ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPA1GN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign library Brittle Books Project, 2014.COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION In Public Domain. Published prior to 1923. This digital copy was made from the printed version held by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was made in compliance with copyright law. Prepared for the Brittle Books Project, Main Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by Northern Micrographics Brookhaven Bindery La Crosse, Wisconsin 2014Destruction of Kaskaskia BY THE Mississippi River By J. H. BURNHAM, Blcxmington, 111. Reprinted from the Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society, 1914 [Printed by authority of the State of Illinois.] Uesli uction cf Kaskaski^ BY THE * f Mississippi River By J. H. BURNHAM, Bloomington, 111. Reprinted from the Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society, 1914 [Printed by authority of the State of Illinois.] Springfield, III. Illinois State Journal Co.', State Printers. 19 16CAPT. J. H. BURNHAM. One of the Founders of the Illinois State Historical Society and a Director of the Society since its Organization in 1899.jj '97 7. Y9S. i ' - ' r~ . DESTRUCTION OF KASKASKIA BY THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. (By J. H. Burnham, Bloomington.) Historical societies generally confine their efforts to the preservation of the records of community development, but in some rare instances Mother Nature has violently taken it upon herself to ruin her own handiwork, such as happened when the mighty Mississippi Eiver moved its bed from its old-time course and in spite of engineering obstructions, wandered away in a far different direction, causing the destruction of hundreds of acres of valuable lands, together with the well known and important historical town of Kaskaskia. Other rivers have been known to wander away from their ancient courses. Chinese records tell us that the Yellow Eiver changed its course nine times, in twenty-five centuries, and that in 1851 to 1853, it went hundreds of miles across the country, abandoning the old channel and making a- new mouth to the sea, five hundred miles distant from its former outlet. We have nothing on our continent to compare with this tremendous change of water courses,1 but the events to be described well deserve to be pictured and recorded in the annals of Illinois, not only for the benefit of its own inhabitants but for the instruction of the entire northwest. Comparatively few people anywhere in the world have as yet been accurately informed concerning this remarkable catastrophe. The waters of the great Missouri Eiver unite with the mighty Missis- sippi a few miles above St. Louis, and this magnificent river begins at once to acquire the peculiar characteristics of the Missouri, in that it then flows for the most of its course through an alluvial valley, from the mouth of the Missouri Eiver to the ledges of rock above Thebes, which valley is known as the American Bottom. The geological characteristics of the American Bottom can be tolerably well imagined by careful geologists, but their imaginations do not fully satisfy present day students as to its actual origin. < We are told that in the distant past, enormous bodies of water flowed from north to south through this ancient valley, which was formerly an immense bed of solid stone. Ages of washing and cutting through this rock, hollowed out the tremendous channel through which the current poured for unknown centuries. The evidences of such action appear to be plainly visible in the almost perpendicular stone walls of these two lines of beautiful bluffs, the front faces of which are from one 1 Changes of the courses of rivers have occasionally happened in America. In 1904 the Colorado River largely left its channel near the line between Mexico and Arizona, mainly owing to a diversion of its water to irrigation purposes. During the years 1904, 1905 and 1906 these waters poured into the remarkable basin known as the Salton Sea, which was two hundred seventy-three feet below the level of the Pacific Ocean, cutting wide and deep channels through the silt and soft soil, increasing the area of the lake by over one thousand square miles, and raising the level of this large body over ninety feet. The Southern Pacific Railroad Company expended large sums of money in the remarkably difficult operation of closing the channel of the runaway river, to the amount of over one million dollars. Smith- sonian Report for 1907,331 to 345.4 hundred to two hundred feet in height. There are. no present day evidences of the sources of such tremendous currents as must have flowed through this valley, except the fact that no other known power could possibly have eroded a channel of such great proportions as now exists between these tremendous cliffs of lime stone, which are on an average about four miles apart. The sources of this immense current must have proceeded from enormous floods of water which nature somehow fur- nished in her own way. An alluvial deposit with a marvelouslv fertile surface, partly prairie and partly timber, now lies in this valley, overlying a rock floor varying in depth in its upper portion from eighty to ninety feet on the west side, to considerably over one hundred feet on the east side, as has been demonstrated by the construction of bridge piers at St. Louis and by different borings. Thru this soft alluvial soil the mighty river of the past has, for an unknown period, taken its course, sometimes bathing the eastern shores and at others reaching the foot of the bluffs at the western side. At present it is washing the -rocky east bluffs of the State of Missouri nearly all of the way from St. Louis to St. Genevieve. There are several lakes and lake beds in this alluvial valley, showing that at some time in the past the river probably meandered and wandered wildly. One of these lakes a few miles northwest of Prairie DuRocher is called Conner Lake, and it is said by tradition that some of the stone used in the walls of ancient Fort Chartres were boated across from rock quarries at the bluffs. This lake has been drained into the Mississippi River, and ' several other lakes now have artificial outlets. The St. Louis & Iron Mountain Railroad carries the traveler from East St. Louis to Chester, in places, thru almost the very center of this magnificently fertile valley, in other parts, within a short distance from the eastern line of bluffs. A ride over this line in the latter part of October is full of exciting enjoyment. Apart from the historic associa- tions of almost every mile of the road, crowding on the mind in a never ending succession, the eye is charmed by the changing scenery on every hand. Many of the bluffs are partially evergreen, as beautiful cedars grow on some of the most picturesque positions, while white or cream colored perpendicular bluffs are mingled with weather-stained ledges of varying brightness of color. Openings in the walls prove that rain or spring water and creeks come down occasionally from the higher lands back from the line of bluffs. The autumn colors of maple, oak and other foliages mingled with the dark evergreens, furnish a panorama of ever changing beauty. The charm of the ride is enhanced by the occasional glimpse of an ancient Indian mound. Some of the highest bluffs, which are nicely tapered off, as if carved by human hands to the very tops, are holding an unknown number of nearly square shaped, ancient, stone burial crypts2, which are scattered among the venerable mounds. Let us hope that here, at 2 These burial places consist generally of pits about three and one-half feet square lined at the sides by thin slabs of stone. The bodies were buried, not deeply;, in bent or sitting position.' This method of burial is not common in this State, but it was practiced quite generally in regions southwest of Illinois. On very many of the tapering hill tops of these bluffs may be found these peculiar graves.&ie/ Gotmfc o]^heY~^ l f~~*~\ CjUC--A?—■ Vl ILLINOIS Map of the Country of the Illinois, date, 1796, from Collot's voyage.6 least, a few of these remarkable monuments3 of a vanished race may be permanently preserved in this beautiful valley of historic memories. At the northern end of the valley, near the present railroad station DuPont (now printed Dupo in the railroad tables)*, are several very fine mounds plainly visible from the railroad. On Collot's 1796 map of this region, the lower part of which is republished in this paper, these mounds are called "Ancient Indian Tombs," and the locality is properly printed "Prairie DuPont." At one place a few miles from Prairie DuRocher, on the way to St. Genevieve, in 1879, I saw three very large and very remarkable mounds. Upon one stands a farmhouse apparently above the highest floods. A cattle yard occupies a second in close proximity, while the third is near enough to become a valuable refuge in case of high water. A feeling of awe steals over the mind as one reflects that in early ages this valley and the adjacent hills must have been the homes of these pre-historic tribes or nations, whose records are utterly lost, except such as are imperfectly chronicled by our industrious archaeological friends, whose studies in and around this valley on both sides of the river are among the most instructive in the whole United States. Cahokia, Prairie DuPont, Prairie DuRocher and other historical places are passed in rapid succession; and crossing the Okaw River about three or four miles above the point where the Mississippi River now meets it, we begin to reach the region where we wish to investigate the causes of the destruction of the town of Kaskaskia. At least three sudden changes in the course of the Mississippi River have occurred since the American Bottom tiegan to be the home of the first French settlers. The .first one took place at Cahokia, which town was started on fairly high ground at its present location, about the year 17004, but which was seriously threatened with destruction in the year 1704, at which time the river altered its course over a mile and came near forcing the inhabitants to move; but the fickle stream changed its mind and ever since has behaved itself at that point remarkably well. Fort Chartres5 was constructed in 1753 and was the means of the upbuilding of the village of St. Anne, outside of its walls. It was so seriously threatened in 1772 by the encroachment of the river which ruined its southwest wall that all of its cannon and military stores were removed to Fort Gage. The treacherous river soon retreated to its old bed, but the fort was never reoccupied and the village of St. Anne lived but a short time longer. 'Very few or none of the remarkable archaeological monuments and remains of this valley have been mapped and described by the Illinois Historical Society, -while the Missouri Historical Society has been careful to investigate these matters quite thoroly on the Missouri side of the river, and the same society has also done very important work of this description on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River. The cataloged remains which the society found in the famous Montezuma Mound near the bank of the Illinois River in Pike County, are among the most remarkable in the United States. 4 Dr. J. F. Snyder says in a private letter, "I wish the Illinois State Historical Society would in- stitute a commission to thoroly investigate the dates of the founding of Kaskaskia and Cahokia, and definitely settle the matter, so as to leave no room for further controversy on that point. I have devoted much research to that question and my conclusion is that the definite settlement of Cahokia by Indians and Canadian French was in 1698, and that Kaskaskia's origin was in 1700." 6 It appears the river early began to change its channel towards the fort because we are told by Wallace (Illinois and Lousiana, p. 316) that as early as 1758 the river was but eighty paces away; but the capricious stream afterwards commenced filling its new channel and the fort was occupied until the great overflow of 1772, at which time its cannon, military stores and soldiers were removed to Fort Gage at Kaskaskia, which was not on top of the bluffs opposite, as many have believed, but was at the village of Kaskaskia.Northern Section of the Ross Map, 1765. St. Genevieve is designated by the name Misere.8 The zig-zag course of the lower Mississippi below Cairo and else- where, should have been sufficient warning to the early settlers of Kas- kaskia; and with the well known records of its great floods of 1726, 1785, 1844 and others, we are left to wonder why the towji site was continued at that particular location. Perhaps the fact, that boats of that day could come up to Kaskaskia at any stage of the river, and that river craft could remain in comparative safety there during the icy winter months, may have been what decided the Kaskaskians to remain until the soil of their town site was ready to be dissolved and to leave their streets and alleys where, since, the great catastrophe, they are charted, in the bottom of the Mississippi Kiver. Through the cordial assistance of Judge Walter B> Douglas, of the Missouri Historical Society, I obtained the hearty and enthusiastic cooperation of the officials in charge of the United States Mississippi Eiver Commission at St. Louis, who placed all of the maps and plats of the commission at my service. These were examined and inspected as far back as the year previous to 1881, when the union of the two rivers took place. • Under the advice and assistance of these officials in the office of the commission, I decided to have two new plats constructed from their official documents; the first of which exhibits the river's condition in 1880, while the second shows the later channel as it existed in 1913. It appeared best to connect as far as possible, without too much labor, the territory on both sides of the Mississippi between the present town of St. Genevieve and the old mouth of the Kaskaskia near Chester. The line of bluffs on each side of the American,Bottom is thus plainly indi- cated. Places on the Missouri side are also marked, adding greatly to the value of these maps. The true latitude and longitude of the area included is given and the maps are constructed with geographical accuracy; and at the same time they furnish us with very much historical information, and they are most admirably executed. The area, formerly known as the Kaskaskia Conpnons, and Kas- kaskia Island, a very large and immensely fertile district, is to be largely embraced within a. large drainage and levee district, and within a few years will become one of the most desirable6 agricultural regions in th£ west. The contrast between the past history of this region and its prob- able future, history will be almost as striking as the difference between our early Indian corn patches and our most highly improved agricultural districts. The 1913 map will give a tolerably correct idea of this future 6 At the time of our society's annual meeting in May, 1914, a paper was read, erroneously entitled on the program, "Old and New Kaskaskia". This paper was written by Harry W. Roberts of Chester, a member of the Illinois State Historical Society, and the correct title of the same is "The Commons of Kaskaskia". Mr. Roberts has long been engaged in the business of abstracter of land titles in Randolph County, and his experience with the ancient records and exceptionally complicated descriptions of the old French claims and surveys in this, the earliest settled region of Illinois, enables him to furnish the society with accurate information concerning this subject. He has made a thoro and exhaustive investigation of these lands for the Kaskaskia Island Drainage and Levee District, now being inaugurated, which qualifies him to speak with authority. This district will contain over 11,000 acres, and is being organized under the provisions of an Act of the Legislature passed in 1909. Mr. Roberts has had a care- ful re-survey made by the County Surveyor of Randolph County of what remains of the original town site of Old Kaskaskia, and an accurate plat will be drawn covering the results of this survey for the use of the society. This plat will include the entire site within the boundaries as determined by the United States Government surveyors about 1812, and will be based on the County Surveyor's plat made in 1873, showing all lots, blocks and streets and historic localities, and the present course of the Mississippi River thru the corporation. The remnant of old Kaskaskia is also marked on our newly published plat of the river in 1913. Unfortunately the pressure of other duties has prevented Mr. Roberts from com- pleting his monograph relating to the Kaskaskia Commons and therefore this important paper must be deferred for the society's next volume of its transactions.iiflilililiiil Kaskaskia, in 1S93. Later Floods have greatly changed the Island.10 project7, that is, by remembering that the new drainage and levee district- is between the "old channel" and the present Mississippi Eiver. The plats exhibited here show that the old town of St. Genevieve, Missouri, which was settled as early as 17358, was first located on the banks of the Mississippi about four miles below the present site of the town at the edge of "Le Grand' Champ," or the Big Field, as it is called by present day Americans. This old French-Spanish town was thus situated on the west bank of the Mississippi, only seven or eight miles in a straight line from Kaskaskia, and during the whole period of the American Revolution it was the Mecca to which a stream of emigration continually flowed from the French villages of the American side. During the high water of 1785, which is said to have been fully equal or superior to the flood of 1844, and according to Kozier's History of the Mississippi Valley, old St. Genevieve was so badly injured that its inhabitants migrated almost in a body to the present beautiful site of the town on high land, and thus avoided a worse fate, which would certainly have occurred at a later date, had they followed the example of the Kaskaskians in remaining on the overflowed lands of the American Bottom. Perhaps the fact that there was no convenient town site on the narrow strip of land on the eastern side of the Kaskaskia under the immediate protection of Fort Kaskaskia, which was built in 1734 on top of Garrison Hill, decided the Kaskaskians to remain at the low lying site which was never a suitable place for a town. The high water of 1844 was eight feet deep at Kaskaskia village, and the water of 1785 is said to have been higher. A highway and two railroads now traverse this narrow strip between the bluffs and the river, .and the two railroad stations there are called Fort Gage, instead of Kaskaskia. In the April number of our Journal for 1913, Dr. J. F. Snyder, one of the most careful and accurate of our Illinois historians, by the most unmistakable authority, tells us that Fort Gage was never located on the east side of the river on the bluff, but that it was always at Kaskaskia, having been constructed at the site of the old Jesuit "stone building, which was with some changes, turned into a fort and called Fort Gage. This location is now identified as having been a part of block 28 of the old town according to our Chester map maker, which map will sometime be published. The cut furnished in the Journal of April, 1913, shows the construction of Fort Gage at Kaskaskia and is published herewith, together with the fine illustration of Fort Kaskaskp on the top of Garrison Hill, opposite Kaskaskia and just above Fort jlage station, both of which were prepared by Dr. J. F. Snyder for our^April Journal of 1911. The naine^bf this station, if not changed, will make it almost impos- sible for ottir society to correct the well established historical error as to the actual location of Fort Gage. It will be necessary to ask the railroad 7 The river plat of 1913 shows the corner of old Kaskaskia, which in October, 1913, had not been destroyed or washed away. There were indications at that time that the fickle stream had stopped its work of destruction, tho even at this very present time the "remnant" may not have remained. If it is still in existence, it forms a starting point for the town of New Kaskaskia, which has been largely organized by the annexation of a long strip of territory reaching from the old town to the new town site, where several blocks and streets have been laid out at a point over one mile distant from the edge of the old town. The new church and schoolhouse and village at that place, New Kaskaskia, are near the point marked on our plat of 1913. . 8 Rozier's History of the Mississippi Valley, pp. 97.-98.11 company, in fact, two railroad companies, to change the name of the station from Fort Gage to Kaskaskia, for the sake of correct history. Rocher, pronounced by brakemen as spelled, was the name first given to Prairie DuRocher by the railroad company, and it required quite an effort from its citizens before the company was willing to give the station its longer historic name. Let us then resolve that the Illinois State Historical Society will request the Iron Mountain & Southern, and the Illinois Southern Railroad to rename Fort Gage and assist us in out effort to thoroly eradicate an important historical error. In the April number of the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Dr. J. F. Snyder, a vigilant and careful student of Illinois History, gives us an indisputable record of the true location of the historic Fort Gage at the town site of old Kaskaskia, and also of the real Fort Kaskaskia, situated, on the bluff opposite the old town. This is accompanied by cuts which plainly show all essential points. These cuts are published herewith, and this paper is illustrated still further by a plan of Fort Kaskaskia on the bluff, prepared from an actual survey made in 1895 by Mr. H. W. Beckwith, the first president of the Illinois Historical Society. The plan of Kaskaskia, to be published with Mr. H. W. Roberts' future paper, will show the location of Fort Gage, on block 28 t)f the old town, and these different cuts and descriptions appear to be needed in order to fully and completely illustrate our points. Altho Mr. Beckwith's illustration of old Fort Kaskaskia calls it Fort Gage, yet in all other instances where he refers to this fort he calls it "the so-called Fort Gage." I have not learned when the Mississippi began to make its move from the Missouri shore at St. Genevieve towards its final connection with the Kaskaskia above the ill-fated town. In 1863, when I embarked at St. Genevieve on the Steamer Illinois, with a portion of the army of southeast Missouri, bound for the region about Vicksburg, there was a good steamboat landing/at St. Genevieve. In December, 1867, I was detained several days on a steamer a mile or two below St. Gene- vieve. The river channel had then moved away from the town and the boat was-about to be frozen into the ice for the winter, being grounded in the shoaling water. In December, 1879, I drove from Prairie Du Rocher to Kaskaskia, and when near the old Governor Bond stone mansion, a short distance above Kaskaskia, I was astonished to learn that but for the efforts which had just been made by the Mississippi River Commission, the Mississippi would probably have broken thru into the Okaw River at the time of the last high water, and as it was then within half a mile of the smaller stream, it might perhaps force a passage at the next overflow. From that time to the present I have been exceedingly interested in everything relating to that remarkable freak of nature, which occurred on April 18,1881.9 During the winter of 1880 and 1881, there was an unusually heavy fall of snow in northern Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Railroad 9 Some have wondered why the change which took place in 1881 had not been duplicated at some previous high water many years ago. No one can give reasons for all of the vagaries of the Mississippi, put it must be remembered that the main channel of the river ran much nearer, to the .Missouri shore at St. Genevieve previous to February, 1881, and that this channel had then moved over nearer to the Illinois shore. It can be easily understood that had the channel remained where it was formerly, the ice flood of 1881 might have moved away peacefully; and the high water of that year might have taken the course of previous floods, and have followed the old bed around St. Mary's, and left the Okaw to follow its original course.12 travel in these states was very generally interrupted. The ice was also remarkably heavy in the Mississippi River from St. Louis to Cairo. The river commission had been attempting for several years to control the river in the interest of navigation, up to the fall of 1880, and with great difficulty and heavy cost had held the river channel from connect- ing with the Okaw by the construction of protection piers and other obstructions. But the remarkably heavy ice of the following winter, 1880 and 1881, caused the river current to penetrate behind the engi- neer's protections, and the government officer's report, an extract from which follows, graphically describes what happened. Capt. 0. H. Ernst, of the United States Engineering Corps, in his report to his superior, Brigadier General H. S. Wright, written June 30, 1881, says: "During the severe winter which followed these operations, ice formed in the river, varying from one to two feet in thickness. On the tenth of February, 1881, the river rose eight feet in St. Louis, the most extraordinary rise in a single day on record. The enormous forces developed by this rise were disastrous to the work. Great fields of heavy ice thrown against the outer portions of the hurdledike promptly de- stroyed that portion. The ice soon gorged in the channel south of St. Genevieve Island about four miles above Kaskaskia Bend, forcing a large body of water down the north chute. This chute was rapidly enlarged and the dike attacked in the rear. The ice gorging between the chute and the northern Illinois shore, a deep channel was cut through the foot of the dike between the latter and St. Genevieve Island. The water rapidly arose above the dike, and the latter, what is left of it, has been submerged ever since. It is probably almost wholly, if not wholly destroyed. The direct protection suffered severely also, standing as it does really at right angles to the direction by which the stream approaches from above, it was exposed to such assaults as immense fields of ice two feet thick could cause, moving with a velocity of seven or eight miles an hour. A field of this character striking the shore seemed checked for a moment, but it was presently observed to be moving slowly up the bank, carrying a slice of the bank protection with it. Many layers were piled up over each other on top of the bank thirty feet above low water. In this manner a part of the . bank which was above the water surface was stripped of its protection. As this enabled the river to cut in behind the mattress at the foot of the slope, it is probable that most of this work is destroyed. The prolonged high water of this spring has rendered it impracticable to ascertain with accuracy what the con- dition of it is. After the ice had done its work of destruction the river rose steadily with but few and slight oscillations until the latter part of April it rose above the banks and there was a flood, the overflow concen- trating in a slight depression in the strip of land which separated the Kaskaskia River from the Mississippi, forming a stream which poured into the former river with a fall of about six feet. The overfall soon cut a deep hole in the soft alluvial soil which constitutes the river bed, and then began the process of cutting back towards the Mississippi, with which a junction was soon formed. This cut was opposite the lower end of the work, upon which further damage was inflicted.OLD STE. GENEVIEVE big •STE. GE! f "* ' H / ST. MARYs\| MISSISSIPPI RASKASRIA RIVERS APRIL 18 1881 Mississippi and Kaskaskia Rivers, April 18, 1SS1UBRAR* «-L"Fort Gag*e in Kaskaskia. Fortified Jesuit College.14 A deep excavation approaching the revetment from the rear totally destroyed it thruout the width of the cut. The cut is now about 500 feet wide and 30 feet deep, when the Mississippi River is at a 22-foot stage. There has been no enlargement as yet of the Kaskaskia River below the cut*" The report10 goes on'to show that great damage is threatened and that to turn the mighty river back from, its new course will be a tremen- dous undertaking. It says further that the river must be straightened, or it might force a passage at the next overflow. While this great torrent was pouring through the bed of the Kas- kaskia, it must be remembered that this narrow stream could not at once carry off the flood flowing down the valley at this high stage of water, and that the greater width and depth of the old channel was taking care of much the larger share of the onrushing. flood. All the widening and deepening of the new channel must take place on the side' next to Kas- kaskia ; because at the foot of the high bluff on the other side was a solid stratum of hard rock.11 Exactly what happened during a few of the next severe overflows, was that all of the widening and deepening took place on the Kaskaskia side of the river, until nearly every vestige of the alluvial site of the ill-fated. and historic town has dissolved and melted away and gone towards the Gulf of Mexico. X consider myself remarkably fortunate in having been able to locate several living reliable witnesses of the wonderful freak of nature which took place on the 18th to the 23d of April, 1881-; and part of this good fortune has been owing to having had my mind turned repeat- edly to this remarkable occurrence during the past thirty-three years. These eyewitnesses' accounts are published in full in our Trans- actions. The following are extracts from the carefully prepared state- ment by Mr. Gustave Pape, of Chester, who was for many , years a merchant of Kaskaskia and who was an eyewitness to the overflow. MR. PAPERS STATEMENT. "Chester, III., September 27, 1913. I came from Germany to Kaskaskia Landing, Illinois, with my parents vin 1834, having been then eight years old. I lived on a farm nine miles northwest of Kaskaskia on Hill Land, until about 1848, and in 1850 went to clerk for a man in a general store in Kaskaskia, George W. Staley by name. In 1861 I went, into partnership with Mr. Staley from 1861 to 1865. In the fall of 1866 I went into business for myself, having bought the brick building in which the old Territorial Legislature used to meet, and where the first State Constitutional Convention met <10 The engineer's report is too lenghty for publication here, but it goes on to estimate that the rivdr, if not controlled immediately, would probably destroy. 2,000 acres of fine farm land, then worth at least fifty dollars r>er acre, or one hundred thousand dollars, and that probably at least this sum would be needed to control the river channels and that it would even then be a difficult engineering job. Judg- ing by the cost of controlling the Colorado River in 1906, alluded to on a previous page, it is likely the expense of turning the new fehannel of the Mississippi River would have run into the millions. As the-real work of the Mississippi River Commission is to care for the interests of navigation, we are left to conclude that the reason why Congress did not undertake the control of the mighty river was because it could not be satisfied that it was the duty of the United States Government to protect the dying old town of Kaskaskia and two thousand acres of land owned by private individuals. ; 11- The Mississippi flows all of the way from Alton to a short distance above old Kaskaskia without toubhing anywhere on the Illinois shore the rock bottom of its great valley. In many places^on the Missouri side the rock actually comes-to the surface, and is washed and worn by the river. Just below the point where it broke thru into the Okaw the current strikes rock at the foot of the great rock bluff, and of course the channel must widen itself entirely on the Kaskaskia side where the rock was very jar beneath the bed of the river.15 in 1818. The brick of this building were brought from Pittsburg in 1803. I understand there is a picture of this building in the rooms of the Illinois State Historical Society in Springfield," Illinois. When the Mississippi River had changed its course below St. Gene- vieve, and had come within a short distance of the Okaw (Kaskaskia) River, at a point from one and one-half to two miles above Kaskaskia, about the fall of 1879, we all believed there would be danger at the next high' water of the Mississippi breaking through into the Okaw, and 'thugs damaging* the town. It was at this time within half a mile of the Okaw, and when the high water came, in April, 1881, we were exceedingly anxious as to what might happen. The distance across from river to river was barely 400 feet in April, 1881. The Missis- sippi River began to run across this narrow neck of land about April 21, 1881. " ' . At first the water ran over the surface, which was loose soil.and sand, and which soon began to cut away and form a channel, especially at the lower edge, which was the west bank of the Okaw River. The fall was rather steep, and the land soon began to crumble and go away, making at first not a very wide or deep channel or passageway. Had the Mississippi soon stopped rising, there might not have been a very big channel until another high water would come, because the great current of the Mississippi River was still going around in its old chan- nel, which was wide enough and deep enough to carry the whole riverr It was several days before the cut was very deep, but before long the passage became deeper and wider, and then the force of the Missis- sippi was terrific. I was there part of the time, when the people were coming from all directions to see the action of the flood. I believe I was there just before the current was deep enough for a steamboat to go through. I wish some one had been there to take a picture of the scene at the time of the greatest effect of. the flood. It is my impression that the first steamboat went through in about a week after the stream first began to go over the surface, and it is to be hoped some person may be able to give the exact date when the two rivers became united into one as the result of the high water of 1881. The new channel was not wide-enough or deep enough at first to carry the whole current of both rivers, and it took several high waters to wear away enough of the bottom and sides of the great channel to carry away the whole of the town site of Kaskaskia; but in the course of a number of years, nearly every acre of the old town was carried off. During these, years the old channel of the river carried the most of the Mississippi, but finally the whole current could go through and the old channel began to fill up. I am told that at. the present time, the Missis- sippi River being low, it is possible to cross it on a sand-bar and drive a team across from Missouri to Kaskaskia Commons, or rather to that portion of the Commons now left. The east bank of the^present main river is, of course, what was once the east bank of the Okaw River; and as this is a bluff resting on a solid rock bottom, it is but little worn away; and the whole wasting or wearing away has taken place along the west shore. Therefore • our dear old town of Kaskaskia has had to vanish, leaving only its memory and important history to console the many friends of old Kaskaskia. mamimmmmmmmm **18811 ■■■■■■HI wmmmmm II Hill njiip Fort Kaskaskia, 1736-1759. As seen from West Bank of Kaskaskia River.1? I moved from Kaskaskia to Chester in 1898,.at which time most of the town had disappeared, and here I expect to reside for the rest of my life. Gustavas Pape." This remarkable action of the Mississippi River, carrying off only as much water as the narrow bed of the Kaskaskia could accommodate, a bed from 350 to 500 feet in width, perhaps for a year or two, merely threatened the ruin of Kaskaskia, and its total destruction was delayed for, several years. A careful search of the newspaper files of the time convinces one that it was the general belief of the public that the Mississippi might yet conclude to go around the old bend in all stages of water, and that the great losses might be delayed. The St. Louis papers of the months of April and May, 1881, give feeble hints of the disaster at Kaskaskia Bend. The. Globe-Democrat of April 28, 1881, has only this meager sketch, while column after column is given to the overflow at East St. Louis and other nearby localities, where tremendous losses were daily occurring: THE FLOOD AT KASKASKIA. "At the ancient city of Kaskaskia the Mississippi has opened an outlet into the Kaw, the tongue of land between the two streams having been growing narrower for many years by the encroachments of the larger stream, until the space between them was only 300 to 400 feet. The present rise in the Mississippi has broken across this narrow penin- sula, and a strong current is flowing from the Father of Waters into the Okaw, on the west bank of which stands the old town of Kaskaskia, once the capital of Illinois and the metropolis of the Northwest Terri- tory. Kaskaskia was a populous town long, before Laclede landed at St. Louis. It was captured from the British during the Revolution by George Rogers Clark, and was subsequently the home of many distin- guished men. Col. Don Morrison is a Kaskaskian by birth, and once owned a great deal of the land there that has gone into the river. The flood of 1844 drove many of the inhabitants from the town, which had suffered from a similar disaster sixty years previously. The present freshet threatens to make a finish of-the ancient village, and its site will soon be the swimming-school of the catfish and the kindergarten of the bullfrog." The Chester papers have preserved no files and the St. Genevieve Fair Play furnishes, on the date of April 30, 1881, this brief announce- ment : "The cut at Kaskaskia point has now reached the width of 500 feet with more water coming down. Parties from St. Marys who have visited the cut, report,, however, that the suction of water is not near as great at present as when it first broke through. We hear that the Kaskaskians are becoming alarmed and are deserting their ancient village." •The Fair Play of same date quotes as follows from the St. Louis Dispatch of a previous date: "The pilots, of the E'd Richardson, Messrs. Fulkerson and Reed, report that the long expected cutoff at the Okaw River from Kaskaskia Bend, has taken place and a stream 200 yards wide is pouring rapidly -2K18 through the Okaw River and into the Mississippi River, and the distance above Chester will be fully six miles. It leaves the little town of Kas- kaskia on an island which is being cut away very fast and will soon be a. thing of the past." If we bear in mind that, notwithstanding the great river had broken into the narrow Okaw, the greater portion of the bottom land above and belbw Kaskaskia was not by this overflow flooded to the highest water marks in history, it will be seen that even a width of 500 feet could not contain enough water to carry away the town until the Mississippi River had time to scour the bed of the Kaskaskia to the same depth as the old bed around the old channel and until the narrow Okaw had been widened enough to carry the whole of the mighty Mississippi. Therefore, as a matter of course, it must have taken considerable time to deepen and widen this, new channel. Nearly twenty years ago I became acquainted with Mr. J. T. Doug- las, of Sparta, County Surveyor of Randolph County, who told me that just at the time of the high water in the month of April, 1881, he accu- rately measured the difference of levels in. the water in the Mississippi and in the Okaw at the point of the overflow and found it was about eight feet, which is nearly two feet greater than the difference estimated by the government engineer in the report12 quoted, and which did in fact vary from day to day in times of high water. The irresistible force of a fall of water of the Mississippi at flood stage from a height of eight feet, or even six feet, is such a remarkable operation of nature, that a full account of the wonderful event deserves a place in our society's archives. How many mountain waterfalls, how many brooks, and rivulets, unite to form all of the branches of our mighty rivers? How many creeks and other streams gather themselves to create the great Missouri, and how did the Mississippi furnish a similar quota to form that enor- mous body which was to fall over such a barrier and plow its way through the strip of solid ground which then lay between the two rush- ing streams, and which in that fateful month of April became wedded into a mightier stream to flow forever to the Gulf of Mexico? The question is well worthy of our thoughtful meditation. Mr. John H. Burch, of St. Genevieve, Missouri, eyewitness of the famous overflow, furnished me a carefully prepared description which is fortified by reference to his diary. STATEMENT OF MR. JOHN H. BURCH. "St. Genevieve,, Mo., October 26, 1913. "I' distinctly remember some of the circumstances of the way the Mississippi River broke through into the Kaskaskia River in 1881. I kept a diary of such events as most impressed me; and I find by refer- ence to this diary, which I have here at hand, that on the 18th and 19th of April, 1881, the Mississippi, by constant encroachment at times of 12 The engineer's report previously quoted, estimated that the Mississippi had a-fall of about six feet at the point of overflow, and does not necessarily conflict with the measurement given by Mr* Douglas, because the stage of water in the Okaw might easily have been lower in April than in February, or the stage of the Mississippi might have been higher in April than in February. The fall of the mighty Mississippi from a height of either eight or six feet would readily furnish all of the phenomena described by our eyewitnesses.19 high water, had shifted its course from the Missouri shore at St. Gene- vieve, Missouri, to a point on the Illinois shore, very near the bank of the Kaskaskia River. I was there on the 18th and 19th of April, 1881. The water was passing over the narrow strip of land, perhaps from 400 to 500 feet in width, which separated the two rivers. On the night of the 18th the water broke .thru, and I was there the next morning in company with many other persons. The surface of the ground was mostly black soil 'about two feet in depth, which was more packed and solid than the surface lower down at the edge .of the Kaskaskia River. As the water ran over the surface, before the river broke entirely thru, it first carried away the sand which was at the edge of the Kaskaskia, and then rapidly cut back underneath the black soil which rapidly crumbled away. I remember that as the flood of water came over the surface it looked like water falling over a mill dam, and the height of the fall appeared to be fully from six to eight feet in height. The opening on the morning of the 19th was quite large, and the scene was a most remarkable one, and not likely to be forgotten. People would stand as near as they dared to the rushing stream. Pretty soon some one would notice the ground was cracking and opening behind the spectators, and then there would be a rush back to ground that appeared to be safe, which sooner or later would also crumble and drop into the fast widen- ing channel. The Kaskaskia River was perhaps 600 feet wide at this point and could not at once take care of this great flood, and the water spread itself over the land on the further side from the Mississippi, striking the bank with such force that it uprooted large trees on the shore, and along in what was then called the "Reiley's Bottom." Such pecan and other large trees as were on the west bank were torn up by the roots. Some sank out of sight at once and others moved off with the flood, their tops uppermost, while the weight of dirt in their roots partly held them down. There was a great rush and roar of waters, and masses of foam and froth drifted off with the boiling, rushing and eddying waters, and the force of the current was terrific. The Mississippi spread itself out both up and down the narrower river into which it was pouring, and, of course, forced the Kaskaskia up stream. I remember that large masses of dirt piled themselves up stream to the apparent height, in a few instances of 15 feet, which later .dissolved, but which actually largely impeded the downflow of the Kaskaskia. i A new highway bridge was being built at Evansville, several miles higher up the stream, and the county was compelled to construct a draw, or swing, in this bridge, to enable steamboats to go up the river. New Athens in St. Clair County was legally the head of navigation; and there being a swing or drawbridge in the railroad bridge above Evans- ville, the river became, in fact as well as in law, navigable to. New Athens. Sand and dirt were deposited in the woods near the new channel to. such an extent that many acres of trees died and stood there dead for several years. I owned considerable of this land and much of it was actually improved, being raised by this deposit. The rush of water con-20 L' Establishment dee Ca.sK2v.Kia. Lo&ement des Officiers Plan du Fort Proiete' a FXi re vis a vis L' Establisement des caskakia ^ la Nouvelle Orleans,-1734- Fort de Kaskakias, 1734. (Archives du Ministere des Colonies.)21 tinned for several months, but when the Mississippi was low again, the current had cut a new channel in the Kaskaskia River and about mid- summer the boats commenced to use it as a permanent channel, the first boat to go through being the Emma C. Elliott. The destruction of old Kaskaskia did not occur for several years after the rivers came together. At the time this happened, I was living on my farm near Kaskaskia. Dr. E. L. Brown, of Bloomington, Illinois, who as a young man lived at Reiley's Mill, a little over a mile from the new chute, has also very kindly given us a statement of what he witnessed at the time of the overflow. He was then a young man living in Randolph County, and has a distinct recollection of the event. DR. BROWN'S STATEMENT. "BLOOMmGTON, III., February 20, 1914. In the years of 1880 and 1881, under the name of H. B. Brown & Son, my father and I were running the old Reiley Mill near Kaskaskia. This was thfe oldest mill in Illinois. It was about a mile and a half north of the town and across the Okaw River, and about one mile from the point where the Mississippi River cut thru into the Okaw. Previous to the year 1881 the Okaw River emptied into the Missis- sippi River near Chester, some seven miles south of Kaskaskia. About one and one-half miles north of the town the Okaw bends somewhat to the west. Just opposite to this bend the Mississippi had a big bend to the eastward. For several years the big river had been undermining and carrying away many acres of rich farming lands, and, among other farms, that on which stood the Bond Mansion, the house of the first governor of Illinois. "The Narrows," as this shrinking strip of land between the rivers was called, was only a few hundred feet wide in April, 1881. At the time of high water in the Mississippi the back water in the Okaw was some seven or eight feet lower than the headwater in the big river just across the narrows. There had been a large grove of pecan trees between the rivers, but only a small part of it remained. Through this grove there ran a small ravine into the Okaw. When the flood of 1881 was at its crest, and aided by high north- west winds which rolled up immense waves, the water began to run across to the Okaw. Soon the rivulet became a swift stream, which cut out the sandy subsoil, and soon became a swirling, seething, foaming torrent; It began to dash over on April 18, was a rushing mill race on the 19th, and on the 20th it was a boiling, resistless river. The current was so swift and terrible that it was several days before it was safe for a boat of any kind to pass through the cut. I remember seeing large pecan trees on the banks of the cut, as it was widening, bend out and over the water as a half acre strip of land caved in, and go down with a splash and a boom—the foam and spray flying high; and we never saw a leaf show above the surface for a half mile down stream. On the east bank of the Okaw at this point lie the Reiley bottoms, consisting of several hundred acres of low timberland. As the rushing waters of the big river crossed the little river, the full force of them struck this timber. Trees were uprooted and carried away in great22 numbers. Months later I saw many trees four to- six inches thru, many yards back from the bank of the river that were broken off ten or tw'elve feet from the ground. There was a large crowd of people there for days before 'the break,' and also for several days afterward. I recall seeing a rescue boat with four oarsmen go up to rescue two men from a tree. They had tried to go up near to the cut from down stream, but the current had been too swift and overturned their boat against a tree. A few days later, when the force of the current had abated some- what, some men drifted thru the cut and took soundings. They re- ported it as sixty-six feet deep. As the strips of land a half acre or more in area and perhaps fifty or more yards in length caved off into the water, the sound was like distant thunder or the booming of cannon. Because this cut shortened the Mississippi more than ten miles, and so made a very fierce current, and also raised the water at Kaskaskia eight feet, it was necessary for many people living in the lowest part of the town to move out at once. We boys thought it fun to help the moving with our boats. The entire town was not flooded that year. But the swift cutting current showed that the town was doomed, and now the Father of Waters has swallowed up the site of the old town, the town Col. Clark captured from the British in 1778. Today the site of old Fort Kaskaskia looks down on a muddy, boiling river where once the Kaskaskia Indians built their chief town." Mr. Gustave Papers touching lamentation concerning the memory and history of old Kaskaskia, which is all that is now left to console its many friends, in America, in Canada, in France, and the entire world, finds reverberations in the hearts of many now living, and these will not disappear in ages to come. Our hearty sympathy has always.gone out in behalf of the pioneers of the old French regime. We seem to see them living in peaceful harmony with the converted Illinois Indians, who flocked to the old mission to see and hear the simple-minded Christian fathers. We almost imagine we can witness the tearful departure of the hearty hunters, voyagers, and soldiers who left home and kindred for their long and dangerous trading and hunting expeditions. We think of the joyous and noisy welcomes given to the survivors on their return, and can almost hear the lamentations of the widows and orphans of those whose unannounced deaths many months previous had now for the first time reached the ears of the desolate dear ones at home. We -consider the hearty and cheerful loyalty'of the entire settlement as the joyful news of the French alliance was proclaimed in 1778 by George Rogers Clark and his brave Virginians, and their ready accept- ance of the new freedom gained by the young American nation. We then see how the high hopes of this simple , and trusting population were a few years later poisoned by destitution and woe, thru the neglect and poverty of the boasted American Empire, which by forcing a harsh and bitter-military occupation upon these simple-minded patriots com- pelled them to bear vastly more than their share of the trials and suffer- ings caused by the American Revolution. We have united in heartfelt sympathy for the ancient pioneers and their revolutionary successors; and the people of the whole northwest ^/|lllll||ln"'\lH)li'/\ij|(l''1' Lt.1 M ^•OLD MISSISSIPPI Town RIVER P VSOh f^\ fI / ST. MARYS U X 01 MISSISSIPPI AND KASKASKIA EIVEHS FROM SURVEYS MADE IN SEPTEMBER 1913 SCALE OF FEET and Kaskaskia Rivers from Survey made in September, 1913.23 % now join in never ending regret for the disastrous catastrophe which has unfortunately annihilated the hearthstones of ancient Kaskaskia. The cutting away of the town site of Kaskaskia has been proceeding through a series of years, some of them not long after 1881, but mostly between 1886 and 1909. The Government lights were removed in 18j9813 from the old river. Slice after slice of its soil, buildings and improve- ments have fallen into the ever widening channel of the river, until now only a small corner of the old village is left, as can readily be seen by the plat which was accurately surveyed within the last few months. This plat when published will be a remarkable addition to the history of Kaskaskia. The streets and alleys will lie exactly in the bottom of the present river. The beds, of the two rivers side by side, form the present Mississippi. As the town fronted on the Kaskaskia Eiver which was several hundred feet only in width, the greater part of the old. streets will be shown in the western part of the present stream, while the smallest portion of the great river bed will lie in the old bed of the original river, and the dotted lines will show the original boundaries of the old town. The society will place a granite marker on remnant of the town site which is still left, and on the marker will be indicated the distance and directions from it to the old church or cemetery, old Fort Gage, or per- haps a few other historical locations. The Mississippi is reported to have lately commenced filling its bed in front of the town site and it is quite possible that, as in the case of Port Chartres, there may be no further disturbance for centuries. On October 26, 1913, I drove from St. Genevieve to old Kas- kaskia, passing over the site of the old St. Genevieve,14 where nothing but a few pieces of broken crockery can now be found. It was almost impossible to believe that on this lonesome spot was the earliest settle- ment of Missouri (in 1735) ; and one could but return thanks to its enterprising residents who in the year of the high water,15 1785, decided to remove, their homes and all of the belongings to the charming site of the thrifty and tasteful little'historic city of St. Genevieve. I passed thru the famous Big Field, still without fences except at the bliiffs; and it is my impression that this field of 2,000 acres is the richest and most productive field of its size anywhere in America. Following along in the direction of Kaskaskia thru many hundred acres of the former river now grown up with willows and cottonwoods, marked "The Cottonwoods" on the plat, I passed over the old bed of the Mississippi where for ages this magnificent river poured its mighty floods, whose surface was some- times twenty-five feet higher than the highway, which is no highway, but a mere temporary passageway to the town site. Climbing the steep bank, a short drive brought me to what is left of old Kaskaskia, where 13 United States Mississippi River Commissioners' Reports. 14 It will be noted that on the plat shown on page 5, the word "portage"is marked opposite the site of old St. Genevieve, called on the plat "Misere". It will be seen that the distance between the rivers at that point is but five or six miles; and we can readily imagine the people descending the Mississippi would prefer when possible, to make the portage across from that river to the town of Kaskaskia, rather than to proceed down the main river to the mouth of the Okaw and then work six miles against the cur- rent of this river up to the site of Kaskaskia. 15 "It is a remarkable fact that the first four permanent settlements in the great west, on the banks of the 'Father of Waters', have been completely destroy ed and washed away by the floods of this mon- arch of rivers; and strange it is to say that of Fort Chartres, Kaskaskia, 'LeVieux village de St. Gene- vieve', and new Madrid, nothing is left. Their old landmarks and monuments, even many of the tombs and graves of the pioneers, have been carried away by floods". Rozier's History of the Mississippi Valley, p. 134.24 Gateway 1$3 Sc