History of De Kalb county, Illinois

Front matter

Glass

IlSAl

Rnnk .T) ?.'R C,

Chapter II. A Brief History Of The State

Settled by the French.. New France. .Ceded to Grea\Britain Prnviuce ot Quebec. .Conquered by General Clarke. -County of lUino s n ihe State of Yir-inia! . Ordinance of 1787. .War of 1812 -The Vi san Legislatur.. Divided from Indiana. .Admittance as aState. KasKaslda..Vandalia.. Slavery in Illinois.. The Illinois^ Canal .Galena.. The Suckers.. First Black Hawk war.. Second Back Hawk wai . . Battle at Stillman's Run. .Dixon. .Massacres. .Battles. .Internal improvements — County ot DeKalb.

CHAPTER III. :manxers and customs of the indiaks.

Their personal appearance. .Characteristics. .Their Villages ^" tim Vicinity.. Burial places.. Corn fields. .Huntmg. .Marriage. .Life of Old Shiobona. .Tecumsehs aid. .Black Hawk's enemy. His service^ to the Whites. .Smoke. .Pokanoka. . Family discipline. .Shabbona di^spossessed.

Chapter V

the claim ASSOCIATIONS.

Immigration . .Pre-emption and claims . .Disputes. .Fights. .Division of

claims.. Convention of the People. .Constitution and by-laws . Siiits

..Stark and Barron— McLenathan and Mason— Mann of Burlington

• . The Lynchers tried. ^ *

Chapter VI

the banditti.

Horsestealing. .Brodie's Grove. .Worden's discoveries. .Diiscoll's Grove

..Gleasons.. Oregon burned.. How to get a verdict. .The Lynching club. .Captain Lonaj's Mill burned. .Daggett and Powell .. Captain Campbell's army. .Embassy from Judge Ford. . Grathering of the Bandits. .Murder of Campbell. .The country roused. .Capture of the Driscolls. .Trial at Wliite Roclc. .The whisky. .Prisoner shot.. Trial of Taylor DriscoU. .Who was the Assassin. 78

Chapter VII. The Resurrectionists

Grave robbing at St. Charles. .James Lovell's discovery. .The watch . .The pursuit. ..The robbers arrested. .A vacant grave. .To Richard's Institute. .Tiie lock of golden hair. .Richard's brutality. .The country in arms. .March to St. Charles. .An angry altercation. .Assault on the Institute. .Its Defenders shot. .The building riddled. .No corpses . .A night Conference. .A Retreat. .Raising the body.. It is returned . .Arrests by both parties. 95

Introduction

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTH INFANTRY VOLUNTEERS.

Organization . .In Camp at Dixon . .Field and Staff. .At Chicago. . To Louisville. .Great march to Frankfort. .To Shelbyville. .Bowling Green. . Scottsville . .Postage currency . .Changes . .To Nashville . .Pap py Ward . Murder. .March to Lookout.. Lost in a cave. General H )oke'.. Battle of Resaca.A rebsletter.To Kingston and Burnt Hickory. A Flight. Deatli of Surgeon Potter. .Fight at Golgotha. .At Marietta. .Battle of Peach Tree Creek. .Terrible scenes. .How the rebs did'nt gather acorns— .^iege of Atlanta— -The dead and wounded. .Herman Furncss' adventure. .Atlanta captured. .Colonel Dustin in command of a Division. . Other changes.. Off for Savannah. .Atlanta burned. .Contrabands and Bummers. .Madison and Milledgville. .Railroads destroved. .Fun and Foraging. .Vinum Antimonia. .Savannah Oft again. .Committee of the whole on the State of South Carolina. .Bummers in chjver. . Forty days more. .North Carolina. .Battle of Averysboro. .Gallantry of the One Hundred and Fifth. .AtGoldsboro. .Richmond Surrenders ..Johnson Surrenders. .On to Richmond and Washington. .Grand Re view.. Home again. .Generous Pittsburg. .Shabby Chicago.. The Rcster. 113

THE EIGHTH ILLINOIS CAVALRY.

Cavalry needed, . Colonel Farnsworth Commissioned. .The rally. .At St» Charles.. To Washington. .Greetings on the route. .Farnsworth's Big Abolition Regiment.. At Meridian Hill. .Grand "Reviews. .No fight. .Camp Sumner. .Five Hundred Sick. .To Alexandria. .General Montgomery. .How the rebs loved us. .Spring opens. .On to Manassas —Wooden Guns. .Scouting. .Back to Alexandria. . Siege of Yorktown . .Williamsburg. .Black Creek Bridge. .Richmond in sight. .Reconnoisances and Picketing. .Fair Oaks. .Captain Farnsworth's dinner party.. Page 220.. The Seven Days Fight. .Change of ba=e..The horrors of the retreat.. At Haxal's and Harrison's .. Malvern Hill.. Back to Yorktown and Alexandria. .Fight at Barnsville. .George M

^ Roe . . Frederick City . . South Mountain . . Boonesboro . . -Antietam- . . The Rebel army escape.. Dash into Shepherdstown. .Memorable march to Martinsburg — Alter Jeb Stuart— Page 230-— Markham Station

■RP enlistino---The Furloug]i--Giesborougli Pomt--Early^ adv'anct - F Sis at Micldletown, JVIonococy, Urbana--Guardmg Wasl - yance -^ '^",. -^„„K„.„.pursuinff the assassins--St.. George and St. S.^£7^"ToSt'tLis?-l Wricked Steamer--To Chicago andhome -—Roster.

THE SEVENTEENTH ILLINOIS CAVALKY.

_ . . ^ ^^ pi Tf„ offippr'?— -Field and Staff— -To St. Lonis

x^oT-Honor ancrdanger----Price's Retreat----After hin>---^^^^^^ Mine C?eek--Fifty-six hours in the Saddle---Six Hundred horses lost Jack Houghton--Price Escapes-Cape Girardeau--Jeft. Thompson surmKlers--To Kansas City--Fort Larned--Fort Leavenworth-- Trouble in Camp— -Roster.

THE FIFTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY.

Or<^anization--At the Capture of Donelson--Fort Henry----Corintli-- . sS -Half the Regiment killed and captured--Captani Rutisthauser - Lieutenant Moxom-.-Sergeant Wheaton s adventure--The Union BriSe-Cape Kittell- -Baule of Corinth-Serg-eant J. C.Wright --To Spriigfield--To Vicksburg--Ra>d _ on Merid,an--Capture of Fort DeUussey . . -Up Red River . . Sabine Cross _ Roads . . Pleasant Hill .The Fifty-eighth save the army. .SliU reireatmg .Damming Red river. .Yellow Bayou. .Desperate cl.arges. One hundi;ed and ten men killed and wounded . . Re-enlisted . . Fight at Columbia . .Fight with Fo-est at Tnpello. .To Missouri. .The Price raid. .To NorthviUe and Eastport- . . New Orleans- . . Mobile- . . Montgomery- . . Home agam^"^ ^ Roster.

THE TENTH CAVALRY.

Captain Carr's company. .The first company raised in Illinois. .To Cairo ^Fortifying and garrison duty. .Re-organized /or three years Raid in Kentucky.. Sykesville.. Birds Point. .Cuptain Carr killed. .Island No 10 Siege of Corinth. .Booiieville. .Fighting our way to Nashville Besieled . .No rations. .Built Fort Negley . .Campaign through Alabama and Mississippi. .Wheeler's cavalry . .Mission Kidge. .Pur.^uina- Hardee. .A midwinter march without blankets, shoes or tents, to Chattanooga. .RossviUe. .Veteranized-To Atlanta .. Grand march to the Sea. .Crossing the Salkehatchie. .Forty men lost. Gallantry at Edisto .To Columbia, Cheraw, Fayetteville and Goldsboro. Battle of Bentonville.. Hardee whipped. .Sixty men lost. . lo Raleigh Richmond, and the grand review. ^o4

THE THIRTEENTH INFANTRY.

Enlistments discouraged .. Sandwich and Sycamore companies accepted —Premiums for places— Gray uniforms-Banner presented— At Dixon -To RoUa-March to Springfield-Fremont's Flying Infantry--Back to Rolla-Jesting and death-To Pea Ridge-Indian corpses-Terrible march to Helena-Assault upon Vicksburg-Death of General Wyman-Arkansas Post-Jackson-Siege of Vicksburg-On Chattanooga -Capture of Lookout Mountain-Ringold Gap-Pat Riley-Death ot Major Bushnell and Captain Blanchard. .Meridian Station, .bixtysix men captured . .Resume . .Roster. 293

THE FOURTEENTH CAVALRY.

Recraitiuii,-. .Consolidation of tliree Regiments. .At Peoria. .The officer.s ..To Glasgow .".Skiraiisliing at Celina..Camp Boyle. .Pursuit of Colonel Hdmiltou. .We capture John Morgan. .Twenty-one hundred miles ride. .Join Burnside. .Surrender of Cumberland Cap. .Guarding Railroads. .Fight at ZoUicotter. .At Blountville. .Dog-tents. .Siege of IvQOxville. .Driven. .Bean Station. .Daudridge. .Thomas' Legion. . Death of Horace Capron. .Cittico. .General Stoneman. .On Atlanta. . Tlie Great Stoneman Raid. .Seven d-j's and nights in the Saddle.. Massacred asleep. .The Regiment destroj^ed. .Major Davidstm. .Figliting Forest. .Pursuit of Bragg. .Mustered out. 208

THE FORTY-SECOjSTD IKFANTRY.

Company K. .Roster. .To Tipton. .Terrible march to Springfield. .Two hundred men disabled. ..Winter at Smithton. .To St. Charles. .Fort If olt. .Columbus. .Island No. 10.. Siege of Corinth. .Booncville. . Captain Butts. .Battle of Farmingion... of Columbia. .Stone River. . 22:i men lost. .The Chattanooga campaign. .Chickamauga. .184 men lost. .Mission Ridge, 4~) men lost. .East Tennessee campaign. .Veteranized. .Home. .Atlanta campaign. .Ten battles, 115 nicu lost.. To Bridgeport, Chattanooga, Athens and Pulaski. .Fight at Spring Hill and Franklin, KiU men lost. .Battle of Nashville. .To Decatur, Blue Springs, Johnsonv.lle, Texas, Port Lavaca. .Mustered out January 8d, lb(36.. Roster. ;J18

THE FIFTY- SECOND INFANTRY.

Organized. .At Geneva.. To St. Louis and St. Joseph. .Exhausting march to Quincy : To Kentucky. .Colonel Sweeney. .Fori Donaldson . .Guarding prisoners. .Shiloli. .^Major Stark. .Death of Captain Knapp . .One-third of the Regiment lost.. Siege of Corinlh. .Sickness and sufterings. .Battle of Corinth.. To luka and Burnsville. .Corintii. . GallaiUry of the Fifty-second. .Hard marches. .Bear Creek. .After Forrest. .Exhausting marches. ..To Pulaski. .Veteranized and home . .To Nashville and Chattanooga. .Siege of Atlanta. .To Savannah.'. South Carolina. .Fall of Richmond. .Surrender of Johnson. .Wasiiington, Louisville, Chicago. .Roster. i{28

THE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SECOND.

Company F, its Officers. .To Paducah. .Guarding communications.. The campaign ended. .Home again. .Roster. S4:i

THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SIXTH.

Company H, its Ofiicers. .To Paducali. .Guarding communications.. Tlie Rebellion ended. .Home. .Roster. ;J45

Part Third. Annals Of Dekalb County

1882— -Ma-ch of General Scott Encampment at Kingston- -Battle o^"

Stiliman's Run— -Encampment at Paw Paw. " 848

1838 Exploration into Southern Portion of the Teriilorv Indians

hostile. ■ 849

1834— Explorations— -Ilolleuback — Claims at Squaw Grove and Pampas — First house— -Mail route to Dixon — Sebrees. 841)

Contents

1835. .Immigrauts pour in— -Indians. .Mode of traveling— -Mode of life. . Malting ckims. .First houses. .Hope and Ambition... The Claim Association — First Justices-— Part of La Salle County. . Religious services established. .Winter of 18 5. .Shab joua Grove. .Peter Lamois and the Whisky trade. 350

1833. .A year of gioom. .Provisions scarce. .Clothing worn out.. Sickness. .Election of Gladden. ..Chicago. .Kane and DeKalb. .towns started. " 358

1837. .Act, creating Delvalb County.. Septennial wet season. .The financial crash. .What Shabbona says. .The new Villages. .C. Sharer &Co. Coltonville. .How the County was set off from Kane. .The tirst Election. .Officers chosen. .The County Court.. Its tirst acts. .Precincts created. .The County Seat located. .The struggle. .Why Orange was selected. 300

Part Fourth. Town Histories

Genoa. .Its attractions. .First settlers. .Tliieves and counterfeiters. .E. P. Grleason's history. .Mass meeting in 1838. .Origin of the name.. Largest Village in the County. .Population. .Genoa in the war. .Her martyred dead . . Supervisors. 450

Kingston. .The Indians. .First white settlers. .Poverty of early times . .How they lived. .Population. .Fearful tornado. .Luke Penwell.. George Magenety killed.. Her soldier boys. .Tlie dead. .Numerous officers. .Supervisors. 455

Franklin. .Woods, streams and quarries. .First settlers, .Hicks' Mills. . Kishwaukee City. .Poverty. .Dr. Hobart. .Land in market in 1838. . General Tom Humphrej^. .Other officers. .Dead ot the Rebellion.. Tornado. .The killed. .Indian idol. .Population. .Supervisors. 4G3

Mayfield. .Its natural attractions. .First^ settlers. .Coltonville. .Indian village . . Dr. Madden . . A distillery . . Sarpents and other game . . Claim wars. .Population. .Boys in Blue. .The roll of Honor. .First religious meetings. .Supervisors. 468

South Grove.. Its soil and surface. .Owens' Creek. .Indian trail.. Orput's and Driscoll's Grove. .Mills. .Its inhabitants. .The Driscolls ..First settlers. .Schoolmaster By ers. .Schools now. .How to buikl School Houses cheaply. .Churches. .Camp meeting. .Hell of a Christian. .Post Office. .Hotels. .Profits of farming. .Hercules helps. .Fine houses. .Noble farms. .Favorite crops. .Population. .Its men in tlie Army. .Its Supervisors. 467

Sycamore. .Timber and streams. .Norbo. .Charters. .The New York Company. .Bursted bubbles.. The old Town of Sycamore. .Captain Barnes. .Sycamore in 1840. .Churches. .Lawyers. .Population. .Sycamore ill 18*55. .James' Block. .Sycamore & Cortland Railroad. .Leading citizens. .Supervisors.. .Incorporation of the village. 475

Cortland. .Indian village. .The prisoners. .Ohio Grove. .Palatial Hotel Luce's Corners. .The railroad village.. The population. .Richland... Pampas. .Public schools; the first and the last.. Her soldiers. .The roll of her martyrs. .Captain R. A. Smith. .Supervisors. 482

DeKalb. .Woodland and streams. .First settlers. .Troops in cami . . Jenks & Co.. ..Russell Huntley's claims. .First Election. .Hard times ..DeKalb for sale cheap.. Town organized. .First called Orange.. The life giving Railroad. .Magical growth. .1857. .Agricultural Society grounds . . School Houses . . Churches . . Newspapers . . Lawyers . . Bank . . Leading citizens . . Supervisors . . Soldiers . . Population 486

^ Malta. .Settled in 1851. .Station established in 1854. .Milton. .Etna. . Storm of 1857. .Steam Mill. .Recent rapid growth. .Future prospects . . Census . . Soldiers . . Supervisors. 4f) ^

Milan.. The youngest town.. Lewis McEwen..Deer and wolves.. Rapid settlement. .Advance in the price of lands. .School Section and Schools. .Town Hall. .Norwegians. .The willows. .Population. .Assesment of property . . Its Soldiers. 494

APTON..The first emigrants mistake. .Sweet Afton.. First settlers.. Organization as a town.. First town officers.. Its uniformly Noble Supervisors. .Its Schools. .Its Churches. .Its Elections. .Its Population ...Its war record. .Its dead of the war. 496

CONTENTS.

Clinton. .Its grove aud streams. .First Inhabitants. .Its territory.. Selection of a name. .Population. .Schools. .Churches. .Claim wars. . Hard times.. Its martyred dead. .Captain Pritchard. .The Marsh Brothers aud the Marsh Harvester. .The Supervisors. 499

Pierce. .Sulphur springs. ."Wheat raising. .Nativity of its inhabitants First settlers. .Schools. .Organization in 1853. .Its name. .Contributions to the war. .Population.. .Supervisors. 501

Squaw Grove. .The first town settled. .Origin of the name..Sebree and other first settlers. .Mode of life. .Taxation. .First birth and death. .Schools. .Its present wealth. .Population. .Soldiers. .Supervisors. 506

Paw Paw. .ISTat'iral characteristics. .First inhabitants. .Origin of its name . . Shabbona . . Waubonsie . . Le Clair . ..The banditti . . Bill Rogers . .Treasure trove. .Town organization. .First Election. .Supervisors. . Seminaries. .Churches. .Population. In the Avar of the Rebellion.. The dead. ^ 508

Victor. .Organization in 1853.. First immigrants. .The railroad.. Nativity of its population. .The Little Indian. .Leland. .Schools. . Population. .Its soldier boj^s. .Their dead. .Supervisors. 514

SoMONArK. .Description . .First house in the County. .Early settlers. . Poverty and hardship. .Worship. .The mails. .The^ railroad. .SandvvMch. .How started. .Manufacturing. .Its grain trade. .Its newspapers . .Its Churches. .Somonauk village. .Rapid growth. .Its war record. . Leading citizens.. .Underground railroad. 519

Shabbona. ."f he Grove.. The Big Indian Creek.. Early prospeiity.. Old Shabbona. .Treaties. .Sells his reservation to Gates. .Sale void. . The sale at Dixon. .The AVhispering Smith's attempt. .Investigation ..First house.. First settlers. .Game — Sibiqua — Presest situation — Masonic — Its soldiery — The dead — The Supervisors 524

HISTOKY OF DE KALB COUNTY.

Chapter I

The Geography and Geology of DeKalb County, avith THE Origin of the Prairies.

The surface of our County of DeKalb has few marked peculiarities — few grand distinctive features. It contains no great and navigable rivers ; no elevated peaks, rising in majestic grandeur ; no mountain torrents, shrouded in foam, chafing in rocky channels ; no deep and narrow valleys, hemmed in on every side, and forming little worlds of their own ; no narrow and precipitous passes, winding through circuitous defiles ; no cavernous gorges, giving exit to pent-up waters ; no contorted or twisted strata, affording evidence of violent internal throes and gigantic overturnings. It is simply a plain parallelogram of rich rolling prairie, eighteen miles broad and thirty-six miles long, dotted with a few groves and watered by a few small streams.

But the features of the landscape, although less bold than those of mountainous regions, are yet impressive and strongly marked. In the broad, billowy prairies, extending as far as the eye can reach, we have the element of vastness as in scarce any other land ; we have a luxuriant sward of emerald greenness, clothing the whole land, down to the very margin of the waters; we have meandering streams, clear as crystal, now smooth, quiet and glassy, then ruffled by winds or rapids ; we have clumps of trees, charming groves, disposed with an effect of beauty that might baffle a landscape gardener ; now crowning the grassy height, now clothing the green slope with their pleasing shade. From the gentle heights of the rolling prairies, the country, even before the hand of man had broken its surface, wore the aspect of cultivated meadows and rich pasture grounds, irrigated by frequent rivulets.

The County occupies the high ground between the two well-known streams, the Fox and Rock rivers ; streams famous for their purity and beauty, which, rising in Wisconsin, both flow southwestwardly in a course nearly parallel, and empty, the Fox into the Illinois river at Ottawa, and the Rock into the Mississippi at Rock Island. The highest point between these rivers, and indeed, the highest between the lakes at Chicago and the Mississippi river, is said to be in the town of South Grove, in this County.

The central portion of the County contains the least exten^ of timbered lands, and the fewest running streams. The northern and southern ends are better watered and timbered. The south branch of the Kishwaukee river is the largest of those streams. Upon all of the early maps of this County, and upon its first records, this stream is designated as the Sycamore river. Kishwaukee is said to be the Indian name for the Sycamore tree, and the river took its name from the fact, that when the country was first settled by the whites, a few scattered groups of those trees (very rare in the prairie region) were found upon its banks.

This stream rises in the town of Afton, near the centre of the County, flows through DeKalb, Mayfield, Kingston and Franklin, about forty miles, entering the Rock river at Milford, in Winnebago County. It has several branches, the largest of which, originating in Vjrgil, Kane County, flows through Cortland and Sycamore, and enters the main branch in Mayfield. Deer Creek in Genoa, Trimble's Run in King-

ITS GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY. 35

ston, Owen's Creek in Soutli Grove and Franklin, all minor brandies of the same river, are infinitely valuable to the farms which they water, and have served a valuable purpose in furnishing protection to the scattering groves which always spring up on the prairies upon the eastern sides of the runnmg streams, sheltered there from the ravages of the annual prairie fires, driven by the prevailing westerly winds. Beside the banks of this main stream stretches one continuous forest composed principally of white red and burr oak trees, liberally mterspersed with the poplar, the maple, the butternut, the black-walnut, and the hickory. This grove constitutes the mamsourceof supply for fuel, fencing and timber, for the land owners of all the northern half of the County, beinc owned m small lots of from one to twenty acres, by the farmer" on the broad prairies on each side, some of whom live ten or even fifteen miles from their timbered lots, and resort to them only m the winter season, at which time their principal occupation is the accumulation of a supply of fencing and luel tor the next year's use.

Broad, rolling prairies occupy almost the entire surface of^ the central portion of the County. The land is, perhaps more rolling,-more rough,-than at the two extremities' but only two or three small, isolated, natural groves broke the uniformity of the billowy prairie, before it was formed mto farms and beautified by man with rows or little thickets ot planted or transplanted timber.

The first settlers of the country naturally made their claims m close proximity to the groves and streams; and could hardly believe that the distant prairies would ever serve

Sr %r'^''' '^V}"' '^ ' "'^' "-^^Se for flocks and herds. They were confident that no farmer could live and labor conveniently, farther than a mile or two from his timbered lots and they regarded him as a visionary enthusiast who dared to predict that they would live to see it all s'led and occupied by man. But the settlements gradually extended farther and farther out upon the prairies, and now the entire

County is occupied, and scarcely a vacant spot of the wild prairie can be found throughout its entire extent.

The settlers upon these farms remote from the groves, now claim that the soil is there more productive than in their closer vicinity, and observation seems to justify the claim ; but this superiority may be due to their having been more recently settled and subjected to fewer drafts upon their fertility, than those which have been longer cropped.

Some of the wealthiest farmers and the most productive farms of the County are now found in this section of the County, which, twenty years ago, it was thought would never be occupied by residents.

Although this central portion of the County is comparatively rugged, yet no large streams are found there. The head waters of all the creeks in the County are there formed in sloughs or swamps, which always connect one with another, until the united volume of their waters form brooklets, which flowing north and south ultimately become our larger creeks. The Big and Little Indian Creeks have their origin near the southern boundary of these central towns, and in the town of Afton one handsome and never-failing stream gushes out from the low prairie with considerable size and force ; and flowing southwestwardly through the town of Squaw Grove becomes the Little Rock Creek.

But the natural disadvantages of this scarcity of timber and of flowing streams in this section, are compensated by the possession of an important line of railroad, a portion of the great commercial artery between the Atlantic and Pacific, upon which the thriving villages of Cortland, DeKalb and Malta have sprung up ; villages which must ever be leading business places in DeKalb County. Thanks to the life-infusing influence of this great artery of trade, this portion of the County, has grown in wealth and population during the past ten years more rapidly than any other section, and its population must still rapidly become more dense.

The six southern towns of the County, like the northern

ITS GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY. 37

six, are better watered and timbered than those which occupj the center. There are about four thousand acres of good timber in its several groves, embracing about one thirty-second of its entire surface, and so distributed that no farm in those towns is far removed from timbered lots. Handsome flowing streams are also abundant. It is as fertile and as beautiful a region as the sun shines upon. The Little Indian and Big Indian Creeks water the towns of Shabbona and Paw Paw, while Shabbona Grove and Ross Grove furnish its timber.

Somonauk and Squaw Grove are watered by the Little Rock and Somonauk Creeks and provided with timber from the grove which borders these streams.

Upon the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroads have sprung up the two active, enterprising and well built villages of Sandwich and Somonauk. At Shabbona Grove and in the southwestern portion of Paw Paw have long been small villages, natural centers for the surrounding country which only need the life-giving influence of a railroad to make them among the largest in the County.

The whole County is divided with mathematical precision into eighteen towns, laid out by the United States Government, each six miles square.

Hardly a ledge of rocks pierces the surface in any part of the County. Some soft, inferior limestone is found in Kingston a few feet below the surface, and in Franklin is a quarry of the same that is converted into building lime. A similar quarry has been found in Afton, and in the southern part near the banks of the creeks it may be found cropping out occasionally.

But the whole County is, even for this prairie land, singularly and unfortunately destitute of rock suitable for building or for any other valuable purpose. Thinly scattered over its entire surface, however, are found rounded granite boulders, varying in size from that of a huge cannon ball to that which would weigh a ton or more. In the vernacular of the country they are called hard heads or nigger heads and are prized by the farmers, wlio use them for underpinning barns ; sometimes also for stoning their wells, and more rarely their house cellars. But few farms are so fortunate as to possess enough for these purposes.

THE ORIGIN OF THE PRAIRIES.

These singularly beautiful and fertile plains, destitute of the thick growth of timber with which nature has clothed most of the country, and so admirably fitted by nature for the immediate use of man, is a subject that has excited a vast deal of interest and inquiry and has given rise to a great many different theories.

To give an intelligent opinion on their origin, some brief review of the commonly received theories of geology is necessary.

The science of geology informs us that the earth, originally a fiery, nebulous mass, revolving in illimitable space about the sun, gradually became cooled at its surface and that at the present age, the globe, still seething with tumultuous fires within, is covered on its exterior by a rind of solid matter about ten miles in thickness, which, as compared to its entire diameter, is like a thin sheet of paper spread over a globe a foot in diameter. This surface cooled irregularly in rough corrugations ; the elevations constituting the mountains and continents, and the depressions, filled with the condensed vapors making the oceans and the valleys of the principal rivers. This surface was originally far more rough and irregular than at present, and changes — alternate elevations and depressions, while the solid exterior was thinner — were more numerous than at this later ag;e.

Those rocks which bear marks of having been originally in a fluid state are called igneous rocks and constitute the primary strata. Granite is the most common specimen of this class of rocks.

Heat, frost and floods gradually crumble and wear away the irregularities of the surface and form from the disintegrated mass a soil, which, stimulated by the high tempera-

ITS GEOGEAPHY AND GEOLOGY. 39

ture caused by the fires below, produced herbage and vegetable growths of enormous size. In the strata of rock formed at this period are found, not only shells and the simpler forms of animal life, but the remains of giant ferns sixty feet in height, with stalks or trunks three feet in circumference. A'^ines, palms, and all the flora of the present tropical regions, an hundred times increased in size, grew and flourished in the hot, moist atmosphere with a luxuriance almost inconceivable, and dying, produced a soil of incomparable richness, which in turn reproduced fresh and more gigantic forms of vegetable life. This rapid growth and equally rapid decay soon formed beds of peaty soil of immense thickness, and the crust of the earth being at this time much thinner than now, and of course subject to more frequent disturbances and irruptions of the struggling internal fires, they, bursting forth, often buried Avith the enormous weight of the overturned strata these thick beds of vegetable matter, and by the aid of heat, converted them into those beds of coal, which now, brought to the surface, furnish man with an inexhaustible supply of the most valuable of fuel. In these coals we even now can readily trace the remains of plants and trees ; even the delicate foliage of the graceful ferns being still plainly visible.

As the earth grew older strange forms of animal life appeared. Amid the moist tropical lagunes gigantic beasts disported. Enormous lizards, twenty feet in length, with bodies larger than the elephant's-; reptiles, resembling no species now existing ; huge birds ; terrible serpents ; monstrous fish ; strange compounds of all these species of animals ; many of them furnished with wings yet adapted to life in the water, together constituted the living inhabitants of the earth at this early period of its existence. Their remains are found imbedded in solid rock, often so distinct that their mode of life and the nature of the food on which they subsisted may be easily determined. Millions of years passed away. Animals of countless varieties lived, died, and even their species passed out of existence, amid the operation of the grand process of fitting the earth for the habitation of man.

Strata on strata of rocks were formed by the slow process of disintegration of the elevated surfaces, through the agency of heat, floods and frost, aided by alternate elevations and depressions, and the re-formation of this mass into solid rock again, till we come at last to the diluvial or drift period ; the last geological era before man occupied the globe ; if indeed he had not during or before this period become its tenant.

The greatest portion of this diluvial deposit consists of sand and gravel ; but tough, hard clay constituted no inconsiderable amount of it.

The vegetation of this period differed but slightly from that of the present day. The position of the mountains, continents, rivers and oceans was substantially the same as at the present, which is termed the alluvial period ; although there have evidently since been some elevations and depressions of the surface. During this diluvial period, there seems to have suddenly occurred an era of intense cold throughout all the northern hemisphere. That it was a sudden change is shown by the perfect preservation to this time in the frozen mud of Siberia of numerous specimens of the elephant, rhinoceros, and other inhabitants of a warm climate, which are now found with the hide and even the flesh still visible ; and also by similar discoveries of the mammoth and mastodon in some parts of this continent. The changed climate was perhaps due to some sudden oscillation of the axis of the earth. Nearly all organic life was destroyed by this reduction of temperature, and glaciers were formed on mountains of moderate height. The northern regions of the earth became vast sheets of ice and snow, which, as now in polar regions, sent out their glaciers, by the natural force of expansion, nearly as far to the south as the gulf of Mexico. By changes of temperature these glaciers advancing and retreating as they do at the present time in the Alps and in the polar regions, broke fragments from the ledges of rock below, and grinding them upon the

ITS GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY. 41

surface of the rock, rounded them into boulders. Ultimately the temperature became again permanently elevated ; and the vast sheets of ice became equally vast currents of water, which floated off huge icebergs loaded with rocks, sand, gravel, cla}^, and fragments of trees. Floating toward the warmer regions of the south they gradually melted and deposited their debris upon the surface of the earth. Becoming fixed upon some accidental projection, large gravelly knolls and hills were formed from their deposits, and over the entire surface their boulders were scattered. In some natural gorges these icebergs would naturally accumulate, and rapidly liquefying, would deposit enough of their detritus to stop the passage of the great waters, and cause the formation of immense lakes Avhich covered the country, perhaps for centuries of time, until, either by some internal convulsion or perchance by the slower processes of ordinary causes, the dam thus formed became worn away, and the lakes floated off to the ocean.