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The History of Peoria, Illinois

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The History of Peoria, Illinois r*6* ^ °* > *. > : *b^*v* :^.^ °o * » ^ ' ,0*' ^ ^ ***** *1 ^o /lO^ ', o t* if ° " ° V c * c> ^* o <£» " * if. ^ ** ^ „v *", • ^ 81 3 : THE HISTOKY OF PEOKIA, ILLINOIS. BY C. BALLANCE it PEORIA, ILL. PRINTED BY N. C. NASOX, 1 3 5 S. WASHINGTON STREET. 1870. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, BY CHARLES BALLINGS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Illinois. V CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE. Geographical position of Peoria and its vicinity, . 1 CHAPTER II. Early history of Peoria, 5 CHAPTER III. The subject continued. La Salle, Hennepin, and Tonti, . 7 CHAPTER IV. The subject continued — particularly with regard to the Abo- rigines, 11 CHAPTER V. Ancient French population, 18 CHAPTER VI. The subject continued. Coles's Report, . 21 CHAPTER VII. Ancient Fortifications, 25 CHAPTER VIII. Indian War. Gov. Edwards and Capt. Craig, ... 28 CHAPTER IX. The subject continued. Gov. Reynolds's account of it, . 32 CHAPTER X. The subject continued. The erection and destruction of Fort Clark, 40 IV CONTEXTS. CHAPTER XI. page. The first American settlements at Peoria, .... 44 CHAPTER XII. State of Illinois and sundry Counties (including Peoria) organ- ized, 49 CHAPTER XIII. County Commissioners' Court and Board of Supervisors, 53 CHAPTER XIV. First Circuit Court. Trial of Nornaquc, .... 59 CHAPTER XV. The subject continued. Judge Young, Ford, etc., . 62 CHAPTER XVI. Organization of the Town of Peoria, .... G6 CHAPTER XVII. City Organization, Taxation, etc., 69 CHAPTER XVIII. Public Buildings, 80 CHAPTER XIX. Schools by Individuals and Companies, .... 84 CHAPTER XX. The present School System, commonly called Free Schools, 92 CHAPTER XXI. Churches and Religious Societies, 100 CHAPTER XXII. Manufactures. Foundries and Machine-Shops, . 119 CHAPTER XXIII. The subject continued. Blacksmiths and Plowmakers, . 123 CONTENTS. V CHAPTER XXIV. PAGE. The subject continued. Mills, 127 CHAPTER XXV. The subject continued. Distilleries, 135 CHAPTER XXVI. The subject continued. Miscellaneous Manufactures, . 141 CHAPTER XXVII. Railroads, 147 CHAPTER XXVIII. Lights, 153 CHAPTER XXIX. Boating, . 155 CHAPTER XXX. Shade-Trees, Fruit-Trees, and small Fruits, . 162 CHAPTER XXXI. Water and Water-Works, 166 CHAPTER XXXII. Coal, Stone, and Minerals, 172 CHAPTER XXXIII. Ferries and Bridges, 179 CHAPTER XXXIV. Newspapers. Job Offices. Book-binderies. Death of Pickett and Kirkpatrick, etc., 187 CHAPTER XXXV. French Claim Controversy, 193 CHAPTER XXXVI. Population at different times, 199 VI CONTEXTS. CHAPTER XXXVII. PAGE. Old Settlers' Society, 205 CHAPTER XXXVI I r. Commerce of Peoria, 210 CHAPTER XXXIX. The Fauna of Peoria and vicinity, 217 CHAPTER XL. The Flora of Peoria and vicinity, 223 CHAPTER XLI. Physicians, 227 CHAPTER XLII. Lawyers, . 231 CHAPTER XLII I. The subject continued. John L. Bogardus, . 239 CHAPTER XLIV. The subject continued. Gov. Ford, 249 CHAPTER XLV. Banking Facilities, 256 PREFACE. Every one admits the "benefit of history. But of what advant- is age is history without truth ; and yet how common the express- ion 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 im- plicated 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 Sa- tanic 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 pos- sess 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 sup- presses his vices is morally guilty of falsehood ; for he who be- lieves the narrative believes that the subject of it was a good man, whereas his vices, if brought to view, would much modify his vir- tues, or, perhaps, entirely obscure them. Yet something is due to public opinion and a man's comfort. Public opinion would hard- ly, at this age, bear with a man's telling the whole truth with re- gard 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 sub- mitted 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 hazard- ous 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 an- other edition be called for, I will cheerfully correct them. If any one shall think I have said any thing untrue about himself or an- cestor, 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.
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