Before entering upon the history of the people who made their homes in this beautiful country, it may be well to consider the natural conditions they found here; conditions which determined them to cast their lot here, and to build up com­munities and create a new civilization for them­selves; a country and a civilization which they might leave as an inheritance for the genera­tions that should follow them.

The great Mississippi river, any school boy or girl will tell you, is the longest river in the world, it bounds the county on the west; the thread of the main channel of the river is the state and county line. The eastern bank of the river in the south part of the county is bordered with timber interspersed with bayous and runfling sloughs forming many wooded islands. The principal of these is Turkey Slough in the southwest corner of the county, between this and the meandering slough, so called, is Big Island, next east Little Island and Marble Island, and Marble Slough, so named after an early settler.

In early days these islands were covered with magnificent trees, some were nut bearing trees, the fruit of some was a very large hickory nut and there were smaller sheilbark hickory nuts and walnuts in great abundance. Here the squirrels, of which there were several varieties, did not want for a plentiful store of nuts for winter use. Neither did the early settlers who greatly relished this addition to their not exten­sive bill of fare. The waters were filled with the finest kinds of game fish, and game of all kinds was very abundant, on the islands; and on the waters there were several kinds of wild geese and a great variety of ducks, and there were also wild turkeys and deer, and pigeons in great numbers. East of the islands is a treeless almost level plain, called the Sand ridge, about five miles in width, not much above the level of the river in high water, extending from below Savanna south between the bluffs and the river, to the southern boundary of the county.

Situated near the eastern boundary of this plain, In Mount Carroll and York Townships is Sunfish lake, called also Dyson’s lake, after William Dyson, a pioneer of 1837, who took up a claim on the western shore of the lake. At­tempts have been made to drain this lake by digging a ditch through low-lying marsh ground northward to Plum river, but they have only succeeded in lowering the surface of the water in the lake a few feet, and draining a part of the surrounding lands temporarily; the ditch has invariably been filled up with sand and mud, washed into it by heavy floods in the streams to the east of it, particularly Deer creek, which flowing west past Hickory Grove, carries down from the hills a great deal of the soil, which is deposited in the ditch, especially when the waters in the Mississippi and Plum rivers are high. There is very little fall from the lake and consequently no current running northward to carry the sediment out of the ditch, on account of which conditions it seems to be an impracticable undertaking to drain Sun­fish lake. The first ditch was dug in 1871 by the county and cost nearly seven thousand dol­lars and was paid from the sale of swamp lands successfully drained by the county ditch, running south through the Willow island tract of land. The last attempt to drain this lake was made by the owners of land to be benefitted under the drainage law. The ditch, however, filled up as before and an attempt is now being made to pump the water out of the lake into the ditch.

Apple river flows through the northwest corner of the county and empties into the Mississippi river on Section 11, Range 2, Washington Township. At its mouth is Apple River Island. A little farther east Rush creek flows through the center of the same township, on Section 17; in an early day it was McKillups dam and water power. This stream empties into, the great river on Section 28, where the Burlington Railroad crosses this creek. A little west of the bridge near Marcus station, is where the noted train robbery occurred in 1902. One of the principal tributaries of Rush creek is Camp creek. It gets its name from the fact that during the Blackhawk War and about the time of the attack on the fort at Elizabeth a large body of Indians were camped at the large spring in the beautiful valley which is the headwaters of the creek.

A little further down the river from the mouth of Rush creek is McFarland’s bay, in early days used as a favorite and safe place for wintering rafts of pine logs that were then floated down the river from the pineries, also for wintering steamboats. Below the bay the river flows quite close to the high bluffs, in early days called the Council Bluffs of the upper Mississippi river. They are the highest bluffs anywhere along the river and the most picturesque; here can be seen high upon one perpendicular bluff the profile of an Indian face, in these bluffs is also the noted Bob Upton’s cave. In early days steamboats burned wood and got large supplies from Savanna. At one time, great piles of red cedar taken from the bluffs above the town were to be seen at Savanna waiting for the arrival of some steamboat. This gave some of the early settlers the impression that the much talked of Savanna where they were to land, was “only a wood pile.” For some years the railroads consumed great quantities of wood to make steam in the engines; they got large supplies from timber along the river, most of which belonged to Uncle Sam,—conservation of the forests had not then been thought of. When walnut wood became valuable the great walnut trees, centuries old, were felled by the woodman’s axe. Below Savanna is the big slough through which Plum river enters the Mississippi river, west of this was Savanna lake.

Between the valley of Rush creek and Plum river valley is a ridge road from which fine views are had over both valleys. Plum river is the longest stream in the county. The government survey gave its Indian name as Pecatolikee and marked it, “navigable,” up to “Bowen’s Ferry,” just below where the mill dam of Bowen’s mill used to be. In the north part of Woodland its two branches East and West Plum river come together, the east branch is fed by Crane’s run, on which was Crane’s fort; further up is the Lyn Grove branch, which rises near Lyn Grove on Section 16, Cherry Grove Township and Cherry Grove branch, on Section 13, Feedom Townsuip, on which in years gone by was Bolinger's saw mill.

In the south part of Woodland township the waters of the Waukarusa flow into Plum river, and about twenty rods below its junction on Section 32, there was a sulphur spring, so marked on early maps. The Waukarusa takes its rise south and east of Shannon, the Badger springs starting one of the head branches. Cedar creek is a small stream that flows into it from the south a little above its junction with Plum river, the Pecatolikee. At the head of Cedar creek there is a spring which feeds a fish pond made by Samuel Preston, in which he raised many fine fish.

Plum river and its branches drain the entire north half of the county. Along the dividing line between Plum river valley and Johnson creek valley on the south, there is a ridge road to Savanna. From this road there are beautiful views over the valley on either side extending for many miles, and toward the west as far as the Iowa bluffs along the great river. When the early settlers came from Savanna, having disembarked there from a Mississippi steamboat after a long and wearisome journey, and traveled along this road and looked eastward over the beautiful praries, there spread out before them, they thought they had indeed reached the “Promised Land.”

The southern half of the county is drained by smaller streams. Johnson creek in the west part has its beginning near the center of Salem township, flows through the southeast corner of Mount Carroll township, thence through York toward the Mississippi river bottoms. There originally it was lost in the sands, but some enterprising farmers of that township made dykes on both sides of the channel so as to confine its waters in flood time, thus recovering from the floods and consequent standing waters, some of the most valuable land in the county. The county ditch, dug in 1866, through the Willow Island tract, leading south into Whiteside county, added to the area drained.

In the northeast corner of York township on what was the Tomlinson farm is an artesian well. It was bored by some strangers, who came to this county prospecting, thinking that they would find coal because there was a shale saturated with some kind of oil cropping out in the neighborhood. They were skeptical of the way the geologists read the book of Stone, viz.: that coal is not found in this geological formation, and the deeper they bored the farther they were getting from the coal bearing rocks; they bored down through a very hard rock and at five hundred and fifty feet struck a white sand stone so soft they could not secure a core, and water rose to the surface in a fine flowing well.

In the city of Savanna they get a fine flow of water by boring about four hundred and fifty feet, and two of these wells supply the city with water.

At Mount Carroll the city had a well drilled, with the intention of going deep enough to get flowing water, but no water was reached except in small quantities, until at a depth of two thousand five hundred feet the white sand­stone was struck and the water rose to within forty feet of the surface; it has been frequently analyzed and found to be of the very finest quality. This well is listed as one of the deep wells of the earth.

Rock creek, the headwaters of which begin just south of the city of Lanark, flows south to the southwest corner of Wysox township, where it is joined by Otter creek which takes its rise in the east half of Rock creek township; further east is Elkhorn creek whose headwaters drain Lima township. It was so named on account of the elk horns that have been found in the grove of the same name, some of which are still preserved by citizens of the county. Further east and near the county line is Eagle creek; in an early day on section 16 was Eagle creek mill dam.

On the ridge between the valleys of the Waukarusa and Rock creek a little east and north of the southeast corner of Section 10 in Salem township is what is called High Hill, said by the government surveyors to be the highest point in the county. Near here the roads cross, the one running east and west is called Cyclone Ridge, from the fact that on May 18, 1898 a "Cyclone" passed along this road doing a great deal of damage. From this high bill there is a beautiful view looking out over the once prairie country, which was then treeless but is now dotted with farm houses, school houses and country churches with small clusters of trees and orchards about them. Spread out before the observer are variegated colored, cultivated fields, changing color with the seasons of the year. Here and there can be seen the roofs of immense barns and innumerable smaller buildings for the housing of the farmer’s grain, stock and machinery, and commodious dwellings in many of which at this day, are all the modern conveniences which tend to make life comfortable, gas, light, heat and water systems, while wind mills and pumping engines enable the farmers to be no longer dependent upon springs. The numerous lines of poles remind the observer that neighbor can talk with neighbor over the telephone, and all the world at large.

From an early day considerable mining has been done for lead; principally in Woodland and Mount Carroll townships, although some lead has been mined in Savanna. The geologists say, the mode of the occurence of the galena in the upper mines of the Mississippi river is extremely simple. The geological age of the groups of strata in which the ore is found is lower silurian. In these mines the principal lead bearing rock is a crystaline limestone from two hundred and fifty to two hundred and seventy-five feet in thickness where not partially removed by erosion. The upper portion of this formation is somewhat argillaceous; the middle a very pure heavy bedded dolomite; the lower silurian rock containing numerous flinty masses. This group of strata is locally known as the upper magnesian limestone. It is separated from a rock of very similar character, called the lower magnesian limestone, by three groups of strata, which are commonly designated as the blue limestone, the buff limestone and the St. Peter’s sandstone. The first of these is thin bedded, highly fossiliferous purely calcareous rock.

At Savanna large masses of the rock are composed of casts of pentamorits; some trilobites are also found there. The blue limestone is from fifty to seventy feet in thickness; the buff fifteen to twenty and the sand stone eighty to a hundred. The blue and buff limestones are about the same geological age as the Trento and Black river groups of the New York geological survey. The yield of the upper mines is gradually diminishing; and this will continue to be the case, since the extent of the lead bearing rock is limited and the vertical range of the crevices confined to a moderate thickness. There is no probability that paying mines will be discovered in the lower magnesian limestone. This corresponds with the experience of the miners in this county; the crevices do not extend very deep and are usually very narrow and very few of them; no caves as in the mines about Galena, which often contained large quantities of lead ore. The early miners in Carroll county were usually stopped by the water coming into the shaft, in later years improved machinery was used and the water lowered but with no favorable results. No great strikes were ever made in these mines; sufficient mineral however was found to pay fair wages for the labor expended. The ground most dug over was the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 3 in Mt. Carroll township. This was called the Still House Forty Lead Mine. Whether it was dug over so much on account of its being productive of mineral or because it was convenient to the stillhouse, is a question.

Ten years ago some gentlemen from St. Paul, Minn. prospected quite extensively on Sections 19 and 30 on the farm of Samuel B. Adams for iron ore and other minerals. They leased a number of other tracts for the same purpose. It was thought at one time that they would develop quite an extensive iron mine, and the matter of building a branch railroad from Savanna up the Plum river valley, to haul the ore to Chicago smelting furnaces was talked of; but what ore was taken out, said to be a fine quality of hematite ore, was hauled to Savanna by wagon loads and thence shipped by rail to Chicago; but not finding it in sufficient quantity to warrant the erection of furnaces at the mine or the building of a railroad, the mine was abandoned. There were indications of a more valuable metal which the prospectors expected to find by going deeper into the earth, but so much water interfered with the sinking of the shaft, that project was abandoned. Some of the farmers in that neighborhood still think there are valuable minerals to be found underlying their farms. A more certain fortune however is to be gained by tilling the fertile soil on the surface.

This is situated on the farm that belonged to the late Beers B. Tomlinson on the southeast quarter of Section 35 in Mount Carroll township.

A strata of bituminous shale was discovered in boring for coal. The vein is about six feet thick and covers over one hundred acres, so far as explored. The shale after undergoing a certain process was found to make a very fine inexpensive paint, especially useful in preserving iron. To manufacture the paint a company was formed at Freeport and incorporated, called the Natural Carbon Paint Company. The late Michael Schauer of Shannon, until his recent death, was president of the company, which bought grounds and some buildings and erected others on the north bank of the Pecatonica river at Freeport. Not having sufficient means to carry on the manufacture of the paint they leased the plant to a large paint manufacturing company of Chicago, who are preparing to do an extensive business. The process is to roast the shale in closed retorts, some gas comes off which is burned for heating the retorts, and tarry oil comes off, which has medicinal properties, which have not been thoroughly investigated but it was found that there was a large percentage of carbolic acid in the tar.

The plant is now used for reducing the shale to a dry powder, which is shipped to Chicago where it is manufactured into paint. The capacity of the plant is to use about a car load a day. It has to be hauled ‘by teams from the mine to the Mount Carroll station and loaded on the cars. This mine is not very far from the cutoff, on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad, and eventually a switch will probably be run into the mine and shipments made by rail. This same kind of bituminous shale is found at another place in the county much nearer the railroad and more convenient for shipping or being manufactured into paint.

Quite a number of Indian mounds are to be seen in different parts of the county. They are always objects of interest, and the unanswered questions arise, as to what human hands raised them, and when, and for what object? Certain it is, they were made by the aborigines and they are the only record there is of the existence on this continent of an ancient people. A very interesting work on the mound builders was written by William Pidgeon of Mount Carroll, called the Traditions of De-Coo-Dah; published by Thayer, Bridgeman & Fanning N. Y. 1853. This work has been considered by archeologists to be a very valuable contribution on the subject of which it treats. In our neighboring state of Wisconsin, great interest has been taken in the preservation of these prehistoric remains. The Wisconsin Archeological Society, the State Federation of Womens’ Clubs and local historical societies, have taken it in hand to procure the title to the land on which the mounds are found, and to convert these plats of ground into small parks, wherein the mounds can be preserved from destruction. These parks are used by the public for holding field meetings, picnics and so forth.

The title to Mr. Pidgeon’s work, shows its scope, “Traditions of De-Coo-Dah and Antiquarian Researches; comprising Extensive Explorations, Surveys and Excavations of the wonderful and mysterious earthen remains of the mound builders of America.” “The Traditions of the Last Prophet of the Elk Nation Relative to their Origin and Use, and the Evidences of an Ancient Population more numerous than the Present Aborigines." By William Pidgeon.

“Embellished with seventy engravings descriptive of one hundred and twenty varying relative arrangements, forms of earthern effigies, antique sculptures, etc. Mr. Pidgeon was one of the pioneers of Carroll county, his daughter was the wife of John B. Christian , the first watchmaker and jeweler in the town, who sold clocks and regulated the time for all the inhabitants. He told when the sun was on the meridian from the shadow that his door jamb made with reference to a crack in the floor of his shop and thus obtained the correct time. Tradition has it, that Mr. Pidgeon was a very intelligent gentleman, quite a learned man, spoke several languages. In conversing with the Northern Indians and with De-Coo-Dah he employed an interpreter. It is said Mr. Pidgeon’s treatise was first written in blank verse after the manner of Homer, but the subject being such a matter of historical fact, his publishers advised rewriting it in prose. It is further said that he wrote the book over the cattle pens, where he was employed in feeding the stock on the slops from the distillery in Mount Carroll.

In Chapter XXII, page 175, he gives this account of the “Unfinished Earth Works on Straddle Creek, Illinois :“

“There is, at the junction of Straddle creek with Plum river, four miles west of Mount Carroll, a group of mounds some of which are apparently complete, but many others are in an unfinished state.

“De-Coo-Dah represents these works to have been constructed by a people who were accustomed to burn their dead. The rings or circular mounds shown in the cut, page 59 are from twelve to twenty feet in diameter, and about two feet in height. The earth appears to have been thrown from within, forming a ring and leaving the interior in the form of a basin.

“Each family formed a circle that was held sacred as a family burying place or funeral ground; and when one of the family died, the body was conveyed to this place, and fuel being prepared was placed in the basin and burned. After the body was entirely consumed a thin covering of earth was spread over the ashes. The next death called for similar ceremonies, and so on until the enclosure was filed. Then the ring was raised about two feet, and thus prepared for further use; and this process was repeated as often as became necessary, the diameter of the circle being gradually diminished at the erection of each addition to the ring, giving it finally a conical form. Some of the rings shown in the cut are full, and present a flat surface. There are also two battle burial mounds attached to this group. I sank a shaft in one and was fully satisfied of the correctness of the traditional history, from the fact that after sinking about ten inches, I struck a bed of earth and ashes mingled with particles of charcoal, extending to the bottom of the shaft, which I sank some twelve inches below the bottom of the surrounding surface. This mound was constructed in the form of a tortoise without head, tail or feet, and I presume it contains the ashes of a portion of that nation.” He examined several other mounds and found them constructed in the same manner and composed of the same material.

Continuing, Mr. Pidgeon says, “In the vicinity of this group and about forty perches to the south of it, there is another complete group, where tumular burial was practiced, without fire. The traces of bodies in decomposition are evident. Drs. A. and J. L. Hostetter sunk shafts in two of these mounds, in one of which they found the jaw bone with the teeth of a human being apparently of gigantic proportions. They still retain it in their drug store at Mount Carroll. I presume however, that this was a relic of some recent deposit, as there were also other bones in better state of preservation in the same mound. The other mound adjacent to it was fcund upon examination to contain nothing more than the usual strata of decomposed matter. After a thorough examination of the group, I was satisfied that there had either been a change at some past era, in the common mode of burial, or that region was inhabited by an immense population, at different eras, who practiced tumular burial in different ways. The traditions of De-Ooo-Dah sanction the latter conclusion; and it is further corroborated by the fact that, west of the Mississippi, as far as our researches have extended, we have found in all burial mounds examined, the traces of fire in deposit of charcoal and ashes, while on the east side of that river from the junction of the Missouri to the Fall of St. Anthony we have only found an occasional isolated mound of that description with the single exception of the group on Plum river.

“From these facts in connection with the traditions of De-Coo-Dah, respecting the ancient iiihabitants of these regions, as of various languages, customs and color, we are led to the conclusion that at least two distinct races of men have occupied this territory at different eras, and that both became nationally extinct, anterior to the occupation of the present Indian race.” That these mounds are ancient we know, from the fact that the North American Indians were never known to have erected tumuli at any era known to history or tradition. They did however use these ancient mounds as places for burying their dead, in shallow graves.

About two and one-half miles north of Mount Carroll, on the north side and close to the Arnold’s Grove road, in the field of Mrs. John Souders, are four very interesting Indian mounds. They are conical mounds about seventy-five feet apart, built on the top of the ridge, raised four or five feet above the surrounding surface, each about thirty feet in diameter at the base, and eight or ten feet across the top, which is depressed, forming a basin in the center. About forty years ago some professional men of Mount Carroll dug into one of these mounds, the most easterly one perhaps, as it is disfigured now; they found nothing but bones of some human skeletons. There was then growing on some of these mounds walnut trees two feet in diameter. These mounds are being rapidly destroyed, the depression on the center holds the water from rain and melting snow, and the hogs running in the pasture have made hog-wallows in the top of the mounds, gradually carrying the dirt out so that they have become quite deep holes, of irregular shape. It is unfortunate that something cannot be done to preserve these ancient monuments.

On the ridge on the Bristol farm, on the southeast quarter of section 19, there are three or four conical Indian mounds, and about two miles south of these on the edge of the bluffs, on the old James Wilson farm, in section 29, there are several Indian mounds. These have been superficially examined and bits of skeletons and some relics found. The bluffs here overlook the lakes in the Mississippi valley, where there was an abundance of game. All the mounds thus far mentioned are on high ground, from them there is a fine view of the surrounding country.

There are three distinct Indian mounds on the northeast quarter of section 29 about two and a half miles northwest of the village of Thomson. These are on high ground overlooking the slough and the woods along the Mississippi river. These mounds are in a row north and south almost touching each other at the base and are ten or twelve feet above the level of the ground. From a distance they look quite prominent in the landscape. They seem to he made of sand from the surrounding land with a few rocks that must have been transported to the place. In excavating so as to make an examination of the mounds these rocks interfered so that a thorough examination was not made, by a party that undertook it some thirty years ago. All that this party found in digging into the mound was the bones of the fingers of a human hand.

In the same neighborhood on lower ground, there is one large Indian mound, said to be fifteen rods across at the bottom. It seems to have been made of earth brought from a distance and originally was raised about twenty feet above the natural surface. Where it is located, it has the appearance of having been an island and it is supposed the earth of which it is composed was brought there in canoes, and the object in making it so high was to have the top above the high water in the Mississippi river. It was first dug into by some college students from the south of Thomson; some thirty skeletons were unearthed by this party. Another explorer found in the mound a finger bone that had a thin thread of gold around it. The bodies all lay with their feet toward the center of the mound as appeared from the skeletons found. Nearly every year there is some one digging in this mound, out of idle curiosity to see what they can find. It is also being plowed over for farming purposes, and will soon be a thing of the past. Something ought to be done to arouse sufficient interest in the public so that all the mounds in the country will be preserved and protected from despoilation and destruction.

Many Indian arrows of great variety as to shape and size have been found in the county; also stone axes, weighing from two or three ounces to thirteen and a half pounds, some of them very artistic and with perfectly grooved heads; skinning stones, amulets and a great variety of celts and some Paleoliths and some Neolithic heaps of small stone. These relics are all in the hands of private individuals. Dr. Rinedollar of Mount Carroll has a very fine collection, among which are fifteen stone axes nearly all of which are grooved, and over five hundred arrow heads, about a peck, besides many other fine specimens of the work of the men of the stone age. Captain J. F. Allison had at one time, when he lived at Mount Carroll, a very fine collection of stone axes, found in this county. A permanent organization ought to be formed for the county, for the purpose of preserving historical treasures so that the collections may not be dissipated, and some of the specimens perhaps lost beyond recovery. During the World’s Fair in Chicago, a very fine collection of stone arrow heads and stone axes, made by George Winters of specimens found in Carroll and Jo Daviess counties, was sold to the Illinois World’s Fair Commission. After the fair it was given to the Archeological Exhibit of the University of Illinois.

These now famous walls of rock and beautiful scenery begin just below the city park, Mount Carroll, at Point Rock park, as it is now called, and line the creek on either side for several miles. They are at some places a hundred feet or more in height almost perpendicular. In pioneer days they were crowned with great tall pines that towered an equal stance towards the sky. These walls of rock are so close together at some places, they form what might be called a mountain gorge. They shut out the sunlight, except for a short time during the day, and in the hottest days in summer furnish a delightful shade and cool resort. At other places they also modify the climate in winter; so that at one place, it is as mild as the climate of St. Louis and Southern Illinois; here the paw paws grew and nowhere else so far north. These bushes used to fill the narrow valley along the stream, together with other shrubs and flowers that belonged to a more southern clime. The rocks, which were not entirely perpendicular, were covered with vegetation, and were festooned at all seasons of the year with various kinds of flowers and vines; in some of the damp nooks hanging moss drooped from the branches of the cedars. In winter they were covered with the cedar, and the beautiful dark green hemlock; that drooping over the rugged bluffs seemed to try to cover their nakedness. Intermingled with the green of the cedar and hemlock, was the bitter sweet with its bright red berries.

In spring time these lovely valleys were carpeted with flowers, the trilliums and hepaticas, pink, white, and some tinged with delicate blue, and the anemones and the bluebells, and as spring wore away and the great floods in the creek subsided, so as to make the many fords passable, one could see far up the rugged bluffs, the beautiful columbines, growing out of the crevices of the rocks and covering jutting benches or steps that were only accessible by giant strides. There were many ferns, among which was the beautiful maiden hair fern and that wonder always of children, the walking fern, which in shady places had taken possession of the great moss-covered rocks that lay scattered about the shady valley of the creek. Here also grew that sweetest scented of flowers, the orchis spectabilis, of the same family as the lady slipper, which grew so bountifully in the woods in those days. Later in the fall of the year high up on the overhanging precipices where there ‘did not seem to be soil enough for anything to grow but the mosses and the lichens, of which there was a great variety, grew the beautiful blue hair bell with its long black stem and bell shaped flower, the same that is so much prized by travelers in the mountains of Switzerland.

When the country was new these dells were free to every one and were certainly very grand and beautiful as nature had finished them. The entrance to the dells was by Poet’s Rock. The usual way of seeing them was on horseback; horseback riding was a common means of traveling in those days. Parties were frequently formed for the purpose of going “down to the cave.” Indeed there was no other way in early days to traverse the dells, on account of some twenty-seven times the creek had to be forded to go down as far as the cave. To gallop over the open prairie, and then plunge into the shady recesses of the dells was not an infrequent pastime of the young people of the pioneers.

The cave was a great crevice in the wall of rock, and extended back from the face of the bluff a hundred feet or more, was enlarged, and extended deeper into the ground by the miners digging for lead, which here was found in tiny veins running through the solid rock, so that it and some side chambers could be traversed by man for several hundred feet. To get into the cave it was necessary to cross the creek at this place, either in a rude boat or perhaps a canoe made from a hollow log or on a temporary bridge of poles or planks made by ingenious youths, so that their best girls, they were all best to some of the swains—could get into the cave. In later years the fords were improved so that one could drive down to the cave, mainly through the interest which Judge Patch had taken in having them repaired after every flood which would often make them impassable and sometimes even change the course of the creek, as it does not run straight along its narrow way, but meanders from one high bluff across to another, then back again, and the valley itself was by no means in a straight line, but wound about, some places doubling on itself in cutting through the hills, so that in traversing a distance of nearly two miles in a straight line it winds about for three miles or more. Below the cave is the grotto and along the way are many curious formations which have been given fanciful names, some of which have not been an improvement on those of the early pioneers. What is now known as Point Rock, where one enters the dells, was called Poet’s Rock by the young people of the pioneer days. Here the swains of early days were wont to retire to indite those tender epistles which woii the hearts of the maidens of pioneer days. After this period was passed through the rock became a trysting place for happy lovers. In many places civilization has marred the beauty of these dalles, particularly where they extend through the village; here a dam was built across the narrow valley to raise a water power of twenty feet fall for the Mount Carroll mill.

In the early days this dam formed a beautiful clear lake, very deep and filled with many kinds of game fish. In the summer time it was fine for boating and bathing and in winter for skating, more than a mile in extent, passing up by Day Spring and Day Spring Hollow, which latter places are now fortunately enclosed in the grounds of the Caroline Mark Home , and will in time be made into a beautiful park. When the first settlers came, Mount Carroll was the site of an Indian village, and when the mill dam was being built where the mill pond now is the skeletons of their tepees were still standing. Here it is told that an Indian squaw riding up the stream on her pony placed a foot on either bank and the white man called it Straddle Creek, but the Indian name is Waukarusa. which means, waist deep. Passing further up the stream and two miles from the city, are what might be called the upper dalles of the Waukarusa. Here the natural growth of forest trees has been preserved, and the valley between the bluffs is still filled with great tall walnut, sugar maple, linden, ash and many kinds of oak and other trees, so that within the space of a few acres every kind of tree to be found in this latitude can be seen growing. Here also grows in great abundance the thong wood, of so much use to the Indians in tying together the bark with which they formed their canoes and wigwams.

An ancient oak may be here seen that was probably growing when Columbus discovered America, a stately monarch of the forest,— “What gnarled stretch, what depth of shade is his,” “There needs no crown to mark the forest’s king.” The body of this tree at its smallest girth Is over ten feet in circumference; about fifteen feet from the ground it divides into two enormous, almost perpendicular branches, one of which is over six feet in circumference, and the other over seven; it is sixty feet high and spreads seventy feet in width. In very early days this oak sheltered a hunter’s log cabin; the hearth­stone of its fire place still remains to mark the spot where it stood; from which place can be seen in the distance, looking south, a spring where the deer and elk in early days used to come from the prairies to drink of its cool and refreshing waters. The oak and the violet, which are here such near neighbors, were a few years ago voted by the graded schools of Illinois to be the state tree and the state flower. This old oak overlooks a high bluff where there a perpendicular wall of rock rising from the running water below, some fifty feet in height, and for several rods in length in a straight line, the top is fringed with low bushes and at the upper end of the perpendicular wall of rock is a convenient crevice. This place was used by the Indians in the early days for destroying great numbers of buffalos. Large herds of these animals roamed over the prairies of Illinois in early days. Like many wild animals, they were in the habit of following a leader, and were not easily deflected from the course he was pursuing. The Indians taking advantage of this fact substituted one of their number disguised as a buffalo, with a bison skin with head, ears and horns and no doubt the tail, so that the deception of the dumb animals was quite complete. The herd was then surrounded by the Indians and put to flight towards the one in disguise, who imitating the motion of the erstwhile leader fled towards the cliff with the whole herd following upon his heels. He. took shelter in the crevice of the cliff. The herd having gained great momentum in that direction could not stop, if they would; those in the rear forced the foremost on until they nearly all went over the brink of the precipice to their utter destruction.

In the early days, all along the Waukarusa “bright old inhabitants,” so called by the Indians in a word translated from the Indian tongue, were entirely too numerous for one to be at ease when walking through the woods. This is another of several good reasons parties had for going down to the cave on horseback; these “bright old inhabitants” being very poisonous rattlesnakes. The reader will be glad to know that they are now exterminated in this neighborhood and it is seldom that one is found anywhere in the whole county.

The catamount, that terror of the woods, lived in a cave below the cliff near this ancient oak, when the country was first settled by white men. He no doubt stretched his lithe body along the huge limbs of the old oak and with glaring eyes the blood-thirsty mouth was ready to drop down on his prey, the little rabbit that sought shelter in the depths of the tree’s hollow trunks, or the gentle fawn that was enjoying the grateful shade under its spreading branches. In those days of the early settlers the wild pigeons came to this country in such great flocks as to form clouds that darkened the sun; they used to light on the old oak in great numbers to feed upon its acorns. Further down the stream, above a deep pool, there is a mass of rocks covered here and there with shrubs and cedars and tall trees, over which one can look when standing upon the hillside above. This place and scenery gave to the author of the, “Merchant Prince of Cornville,” some of his ideas, which have since become of world wide notoriety, especially in theatrical circles. This play is claimed by its author to contain the ideas which made such a great success of Edmond Rostand’s great works “Cyrano De Bergerac,” and “L’Aiglon,” and “Le Chantacler.” So near akin is all the world that the palaces of Paris hark back the echoes from the fern clad cliffs of the little stream in Illinois now called the Waukarusa.

Above the upper dells the explorer emerges upon the beautiful prairie, which extends for miles towards the rising sun. In early days it was thought these prairies would never be settled and farmed, although they are the most fertile lands in the country, because there was no water, no wood for building or fuel, nor for making fences to enclose the cultivated fields, to keep off the roving bands of cattle that grazed at large for miles around. The beauty of the scene was however, impressed upon the early settler. In the springtime the prairie was a delicate green; among the blades of grass were such tiny flowers, as the violet and the strawberry, and many others of delicate tints and of unknown names; these covered valley and knoll, making a trackless sea of billowy verdure. The observer soon became aware that he must take note of his bearings, or he would be lost among the green knolls, as there was nothing to mark his way. The horizon was an unbroken circle of green which met the sky. As the season advanced toward mid­summer in the grass were delicate tiny flowers, —the violet and others more conspicuous and gaudy. In the autumn, yellow was the predominating color of the flowers which were then very beautiful. The prairie had a beauty of its own, which beggars description; it has vanished forever; we shall never see its like again.