The history of Peoria, Illinois

Preface

Every one admits the "benefit of history. But of what advantage is history without truth ; and yet how common is the expression that the time has not come for writing the history of such a one, or of such a Avar; implying that during the life of persons implicated in a wrong it will not do to detail that wrong. Then when will it do? If those who live at the time of a transaction dare not write a history of it, how will those who live afterward know of it ? How can a man write a histoiy of that which took place before he was born, if no account of it has been handed down to his time.

The practice now is, and public opinion seems to sustain the practice, to send every man who dies directly to the regions of eternal bliss, leaving none but the living as fit subjects of his Satanic Majesty. When a man dies by the halter, he, with a priest at his elbow to keep up his courage and his confidence, rejoices in the certain prospect of going immediately to the arms of Jesus, who stands ready to receive his guilty soul; and every man who dies a natural death, however great a rascal he may have been, is represented as having been a paragon of virtue. All his virtues, if he had any, are paraded in the newspapers, or, if he had none, virtues in abundance are attributed to him ; and all his vices are ignored. And should any man object to this course, he would be told we "should never speak evil of the dead."

Had this been the doctrine of the authors of the Scriptures, we would to this day have remained ignorant of the important fact that Mr. Samson was an old libertine, and that Miss Delilah was any thing but a modest maiden. Nor would we now be aware of the more important fact that the man who, at one time, was 'a man after God's own heart', was at another time peeping into the garden at a beautiful woman, whose raiment, all told, was less than that of the woman Maj. Powell saw on the Colorado, to wit, a string of beads. Nor of the much more important fact that the old rascal had the husband of that woman killed, 'that he might possess the ewe-lamb ' without annoyance. Nor would the still greater fact have come down to this generation that, even in that day, there was one who had dared, with reference to the doer of this great iniquity, to say unto David "Thou art the man."

All history should be true. But little good can be derived from

VIII PREFACE.

that which is not. He who portrays a man's virtues and suppresses his vices is morally guilty of falsehood ; for he who believes the narrative believes that the subject of it was a good man, whereas his vices, if brought to view, would much modify his virtues, or, perhaps, entirely obscure them. Yet something is due to public opinion and a man's comfort. Public opinion would hardly, at this age, bear with a man's telling the whole truth with regard to the actors in earth's busy scenes; and I might essentially impair my comfort, when business brings me in contact with the descendants of our early settlers, should I remember to have said something derogatory of their ancestors.

I, therefore, have taken a medium course; and, while I have been careful to say nothing of any one that is not true, I have refrained from saying many things that were true, lest I might offend the descendants of those persons. It is exceeding difficult to pursue a proper course in this matter ; and I think it likely that my course will be censured, and probably justly censured. If a little censure is all, I will submit to it as patiently as Hume submitted to a world of clamor raised against him for having exposed a few of the villainies of two of the worst potentates that ever ruled on this terrestrial ball — Henry the Eighth, and his daughter Queen Elizabeth.

This little book has been written in the most inclement season of the year, at a time when the state of 1113- health made it hazardous to be much exposed to the weather, and I found but few who seemed inclined to aid me in my statistics; and, although I have taken pains to be correct, I have no doubt many errors may be found in the work. To the candid inquirer after truth I would say, note any errors you meet with, and send me a list, and if another edition be called for, I will cheerfully correct them. If any one shall think I have said any thing untrue about himself or ancestor, and will make it appear, I will correct it in the next edition, or, should there not !>;• another edition, I will correct it in a public newspaper. Bu1 should any one, without resorting to this manly course, abuse me for saying things that are true, I pledge myself to show to the world that the half has not been told. There are some characters referred to in these pages about whom I would have said a good deal more, but for the regard I had for their descendants. C. BALLANCE.

Teoria, February Tin, 1ST0.

HISTORY OF PEORIA.

Chapter I. The Geographical Position Of Peoria

If you wish to see where Peoria is, place yourself in front of any large map of the United States; raise your eyes as far north as Lake Michigan. Near its westerly shore, in the State of Wisconsin, you j>erceive several small streams, which, running a southerly course, unite and form the little river Desplaines. Turn your eyes to the right, and you will see, near the south end of Lake Michigan, in the State of Indiana, many small streams, and a great swamp, which form the Kankakee river. This river, as you perceive, runs into the State of Illinois, and mingles its waters with those of the Desplaines, and from their union to the confluence with the Mississippi river their united waters bear the name of the Illinois. Follow this stream from its head to its mouth, and you see a great many smaller streams which pour their waters into it, so that it becomes a large river.

Now again raise your eyes to the lake, and you will see a canal, extending from Chicago, on Lake Michigan, 1

HISTORY OF PEORIA.

to Lasalle, on the Illinois river. At the latter place a fine basin has been formed for the reception of canal-boats and steamboats. From this basin to St. Louis there are no rocks, nor 'sawyers', nor other impediments to navigation, except in very cold weather from ice, and occasionally in a very dry fall there fails to be water enough. This river and canal give direct communication between St. Louis and Chicago (two of the most flourishing cities in America), and through them with all the world. About half way between these famous cities, you perceive an expansion in the Illinois river, about twenty miles long, called Lake Peoria. At the lower end of this expansion, on the southwest side, you perceive a number of railroads concentrate. At this point drive a stake, and append to it a line a hundred miles long, and strike a circle two hundred miles in diameter, and you will inclose more first-rate arable land, and less land unfit for cultivation, than you would by striking a circle, of the same diameter, any where else on the face of the globe. At this spot, in 40 deg. 40 min. north latitude, and 12 deg. 40 min. west longitude from Washington, stands the beautiful City of Peoria. And here might the poet well exclaim,

"Where Nature's God, in forming earth of naught, Performed the last of all the works he wrought, There stands Peoria, there in beauty shines The fairest town-site on this earth's confines ; Like some great architect, for skill renowned. Whose works of art do eveiy where abound, All which are good, but that performed the last Outvies the rest, and can not be surpassed."

The river is placid and, except during freshets, clear. The whole town-plat is free from inundation. From the river to the bluff (about three-fourths of a mile) the soil is a sandy loam, and consequently generally dry and free from mud. The front of the bluff is mostly composed of pebble, but on and beyond the bluff the soil is rich loam, based on yellow clay. The land rises gradually from the water's edge until it attains an elevation of about seventy feet; but it recedes again considerably before reaching the bluff, so as to make the elevation appear considerably greater than it really is. From the top of this bluff, or rather from the top of a house on it, a scene of exceeding beauty is presented. All the houses in the city, residences, stores, churches, factories, etc., as well as the river and lake and hills beyond, may be seen from one spot.

In Mr. Parkman\s 'Discovery of the Great West ', page 156, in note, he says, in speaking of Utica, "This is the only part of the river-bottom, from this point to the Mississippi, not liable to inundation in the floods." If by 'river-bottoms' he means alluvial lands, this is a great mistake. The town-sites of Hennepin, Henry, Lacon, Chillicothe, Rome, Peoria, Pekin, Havana, Bath, Beardstown and Meredosia are all alluvial lands, and free from inundation.

From the description given of Lake Peoria, its width is generally supposed to be greater than it is. It is generally described as being twenty miles long, and from two to three miles wide. This will do pretty well for a high-water description, but not for a low-water one. In

HISTORY OF PEORIA.

low water, opposite the foot of Main street, it is only about a half-mile and twenty-one rods wide. It becomes a little wider two miles up ; but at about four miles up are the Narrows, a point of land subject, it is true, to inundation, but for the most of the year making of one lake two lakes. Above the Narrows the lake becomes wider, — at some places, perhaps, a mile wide. Opposite Chillicothe there is a long island, immediately above which the river becomes compressed into its usual width. This lake formerly abounded in fish, ducks and geese, beyond any place I ever saw; but the fish have been greatly diminished and the ducks and geese have nearly disappeared. In early times swans, brants and cranes were also tolerably plenty, but now I seldom see one; especially, the beautiful white crane, which makes a handsome pet, I think has entirely disappeared.

The hills in the vicinity contain an inexhaustible supply of coal, and wood for fuel is abundant. Food can be concentrated here in greater quantities, and at lower prices, than at most places : consequently here should be a great manufacturing city. And this should be the granary of all this region. Here should be concentrated, through the winter, all the grain of this immensely fertile region, to be transported in the spring, east, west, north, or south, according to the exigency of trade.

HISTORY OF PEORIA.

Chapter II. Early History Of Peoria

So much, by way of introduction, for the geography of Peoria. Now for its history. And here I find, as Mr. Lincoln said of the rebellion, I have 'a big job on hand': not big because of the difficulty of arranging materials so extensive and voluminous, but big because of the difficulty of composing a readable history out of materials so very scant. Had I 'the organ of marvelousness strongly developed', I might, like the Roman, Chinese and Hindoo historians, grope into the dark ages of antiquity, and gather up the absurd, and often impossible, traditions of the ancestors of our Indians, concerning their Wars and their miracles, and the dealings of the Great Spirit with them ; or gravely quote from the Book of Mormon, concerning the wars and. wanderings of the ten lost tribes ; or I might, in imitation of this fast age, dig into some mound, or stroll into some of the many cellars being dug, in Peoria, and gather up some fragments of human bones, beads — perhaps a copper coin, or some scraps of porcelain, or of a broken whisky-jug, as evidence 'strong as proofs from Holy Writ' that, in untold ages, a highly-civilized people had inhabited this beautiful place. Or I might run mad searching for some Rosetta Stone, that would reveal the wonders of those

HISTORY OF PEORIA.

times. But the trouble about this business is, I have not the organ of marvelousness very well developed. lean not believe without evidence; and should some evidence be produced in favor of a proposition, I would still not believe it, as long as better evidence was at hand to counteract it.

I therefore commence my history of Peoria only about 196 years ago, the date of the arrival of the first white man at this place. But about this we know but little. It is said that Father Marquette, on the 10th of June, 1673, accompanied by a gentleman from Canada by the name of Joliet, five Frenchmen, and two Algonquin Indians, as guides, passed from Green Bay across to the Mississippi river, by the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, ami, after having descended the Mississippi as far down as the mouth of the Arkansas, ascended by way of the Illinois to Lake Michigan, and part of them to Canada; but the object of Joliet being merely to ascertain whether the Mississippi entered into the Pacific Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico, he returned as soon as he ascertained that fact, by the easiest route ; and it being the sole object of Marquette to preach to the Indians, and neither of them desiring to plant a colony, they probably kept a very meagre journal respecting this country, and what they did keep was lost, so that the world was but little benefited by their discoveries.

Marquette was a religious enthusiast, a devotee, perhaps I might say a misanthrope. lie would not go home, but preached to the Indians about the head of Lake Michigan, for two years. For some reason, after he had

HISTORY OF PEORIA.

preached in that region for about that time, he went about three hundred miles north, and entered a little river, in the now State of Michigan, not far from Mackinaw, which river has since been called by his name. On its bank he erected a rude altar, and, prevailing on the canoe-men who accompanied him to leave him alone, he said mass according to the rites of the Catholic church, of which he was a priest, and prayed and died. After his fellow travelers had given him sufficient time for his devotions, as they supposed, they returned and found him dead, and buried him in the sand, where he had died. The cause of his death is not known. He had probably lived as long as life was desirable.

Either of those men might have been of great service to the world, by carefully describing this country and its inhabitants, and then preserving their journal; but we have nothing from them but the great truth that the Mississippi does not run into the Pacific Ocean ! and that Illinois is a rich country.

Chapter III

THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. LASALLE, HENNEPIN, AND TONTI.

The next visit made to Peoria by civilized men was seven years after Marquette and Joliet had passed, when Mr. La Salle, accompanied by Hennepin, a Franciscan monk, and Tonti, an Italian military character, visited the place. Upon the veracity of Hennepin alone we rely for an account of that hazardous adventure, for I know of no account of that voyage but that kept by Hennepin. He says: "This day [Jan. 1, 1680] we went through a lake, formed by the river, about seven leagues long and one broad. The savages call that place Pimiteoui; that is, in their language, a place where there is abundance of fat beasts. When the river of the Illinois freezes, which is but seldom, it freezes only to this lake, and never from thence to the Meschasipi, into which this river falls. We found ourselves, on a sudden, in their camp, which took uj3 the two sides of the river. M. de La Salle ordered his men immediately to make their arms ready, and brought his canoes on a line, placing himself to the right, and M. Tonti to the left; so that we took almost the whole breadth of the river. The Illinois, who had not discovered our fleet [of eight canoes] were very much surprised to see us coming so swiftly upon them ; for the stream is very rapid at that place. Some ran for their arms, but the most of them took to flight, with horrid cries and howlino;s.

"The current brought us, in the mean time, to their camp, and M. La Salle went the very first ashore, followed by his men, which increased the consternation of the savages, whom we might have easily defeated; but, as it was not our design, we made a halt to give them time to recover themselves, and see that we were no enemies. M. La Salle might have prevented their confusion by showing his calumet, or pipe of peace; but he was afraid the savages would inpute it to our weakness."

La Salle had much trouble, while at this place, both with the savages and with his men. Both seem to have been treacherous ; and, to cap the climax of his woes, he ascertained that a vessel called the Griffin, freighted with furs, in which he had invested nearly every thing he was worth and perhaps more, had been lost on its way down the lakes to Montreal. Under these circumstances, he built a fort to protect what he had with him, while he would return to Canada for more men and supplies. As a memento of his trouble, he called the fort Creve- Coeu?', which in French means broken heart.

La Salle went back to Canada for men and supplies to carry out his enterprises. But, the Indians becoming hostile, Tonti left that part of the country, and fled to Green Bay, and took shelter under the Indians in that region; so that when La Salle returned, in the next spring, he found Fort Creve-Cceur entirely abandoned. Nor do I find that it was ever after occupied; and Charlevoix, who traveled through the country about forty years afterward, says it was then entirely abandoned. It is true that when La Salle found that Tonti had abandoned that part of the country he went to Green Bay, and brought him back to the Illinois, where he assisted to build a vessel, in which they sailed down the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. He seems to have done much hard service for La Salle in his lifetime, and to have risked much to recover his remains after his death. He also seems to have held possession of the country for France for several years after La Salle's death; but I no where find evidence that he occupied Creve-Coeur or Peoria. 2

The histories some times speak of his occupying Rock Fort, and some times Fort St. Louis. In his recital to the French crown of his arduous services, he makes no mention of either but of Fort St. Louis. He says : " These discoveries being finished, he remained in 1683 commandant of Fort St. Louis, of the Illinois, and in 1684 he was there attacked by 200 Iroquois, whom he repulsed with great loss on their side." — Browns History of Illinois, page 128.

Where Rock Fort or Fort St. Louis was situated will, I presume, be for ever unknown. Some have located it on the Starved Rock, and some on the Buffalo Rock. As long ago as May, 1833, I was on the Starved Rock, and examined it with some care, but saw no evidence of any fortification ever having been there. And so effectually was every thing done by that set of Frenchmen obliterated, before the country fell into the hands of the Americans, that not a vestige could be found : nothing to show they had ever been at that place.

Since the above was written, I have perused Mr. Parkman's new work, The Discovery of the Great West, and I think he has pretty well established the fact that Rock Fort and Fort St. Louis were one and the same, and that the locality was on what is now known as the Starved Rock. See his book, pages 156, 177, 205, 287, 288, 221, 289, and 290. It is true, however, that thirty-six years ago I saw no vestige of any buildings or fortifications at that place. All had gone to decay, and trees had grown over the site.

But where Mr. Parkman gets his description of Fort

Creve-Cceur I can not imagine. (See page 167.) His description is not justified by any thing Hennepin says .about it, nor is there any ground at that place that fits his description. There is no hill or knoll there, but the land is all under water occasionally, for more than a mile back from the river. Where does he get the authority for saying this fort was defended by chevaux-de-frise and palisades twenty-five feet high ?

Chapter IV. The Subject Continued — Particularly With Regard To The Aborigines

There were then only wandering savages in these parts, whose business was to catch fish and hunt deer enough to support life, while they, as a matter of much more importance, spent much of their time m hunting one another, and they killed, or were killed, as courage, skill or luck would have it; and hence the garden-spot of the earth, the country between the Alleghanies on the east and the Rocky Mountains on the west, and the great Lakes on the north and the Gulf of Mexico on the south, capable of containing 100,000,000 of human beings, possessed only a few despicable savages, who sought every opportunity to make the number less.

Those who believe whatever they are told, without inquiry, believe that this country was long since densely populated, by a highly-civilized people; and our love-sick novelists, in speaking of the degraded remnant we found here, speak of the gallantry and courage of the great warriors, and of the beautiful Indian maidens. My experience on the subject is decidedly unfavorable to Indian courage, chivalry and beauty. I never saw an Indian that would fight unless he had the advantage ; nor do I think I ever saw one who had ever felt an impulse of true gallantry. They were males, and, like other animals, knew and appreciated the other sex; but, further than this, gallantry was unknown to them. A woman was by the Indians more admired for carrying a large pack of venison or fur skins than for possessing beauty. We read about great Indian towns; but they had no towns, — not even a house for a residence, place of worship, nor for any other purpose. The only houses they had were wigwams, that could be speedily removed upon their ponies, or in their canoes. The whole fabric consisted of poles placed in the ground, in a circle, and the tops bent together and tied with bark. Several other poles were bent around horizontally, and tied to these, and then mats, which they made of grass, were spread over these, and the edifice was completed. For a chimney, a hole was left in the top. For a door, one mat was left loose below, so as to be raised, when necessary, whereas the other mats were tied to pegs driven in the ground.

Our credulous ancestors were made to believe that these people were converted to Christianity. Father Hennepin and other Catholic priests baptized thousands of them, nearly two hundred years ago, and Father Walker, a pious Methodist, some forty years ago, devoted himself to their service, and no doubt thought he made great proficiency in leading them in the way of life ; but they only listened to his sermons for the sake of the corn-bread and pork his wife fed them on after the sermon was over, Every body but father Walker knew this. He, however, had the happiness to pass through life with the sincere belief that his glory in the next world would be greatly enhanced by the presence of these savages as witnesses of his great Christian zeal. George E. Walker, a wealthy old gentleman of Ottawa, is a nephew to this man.

The writer hereof has seen some of Rev. Mr. Walker's disciples, besides many other Indians, such as infested these plains previous to the Black-Hawk War, and gives it as his firm belief that there was not an Indian, at that time, in Illinois, that believed the Christian religion at all. Nor had they any well-defined notions of religion of any kind. The priests had taught them something about their God, who is a spirit, and about miracles, and the mysterious virtue of relics, and the sacred host. The savages, not understanding these things, perverted them. Each tribe soon had its medicine-man, who, with his medicine-bag of numerous nothings, answered them well enough for a priest, and performed a goodly number of miracles, — at least, made them believe so.

Our relic-hunters have found, all over this country, the evidences of an ancient civilization, in fortifications, tumuli, broken pottery, etc. This is all a delusion, but the common delusion of little men, who have 'a little learning', which Pope says is a dangerous thing. I was born in the West, and have lived in it for the space of sixty-eight years, but have never seen any evidence of this kind, nothing that could not be explained upon some other hypothesis. I have seen nothing that the most fanatical ought to construe into a fortification. I have seen mounds in which there were human bones; but why not say that Indians selected high places in which to bury their dead, as civilized people do, especially as some Indians, not being satisfied with the elevation of the highest mounds, deposited their departed friends on large trees ? It would be much easier to select a mound than to build one, especially as they had neither picks, shovels, nor carts, nor Irishmen to use them; for every one knows that if the Indians had tools they were too lazy to use them.

There is a hillock not far from the City of Joliet, which has been honored with the title of Mount Joliet, of which Peck, in his Gazetteer, says "it is evidently the work of art"; and the author of American Antiquities says, "This mound consists of eighteen million two hundred and fifty thousand solid feet of earth. How long it must have been in being .built is more than can be made out, as the number of men employed, and the facilities to carry on the work, are unknown. *' To those who have never examined, nor even seen, Mount Joliet, this theory is very pretty; but to those who have seen and examined it, it appears too absurd to merit a refutation, had not sensible men fallen into the error. I have been on and about Mount Joliet, and examined it with a view to this question, and I assure the reader that there not only is no appearance there to indicate that it was made by hands, but the most conclusive evidence that it is the result ot mighty currents of water flowing there for ages long gone by. It is simply a great pile of stones and pebbles, which have been rounded by being rubbed and rolled against each other. The amount of clay and earth among these stones and pebbles is so small as hardly to be perceived ; yet grass and weeds have annually grown on the top and decayed for ages, until a pretty good soil is formed there. This great pile of pebbles does not extend into the earth, but it stands on it — on a bed of clay, that is being manufactured, on a large scale, into fire-brick and underground tiling, or more properly piping, while the pebbles are being carried to Chicago to pave gutters and streets.

In the month of February, 1832, I was temporarily boarding at Robbins's Hotel, in Alton, and the subject of the mounds in the American Bottom was under discussion ; and, to prove they were artificial, it was asserted that they contained human bones. I pointed to a high peak, a little to the northwest of where the penitentiary was afterward built, and asked one of the company if, in his opinion, that was artificial. He replied certainly not: that that had manifestly been made by the rains wearing away the earth about it. Well, said I, I will venture the assertion that there are human bones in that. He thought not; and, having time enough on our hands, we procured tools, and dug into it, and found human bones.

I once found, with the bones of an Indian, a piece of bis gun, the blade of his butcher-knife, and portions of an opaque glass bottle. I have also seen beads, hatchets, and other things indicating a considerable degree of civilization, that had been taken from Indian graves. How much more reasonable the hypothesis that these things were procured from the French traders than that they were made by civilized men, whose descendants had become barbarous.

It is known to all who have read history that the daily necessaries and conveniences of life are never lost by the descendants of civilized men, however barbarous they may become. No nation that ever had the benefit of iron ever lost the use of it. The same is true as to horses and cattle, and many other things. The Indians had none of these things, when found by white men ; yet horses were so necessary to them, and so easily raised in this grassy country, that they have never been without them since. Men fond of the marvelous are averse to scanning evidence. They seem afraid of discovering its insufficiency.