteen houses where there had been but one eighteen
months before. Ellisville, platted in 1836, had within two
years from that time, five stores and a population of 130.
74
Fairview likewise received a considerable influx of immigra-
tion at this period.
In other and surrounding counties similar forces were at
work. In the settlement of Tazewell immigrants would come
by boat as far as Peoria, the head of navigation, and seek
homes near the splendid mill sites which that county pos-
sesses, or if coming in schooners, would settle on the prairie
of Tazewell rather than search for better locations. While
this county was thus being quite thickly populated, Menard
received but few pioneers and Mason was scarcely settled at
all. In 1837 the entire northern part of Mason County had
but twelve voters (14). This was due in a large measure to
the fact that the county was low, wet and marshy, and was
considered an unhealthy waste area. But the significant
thing in the history of these counties is that previous to the
running of steamboats, what settlements were made were at
mill sites or in the timbers along the smaller streams. In
this way grew up Salem, Indian Point, Concord Neighbor-
hood, Clary's Grove, and Baker's Settlement in Menard
County (15), Tremont and many smaller towns in Tazewell,
and later Havana and Bath in Mason County.
With the rise of steamboat navigation, however, Pekin on
the Illinois River gained the ascendency over all these other
points and became the supply station for a section of country
which extended out about seventy miles from a north-eastern
to a southern direction. One authority, writing from Pekin
in 1838, said: "The amount of business done by our forward-
ing and commission merchants is very great. Two large ware-
houses are constantly filled with goods. During a residence
in this town of nearly two years we have known but one
instance of a steamboat passing up and down the river with-
out depositing freight at the wharf. There are seven dry
goods stores, one wholesale grocery and liquor store, and two
houses for slaughtering and packing pork" (16). This latter
industry gave to the towns of the tributary country more
business, probably, than any other one interest. The Taze-
well Mirror of 1849 said: "Our slaughtering establishments
are crowded with fat hogs and the packing houses have all
they can do" (17). In that year Pekin slaughtered 30,000
hogs (18). Thus in this group of counties early settlement
75
was slow, small villages grew up, but none of them gained
any importance until steamboats began to visit the port of
Pekin. From that time Pekin outstripped its competitors,
built large warehouses and industrial establishments and
became the commercial center for the entire area.
In the settlement of Schuyler and Brown on the west, and
of Cass, Morgan and Scott on the east side of the Illinois
River, three towns sprang up, the history of which is typical
of the general development of the surrounding area. Schuy-
ler and Brown began settlement about 1823, and since their
location was favorable, immigration was heavy (19). The
thickly populated counties of Adams and Hancock bordered
them upon the west and along their eastern border coursed
the waters of the Illinois. Because of this general location,
Rushville, the county seat of Schuyler, grew very rapidly.
It was started in 1827, and immediately became the distrib-
uting point for immigrants who desired to settle in the north-
ern and western parts of the county. In 1830 this town had a
dozen houses, and by 1837 there were more than 400 and a
population of 1,200 (20). At that time Rushville was "the
largest inland town in this Military Tract", and the commer-
cial center for the rapidly developing counties of Schuyler and
Brown (21).
On the other side of the Illinois River, Jacksonville, the
seat of government of what is now Morgan County, gained
considerable importance during this early period. It was
laid out in 1824 and by 1830 the population was more than
400 (22). Four years later the town had a population of 1800,
and the number of houses had greatly increased. This rapid
development was due to its location with relation to the main
routes of travel. The country to the east, south and southwest
of Jacksonville was at that time well settled and roads lead-
ing from this area to the country north and northwest, then
rapidly settling up, naturally centered at Jacksonville, and
made it the point of distribution throughout the period of
settlement. This factor was all the more important in the
building of Jacksonville, since immigrants who settled in
this area directly to the north came for the most part in
prairie schooners rather than by the river.
But with the rise of river navigation, and with the country
76
partly settled, conditions were changed. Overland routes
gave way to the river as a highway of travel; the prairie
schooner was replaced by the "floating palace"; and the
points upon the river which could give better markets than
the inland towns surpassed in importance all other places.
Typical of this transformation is the growth of Beardstown
and the consequent relegation of the former towns of import-
ance to a secondary position. The first settler of Beardstown
came to that place very early, but the town was not laid out
until 1829 (23), and its existence was not then known in all
parts of the State (24). Steamboats, however, had begun to
visit the place in 1828 and the town soon began to grow. By
1837 three additions had been made to the town, which was
then widely known as a commercial point (25). Even by 1833
it had become the center from which "most towns in the
interior of the State got their supplies of goods and from
which their produce was shipped to market" (26). More
business was done there in 1834 than in any other place
in the State (27). Two steam flouring mills, a grist mill, a
steam sawmill, a brewery, and a distillery, besides many ware-
houses and storehouses, were at that time either in operation
or being built. Many steamboats were then constantly em-
ployed in the Beardstown trade. In this year, 1836, 450
arrivals and departures were made from her port (28), and
by 1837 she had become the largest pork market in the State
(29). From that time throughout the period of steam navi-
gation on the rivers, this town did such a heavy export and
import business that there was almost a continuous line of
teams hauling to and from the interior towns (30). It had
won the commercial supremacy over all competing internal
towns.
In the remaining counties of this lower river section but
few contrasts can be made between the river and prairie sec-
tions, for the counties are small and there may be said to
be neither an inland area nor inland towns in distinction
from the river towns. Rather the method of study will be
to show the rate of development and the influences of trans-
portation facilities.
Along the Macoupin and Piasa creeks, in what is now
Jersey and Greene counties, settlements were made as early
77
as 1815. With the signing of the treaty of Edwardsville in
1818, by which the Indians relinquished their claim to the
territory of these counties, immigration became heavy and
the population rapidly increased. In this same year, when
Mr. Thomas, the first settler of Greene County, located not
far from Piasa Creek, the prairie for a circuit of fifteen
miles to the north, east and west of him was solitary and
trackless (31). But by 1820 almost every township within
both Greene and Jersey had received some pioneers (32). In
1830 the population of these counties was 7,674, which was
increased by 1835 to 12,174, and by 1840 to 16,464 (33). The
period of settlement for these river counties was during the
early years of steam navigation. Population increased more
rapidly between 1830 and 1840 than during any other decade.
Between 1850 and 1860, however, when railroads crossed the
counties, large additions were made to their population.
Pike and Calhoun, the only two counties lying between and
touching both the Illinois and the Mississippi, were low
marshes, and, though receiving early settlers, did not for
some time reach a high degree of development. Pike was the
first county organized in the Military Tract, and though it
then included the greater part of northern Illinois, what is
the Pike County of today was the center of life and activity
of the entire region. The first permanent settlement was
made in 1820; the first store was opened in 1826. During
these years, when merchandise had to be secured at St. Louis
and New Orleans, life was hard, suffering was occasioned
by the want of food, and settlement was slow (34). Not until
1826 did these pioneers raise their first wheat and grind it
into flour, and three more years passed before the first mill
was erected. Calhoun County was likewise but little settled
during this period. The population was unstable, owing to
the fact that most of Calhoun's early settlers were in the
lumber business (35). In 1830 her population was small, and
the number increased but little during the next five years.
Pike settled more rapidly and continued throughout the period
to increase its population and development (36). The great
increase was in the first decade after the rise of steam navi-
gation as the chief agency in transportation. Calhoun
County's greatest gain, too, was in the latter half of the same
78
decade, the population increasing from 1,091 in 1835 to 1,741
in 1840. Her population in 1860 was only 5,144. The greatest
pre-railroad development there was during the decade be-
tween 1830 and 1840. Railroads, however, gave a new devel-
opment just previous to 1860.
Adams and Hancock counties, lying just above Pike and
on the Mississippi River, are about midway between the
northern and southern boundaries of the State. They are
drained by a number of short rivers flowing into the Missis-
sippi, and by the branches of Crooked and Walnut creeks
flowing into the Illinois. The timber lands, being along the
main rivers, were mostly in the western part, where settle-
ment first began. In the extreme eastern part, along the
smaller creeks, only sparse settlements were made. The
prairies between were not claimed till a late date. Settle-
ment began about 1820, but was very slow until 1834 or
1835. This slow development was caused in part by inefficient
means of transportation and poor trading facilities and, in
part, because much of the land had been granted to soldiers
and was not subject to entry. In Adams County the main
settled sections previous to 1834 were along Bear and Rock
creeks. Very few came to the outlying territory of Quincy,
possibly, because the land was considered unhealthy (38).
the north, certainly, the land was low, swampy, and unfit for
cultivation, but to the south was a fine farming area extending
for a distance of many miles (39). This land, owned by non-
residents, was not settled until a later date (40). After 1835,
however, and in spite of these conditions, immigration poured
into the county. Between 1830 and 1860 the population in-
creased from 2,186 to 41,323 (41). Unlike that of most river
counties, the main development was not made in one decade.
The growth beginning in 1835 was continued steadily through-
out the period.
To
A study of the commercial movements gives the explana-
tion for this development. Previous to 1827, when the first
store in Adams County was established, trade consisted
merely in neighborhood exchanges (42). With the founding
of Quincy that place soon became the mart for a large area.
Its growth was slow during the first two or three years, but
the population and commerce of the place steadily increased
79
(43). In 1831 flour and bacon were imported, but within less
than five years these same articles were being exported (44).
The number of stores, too, had increased and vessels were
running regularly from the port of Quincy (45). Food pro-
ducts were not imported at heavy expense, but were secured
in the home market (46). Money was no longer sent out of
the county, but was brought in in payment for goods exported.
This period marked a new era for Quincy, which grew more
rapidly than any other town in the State, with possibly the
exception of Chicago (47). The impetus given to the town
and its commerce by river navigation was maintained until
the construction of railroads gave a new energy to its growth.
Quincy has always been a center of the principal commercial
highways-first of the river and then of the railroad (48).
As a result, its growth and the development of the surround-
ing country have been steady and substantial.
Two-thirds of Hancock County is prairie land (49). The
timber is in the western part along the Mississippi River,
and in the southern and eastern part along the branches of
Crooked and Bear creeks. The first settlements were in the
western portion of the county. The early voting places indi-
cate that the centers of early population were at the head-
waters of Bear Creek near the line of Adams County, at Fort
Edwards near the mouth of Edwards River, and at the little
village of Venus, the head of the rapids (50). There were
but two residents on Crooked Creek in 1830. Although the
Black Hawk War retarded settlement, the population in-
creased between 1830 and 1835 from 438 to 3,249 (51). These
pioneers had located near the river, for as late as 1837 there
were probably not more than a hundred improvements in all
the prairie a mile distant from the timber (52). The county
historian, writing in 1880, pointed out the distinct differences
between the two divisions of the county which existed at that
time and which were due to the early settlement. In the
western half there were but few early settlers still remaining,
for the first pioneers had come, lived along the river work-
ing at river trades, and had later "pulled stakes." On the
eastern or prairie side settlers came later, but remained, and
as a result the eastern half had a large proportion of settlers
who had come to the county previous to 1840 (53).
80
Henderson, Mercer and Rock Island are the remaining
counties in this division. For the most part they are drained
by small streams running into the Mississippi. The main
rivers of Henderson and Mercer counties are the Pope, the
Edwards, and the Henderson. The first settlement made was
in the vicinity of New Boston. In 1827 the Denison family
came to this point to supply the boats with fuel (54). The
next settlement was ten miles up Edwards River, at a point
then known as Sugar Grove. Farther up this same river a
third settlement was started. This was at Farlow's Grove
and was known as "Richland Settlement." As with Edwards
River, so settlements were extended along Pope Creek and
North Henderson. Mercer had previously been started and
was located on the Mississippi about fourteen miles from
New Boston. It admitted of convenient access to the timber,
stone, and coal along both the Pope and the Edwards and
their branches. It was also on the direct route from New
Boston to Hennepin and from Oquawka to Rock Island. The
two places, New Boston and Mercer, were the only towns of
Mercer County and furnished the only market for its exports
and imports. After the Black Hawk War immigration was
rapid, and by 1840 the population of Mercer County was 2,352.
This was increased in 1845 to 4,297, and in 1850 to 5,246. The
great change came during the next decade, the population in
1860 being 15,042. Mercer County was organized in 1835,
but because there were no large ports the county developed
slowly until the railroad era.
Henderson County was not organized until 1841. Previous
to this date, Oquawka, the principal landing for some distance
either up or down the river, had become the entrepot for
regions beyond the borders of Henderson County. Much of
the shipping from Mercer and the inland counties was done
from this port until the construction of railroads (55). The
general development of this country, stimulated by water
and later by rail traffic, was steady throughout the period.
Rock Island County, the head of Indian activities previous
to and during the Black Hawk War, received but little devel-
opment before that time. On the north side of Rock River
there was in 1833 only one house, and on the south side, on
the broad smooth prairies sweeping around the Rock River
81
to the present site of Moline, only a few farm houses could
be seen, and they were located in the far distant hills (56).
Stephenson, an early town on the present site of Rock Island,
was not laid out until 1835 (57). As a whole, the county
settled rapidly after 1836. Besides the stimulus which river
navigation gave to the town, it had a United States fort which
gave publicity. For years the fort had been known and used
as one of the guiding points for travelers passing from the
Sangamon District to the lead region at Galena (58). There
was, too, at this place a good landing, which furnished a mar-
ket and consequently made the town a point of exchange
for the products and merchandise of the rich and well-settled
Rock River Valley (59). The railroad added, in later years,
to the advantages given by these early conditions and Rock
Island County continued a steady development from 1835 to
1860. The greatest increase in population was during the
last decade, but growth throughout the period was steady
and substantial (60).
Thus the territory along the lower Illinois and the Missis-
sippi rivers began development earlier than either the prairie
or the upper Illinois River counties, and consequently the
period of settlement was longer than in either of the other
sections. During the early years pioneers located not neces-
sarily close to a market, but where sustenance could most
easily be secured. Towns, as Duncan, Ellisville and Lewis-
town, sprang up near mill sites; or, as Jacksonville and Rush-
ville, because their location on overland roads made them
convenient points of distribution for immigrants. The use
of steamboats on the river, however, changed the economic
emphasis and instead of mere sustenance the hope of reward
became the dominating thought of the pioneer. The river
towns, because of their position, were enabled to give good
prices for the exports which the farmers desired to sell, and
could bring imports into the country more cheaply than could
towns located on any other transportation line. They thus
became distributing points for the entire inland country.
Pekin, Beardstown, Quincy, and Oquawka were the most im-
portant of these towns, and during the steamboat era did a
heavy commercial and industrial business, which stimulated
development throughout the entire section. Thus in the lower
82
Illinois and the Mississippi River counties, lack of efficient
transportation facilities made mere existence the dominant
question, and the places where sustenance might be secured—
mill sites-the most attractive places for the pioneer. Steam
navigation later gave the river points a new significance and
hastened development in the tributary country. Railroads
stimulated an ever greater development in the territory as
a whole, and made the towns upon them the commercial cen-
ters of the district.
NOTES FOR CHAPTER VI
(1) For a description of the various mills used, see the following references: History
of Schuyler and Brown (1882), p. 61; History of Cass County (1882), p. 157; Swan, Alonzo
M., Canton, Its Pioneers and History (Canton, Illinois 1871), p. 15. "These 'graters' were
perforated sheets of tin bowed on to a board so that the shape was similar to half of a section
of a stove pipe: the rough edges of the perforated tin would tear the grains of corn, when
it was rubbed briskly over its surface, and by an hour's hard labor, meal enough for a small
cake could be manufactured." Perryman, E. M. Pioneer Life in Illinois, p. 53: (Pana,
Ill. 1907). "They would cut down a pretty large oak tree and saw off a block about three
feet long, square both ends, set it upon end, build a hot fire in the middle of the upper end,
and watch it to keep it from burning too far out, and by burning two or three days, would
get a hole burned out in the shape of a basin; then hang a heavy maul to a spring pole,
so that the spring pole would greatly raise the maul; then shell some corn and put it in and
put in a little water to toughen the husk. Then stand there and jerk the maul down on
the corn and beat it into meal. And it took a good deal of jerking to make a little meal.'
(2) Swan's Canton, p. 8. Described by Gov. John Reynolds: "In the hand mill the
stones are smaller than those of the horse mill (the lower stone was fixed and the upper
movable) and are propelled by man and woman power. A hole is made in the upper stone
and a staff of wood is put in it and the other end of the staff is put through a hole in a
plank above, so that the whole is free to act. One or two persons take hold of this staff
and turn the upper stone with as much velocity as possible. An eye is made in the upper
stone through which the corn is let into the mill, with the hand in small quantities to suit the
mill, instead of the hopper.
""
(3) History of Fulton County, (1879), p. 513. A band mill was so called because
a rawhide band was put upon a large drive wheel in the place of cogs; it saved the gearing
of the mill. These mills constituted the lowest and cheapest order of horse mill. Pins were
put in the place of cogs and around them the band was placed. These pins might be changed
in holes made for the purpose so that the band might be tightened when desired.
(4) Ibid., 194, 320, 515; Swan's Canton, p. 14 and 15. In 1818 a saw mill was erected
on Otter Creek, but was soon carried away by high water. This early milling enterprise was
probably the first in the Military Tract. The first mill of any kind in the northern part of
the county was Fraker's band-mill, which was erected in 1823 in Canton Township, near
Fairview bridge. About 1824, Jacob Ellis located a water mill within three miles of Canton
on Big Creek. To the north of Fairview bridge, John Coleman early established a mill.
Of more importance than any of these mills, however, was the one located at Ellisville, on
the Spoon, a river which furnished power through the year.
(5) Peoria Register and N.-W. Gazetteer, Aug. 4, 1838; Aug. 31, 1839.
(6) History of Fulton County (1879), p. 725. This mill was erected by Mr. Gardiner,
who did a large business and for many years shipped flour to New York City. He made
flat boats upon which he would float his produce to St. Louis, starting from Copperas Creek
Landing. After these boats were unloaded, he would sell them to go further south. At
one time he built a thirty ton keel-boat and carried it on wheels to Copperas Creek, where
it was launched. When the Illinois River was low and he could not run a boat to St.
Louis. he would take a team of four yoke oxen and a team of horses and put on about
100 bushels of wheat and start for Chicago, where he would get 60 cents to 62½ cents per
bushel, when wheat would bring only 23 cents at home. It would consume a month's time
to make these trips. He would return with dry goods and other necessities.
(7) Ibid., p. 712. From 1840 to 1855 this was the largest mill within a radius of
fifteen or twenty miles.
(8) Ibid., p. 199. "Mr. Andrews tells us he remembers Mr. Barnes shouldering up
the plow share of his large prairie breaking-plow and going with it on foot to Lewistown
to the blacksmith shop." Mr. Barnes lived 2½ miles north of where Canton now is.
(9) Ibid., 229. Coon skins passed as currency in many places up to 1835, and values
were frequently expressed in coon skins.
83
(10) History of Fulton County (1879), p. 204, 219.
(11) History of Fulton County (1879), p. 204, 517; Swan's Canton, p. 5.
(12) Swan's Canton, p. 12, 98, 100. Previous to 1830 Canton had no dry good stores,
since merchandise was usually shipped in from St. Louis. Between 1830 and 1855 the pork
packing industry became quite large. After that date and because Canton had become a
railroad center, live stock was shipped and the slaughtering business declined.
(13) Swan's Canton, p. 12: Peoria Register and N.-W. Gazetteer, Ap. 7, 1838.
(14) History of Menard and Mason (1879), p. 428. The present townships of Havana,
Sherman, Pennsylvania, Allen's Grove, Forest City and Quiver. In 1850, Allen's Grove
township had but eight or ten log cabins and four-fifths of the land was held by Congress.
Quiver Township received its first settlement about 1837 There were
There were no pioneers in
Forest City Township before 1840, and but five houses in 1842. In Pennsylvania Township
permanent locations were not made until 1849. In the entire county there were but two
important settlements, Havana and Bath. During the period previous to 1843, Bath and
the lower end of the county were the more important. Between 1843 and 1851, Havana and
the upper end of the county developed rapidly and won the seat of government and com-
mercial supremacy of the county.
(15) History of Menard and Mason (1879), p. 202; p. 321. Historic Encyclopedia,
p. 307.
(16) Peoria Register and N.-W. Gazetteer, June 1, 1838.
(17)
Prairie Farmer IX, p. 102.
(18) Quoted from the St. Louis Intelligencer, Jan. 9, 1852; 1849, 30,000, Prairie Far-
mer IX, p. 199; 1850, 25,000, Prairie Farmer X, p. 166; 1851, 26,500, Regan's Emigrants'
Guide, p. 332; 1852, 16,000, Regan's Emigrants' Guide, 332.
Combined History of Schuyler and Brown (1882), p. 57.
(20) Peoria Register and N.-W. Gazetteer; Apr. 1, 1837. History of Schuyler and
Brown (1882), p. 153, gives the population in 1836 as 1,500.
(21) Peoria Register and N.-W. Gazetteer, Apr. 1, 1837.
(22) Eames, Charles M., Historic Morgan and Classic Jacksonville (Jacksonville, Illi-
nois 1885), p. 68. History of Cass County (1882), p. 18.
(23) History of Cass County (1882), p. 108.
(24) Hall, James. Notes on the Western States (Philadelphia 1838), p. 265: "In 1830
a consignment of goods for Beardstown, Illinois, was landed by mistake at Shawneetown,
in the same State, where they remained for some time because it was not known where
Beardstown was. They had heard of Beard's Ferry on the Illinois River and knew its
exact position, and were not a little surprised to hear that a town had suddenly started into
existence, between which and St. Louis several steamboats were regularly plying, before
even its name was known to the people residing on the shores of the Ohio."
(25) History of Cass County (1882), p. 108.
(26) Ibid., p. 30.
(27)
(28)
P. 167.
Ibid., p. 31.
19
Steele, Mrs. Eliza R. A Summer's Journey in the West (New York 1841),
(29) Historic Morgan, p. 16: History of Menard and Mason Counties (1879), p. 676;
History of Cass County, p. 14; "Before the railroad era, when the river was the main channel
for carrying merchandise and produce, Beardstown was in possession of the most extensive
pork trade of any western town, competing even with Cincinnati. From 40,000 to 70,000
hogs were slaughtered annually.' Western Journal II, p. 339, 1849, 46,500 hogs slaughtered;
Journal VI, p. 191, 1850, 57,000 hogs slaughtered; Journal VI, p. 191, 1851, 35,000 hogs
slaughtered. Also Peoria Register and N.-W. Gazetteer, 10/21/1837.
(30) French, A. W. Early Reminiscences (Springfield, Ill. 1901), p. 61. In the
spring of 1848 "I spent a week or two in Beardstown. This was an ambitious place-had a
brick tavern and a landing, and was the entrepot and the outlet of nearly all of the salable
products of a large part of the State. A traveler between Springfield and Beardstown would
rarely be out of sight of heavily loaded wagons, carrying out the productions or bringing in
the merchants' goods."
(31) History of Greene County (1879), p. 243.
(32) Ibid., p. 246.
(33) State and National census for the respective years. The statistics in the census
reports for Jersey County were not given separately until 1840.
Year
Greene
Jersey
1830
7,674
1836
12,274
1840
11,963
4,501
1845
11,562
5,659
1850
12,429
7,354
1860
16,093
12,051
(34) History of Pike County (1880), p. 211.
84
(35) Pooley, William Vipond, Early Settlements of Illinois, p. 398. The author gives
no authority for his statement.
(36) State and Federal census reports for respective years.
Pike County
Population
Year
1830
1835
1840
1845
1850
1860
2,393
6,037
11,736
15,972
18,819
27,249
(37) Murray, Williamson and Phelps, History of Adams County, Illinois (Chicago
1879), p. 277. Coon skins, maple sugar, deer hides, feathers, wild honey, beeswax, and deer
tallow were the current circulating medium of the people.
(38) Atwater, Caleb: The writings of (Columbus, Ohio, 1833), p. 228. Caleb Atwater
writing in 1829 said: “Quincy stands mostly on a high bluff and contains some forty
families of very decent looking people, but paleness of countenance told us the same sad
tale that the low marshes along the river near them and the vast prairie just east of the
town, covered with grasses and weeds ten feet high, might have told them, if properly
interrogated. The hill where the town stands is high enough for all the fogs from the
marshes along the river to rest on, and they take the liberty to do so. A land office is
established here, but the location is a bad one and never can be healthy. To me the people
appeared better than any I saw in Illinois as a whole; and my only regret is that such
a people should have settled on a spot so insalubrious.”
(39) History of Adams County (1879), p. 239. Conclin, George, River Guide or a
Gazetteer of all the Towns on the Western Waters. (Cincinnati 1854.) In writing of
Quincy the author said: "The country in its vicinity is a beautifully rolling and rich
prairie and one of the finest agricultural regions in the State."
(40) Illinois Monthly Magazine (1832), II, 212. The surrounding country is decidedly
salubrious and offers many advantages to settlers. Nothing but the fact that a large portion
of the land is owned by non-resident proprietors has prevented it from having already
attracted a dense population.
(41) See census reports for respective years.
(42) History of Adams County (1879), p. 268.
(43) Illinois Monthly Magazine II., p. 212.
1829
40 families.
1830 200 estimated by Asbury, H., Reminiscences of Quincy, Illinois, p. 44.
1832 700 Illinois Monthly Magazine.
1833 400 History of Adams County, 278; 500 Asbury, p. 44.
1834
750 Ibid.
1841 2,686 Asbury, p. 79.
1845
1848 5,865 Ibid.
1850 6,902 Seventh Census, p. 703.
1854 10,777 Asbury, p. 79.
1860 13,632 Quincy, Board of Commerce, p. 13.
1860 15,718 Eighth Census-population, p. 13.
(44) The Quincy Argus and Illinois Bounty Land Register, April 17, 1835. From July
1st, 1832, there was imported into Quincy produce, principally of flour and bacon, valued
at $5,000. From July 1, 1834, to July 1, 1835, with an increase of population there was
no importation of the above articles, but on the contrary produce consisting of the above
articles was exported to the value of $40,000. From August 1, 1834, to April 1st, 1855, there
were 24,900 bushels of wheat purchased and ground, producing about 4,980 barrels of flour.
History of Adams County, p. 277. Up to 1834 most of the bacon and flour used by the
people of this section had been imported.
(45) Illinois Monthly Magazine II, p. 212, 1832. There were ten stores and two
taverns in Quincy in 1832. Steamboats were then running
Steamboats were then running regularly from this port, and
the surrounding country was rapidly filling up.
(46) History of Adams County (1879), p. 279. 2,500 bushels of wheat were ground
at Quincy in 1835. Asbury, Henry: Reminiscences of Quincy, Illinois (Quincy, Illinois,
1882), p. 64.
(47) Quoting from Quincy Argus and Illinois Bounty Land Register, Nov. 8, 1836:
"We do not believe that there is a town in the State of Illinois except perhaps Chicago,
which has increased at any time with the rapidity of Quincy for the past summer and
fall."
(48) Ibid., p. 498. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy completed in 1856 from Quincy to
Galesburg, Quincy and Palmyra completed in 1859.
(49) Hancock County has been affected by other than sound economic principles; hence
a detailed examination of its development would be of no value to this study. It was the
home of the Mormons, who flocked there about 1838. Within four or five years they num-
bered more than 16,000. They remained but a few years and were then expelled.
1
85
(50) History of Hancock County (1880), p. 231.
(51) Second Reunion Tri-state Association, p. 57. Gordon's address: "There were
but 33 votes cast for president in 1832."
(52) History of Hancock County (1880), p. 466.
(53) History of Hancock County (1880), p. 206.
(54) History of Mercer and Henderson Counties (1882), p. 46.
55) Ibid., p. 887.
(56)
p. 58.
McMaster, S. W. Sixty Years on the Upper Mississippi (Rock Island, Ill. 1893),
(57) Peoria Register and N.-W. Gazetteer, Sept. 28, 1839. Farnhamsburg, the first
town at this place, was superseded by Stephenson in 1839. Rock Island came into exist-
ence as a new edition of Stephenson and the name was in 1841 given to the town.
(58) History of Rock Island County (1877), p. 144. From Quincy to Galena, Stephen-
son was the most noted steamboat landing. Here for many years, travelers from the
Sangamon County and Fort Clark reached the river on their way to Galena and the mineral
regions North. The beauty and fertility of the Rock River Valley attracted many immigrants
from the older states during 1836 and 1837, and a number of flourishing colonies were
started in Rock Island, Henry, and Mercer Counties. These colonies were all naturally
tributary to Rock Island.
(59) Peoria Register and N.-W. Gazetteer, 9/28/1839. "The inland trade is very con-
siderable and must every year become greater. Many retail purchasers now come from
Mercer and Henry Counties, some the distance of 40 miles. *** The business of Steph-
enson must be greatly increased from the filling up of the Rock River Country, of which it
is the outlet, and the improvement of the navigation of that stream.
(60) Census reports for the respective years:
""
1840
1845
1850
1860
DEC 20 1919
2,619
5,058
6,937
21,005
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
3 9015 07372 0875
471
!