There’s a land rush on, by George
It is December 17, 1878. We are listening to George Woodruff give a presentation documenting the very first years of Will County, and especially Joliet. He has already talked about his journey to Will County as we heard last time. He continues with his verbal painting of the past:
“We are headed for McKee’s town, and we pass on in search of the Des Plaines River, upon the west side of which, we have heard, it is located. Soon we come upon it, a very tame and modest stream — it seems in the dry September, such as we had been used to call a ‘creek,’ – and we cross it at a ford just below an island, without the slight apprehension of drowning. Coming out and up the western bank, we see some men at work on a dam, other men digging a race, and some hewing timber. We find the log house built by Reed, where we are welcomed with true Kentucky hospitality, by James McKee and his wife Sally.
“Just below the house is a little enclosure, which we take to be a garden, although we find it called a ‘truck patch,’ through which flows a little brook from a beautiful and abundant spring, welling up under a rocky and beetling bluff. This spring is now changed into a well, some six or eight feet below the present surface and its water is dispensed by a vulgar pump; all its beauty is gone, but not its usefulness, as it still continues to supply ‘Adam’s Ale’ freely, to all.
“Mr. Demmond opened his store, and we took a position as clerk, and made the acquaintance of the people. There we find to be of two kinds, Yankees and Hoosiers. All who came from any state east of Ohio, are called Yankees; and all who are of western or southern origin, and who wear ‘jeans’ clothing, and use such phrases as ‘right smart chance,’ ‘powerful weak,’ ‘ornery,’ ‘heap,’ etc., and to every question or remark, answer ‘which,’ are called Hoosiers.
Timberrr!
“I will say a few words here, by way of explanation of what I said above in reference to the lumber trade. In the first settlement of this county, the title to the land was in the United States, except that which had been granted to the state for canal purposes; and also, except every sixteenth section in each township, which had been given to the state for school purposes.
“To encourage settlement, persons were allowed to locate on any lands not already occupied, to make a claim, and on building a cabin and enclosing and cultivating a few acres, they established a ‘pre-emption right,’ that is, a right to purchase the land in preference to all others, at one dollar and a quarter per acre, whenever the same should come into the market. Settlers were, of course, allowed to make use of timber for building their cabins and making their fences. This indulgence on the part of the government was grossly abused.
“Everyone in those days regarded the timber as free plunder, and only took care not to trespass upon a settler’s claim. To steal from ‘Uncle Sam,’ was regarded then (as I fear it still is) as a very venial sin. Persons who had no claim as settlers, cut down the timber and hauled it to the mills, and had it manufactured into lumber for sale. Nor did they confine themselves to United States lands, but canal lands and school sections were also subject to depredation. The bluffs about our city, and also the groves, all over the county, were then covered with a heavy growth of full-grown timber, mostly oak and black walnut. These were, to great extent, sacrificed to the greed of the trespassers.
Lots of lots
“The years 1835 and 1836 were characterized by a rush of immigration, and a rage for land speculation all over the west. The land sale at Chicago in June 1835, brought many into the county eager to invest in lands and city lots, and in 1836, the fever reached its acme. We have had many epidemics since, such as the gold fever, the oil fever, the super-heated steam fever, and the fever and ague; but I think none have equaled in intensity and universality the land fever of 1836.
“Everybody was eager to invest in lands and city lots. Many were the cities located, projected, and most beautifully platted, with liberal appropriations for public squares, churches and academies; and these were taken to eastern cities for the benefit of those who could not come west, and there sold. Indeed, town lots may be said to have been the only export from the west. We imported our flour and bacon, as at that time sufficient was not raised for the wants of the settlers and visitors.
“I presume that many here present are not aware of the fact, that Will County is dotted with the ruins of great cities. Yet such is the case. Palmyra, Williamsburg, Middletown, Vienna, Carlyle, West Lockport, New Rochester, Buffalo, Lunnenbergh, etc., etc.; these are the names of some of these cities, which flourished in imagination and on paper, but they have passed away, leaving no vestige except upon the county records, and in the memory of their victims.
“But there was also another famous city, just over the line in another county, of which a little Dutchman, Johnny Beard, was the proprietor. Johnny thought this was to be ‘one very great city.’ He made a splendid looking one on paper, with the great Kankakee coming down from the east, and the Des Plaines and Du Page united from the north, the ‘city of Kankakee’ reposing in native beauty at the junction. Johnny used often to come up with his wife in a little old ‘coachee,’ and was always full of his ‘city.’ He used to squeeze in a little whiskey, too; but the old horses and ‘coachee’ used to take him safe home, whether he could drive or not. He built a dam across the Des Plaines, a little above its junction with the Kankakee, (which forms the Illinois), and commenced building a mill.
“But the next spring the Kankakee, which drains a great extent of country far to the east in Indiana, got on a rampage long before the Des Plaines, which rises much father in the north, and coming down with its great volume of water and ice, dammed up the Des Plaines – turned its current northward, and sent Johnny Beard’s dam, city, mill and all, a kiting up to Treat’s Island, here it deposited the fragments. This was the last we heard of Kankakee city: until some of our citizens ‘struck ile’ there a few years since, and sunk a well, and sunk a little pile of money too!”
Here we leave George, but he will be back one more time to finish the oldest known memories of the very birth of our County.
Sandy Vasko is Director of the Will County Historical Museum & Research Center and President of the Will County Historical Society.