Centennial History
of
Mason County
By Joseph Cochrane
Springfield, Ill., 1876

CROP STATISTICS, ETC., IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY
Page 46

A statement of the property assessed and taxes charged in Mason county for the year 1853:
		Articles.		No.		Amount.

		Horses……………………………………….2,316		$99,862 00
		Neat Cattle…………………………………..5,052		  53,114 00
		Mules and asses……………………………….170		    7,400 00
		Sheep………………………………………...1,880		    1,879 00
		Hogs…………………………………………7,965		  15,387 00
		Carriages and Wagons………………………...959		  29,105 00
		Clocks and watches……………………………763		    4,110 00
		Merchandise…………………………………………	  42,015 00
		Manufactured articles………………………………..	    1,850 00
		Money and credits……………………………………	109,817 00
		Unenumerated property……………………………..	  39,161 00
			Aggregate…………………………………….         $399,730 00
			Deductions…………………………………..	  46,011 00
									          $353,719 00
		Lands………………………………….$921,689 20
		Town lots ………………………………..90,524 00
			Total lands and lots……………………………… $1,012,213 20
									        $1,365,032 20

The following statement of the amounts of corn and wheat raised in this county in 1853, is the aggregate from the Assessor's lists:

		Number of bushels corn in 1853………………………………1,158,400
		Number of bushels wheat in 1853……………………………….187,648
			Total……………………………………………………1.246.048

		Corn, at 28 cents, amounts to …………………………….…$324,371 60
		Wheat, at 90 cents, amounts to …………………………….....168,883 20
			Total……………………………………….…………$493,254 80
							Robert McReynolds,
								Assessor of Mason Co.

"Twenty years previous, the region of country then-in 1853-known as Mason county was one unbroken wilderness. Here and there, near the point of some timber, near the bank of some creek or stream, the log cabin of the pioneer, with a few acres of land beginning to be cultivated, was the only indication of civilization. The government owned the land, and $1 25 per acre was no inducement to settlers so long as any quantity of what was considered vastly better soil could be purchased at the same price. Emigrants avoided these plains and sandridges as unworthy their notice. The productive qualities of the soil had not been tested, and very few were willing to run the risk and make the experiment. It was not until land was growing scarce, in what were considered more favored localities, that purchases began to be made here. The settler very soon found, however, that his prejudices were unfounded-that an exuberance of productive power was here disguised under an exterior show of poverty. The facts becoming known, the settlers flocked in, and have continued to come, until now-1853-there is scarcely any unentered lands to be found anywhere in the county. Thousands of acres have been taken up by speculators, in the confident expectation of realizing a fortune by selling again. Men who were conversant with this state of things, sixteen, or even ten years ago, are astonished to behold the changes even ten years have wrought; any amount of land that then could have been purchased at government price, is now held at from 10 to 25 dollars per acre, and no anxiety to sell at that price. There has been a steady, uniform and onward progress. Many a farmer who came here a few years ago, with barely sufficient means to enter a small tract, forty or eighty acres, or perhaps a quarter section, is now in comfortable circumstances; some of them rich-became so by agriculture. Mason county may safely challenge the State, and if the State, the world, to raise better crops, with the same amount of cultivation. Indeed, the very fertility of the soil induces a system of farming, that in a soil of less strength would be less than useless. Scientific agriculture has as yet received very little attention from our farmers, and though we are happy to be able to record the fact that a movement has recently been made by a few, which, if carried out, will tend greatly to improve the modes of operation in this, the most beneficial of all the branches of human industry. Under the best system of management that science has yet discovered, the farmers of the older States are not able to compete with ours who have taken very little trouble in reference to the matter. How vastly more productive our virgin soil might be made by a practical application of all the knowledge that is attainable on this subject."

STATEMENT OF THE FINANCIAL AFFAIRS OF MASON COUNTY,
JUNE 30, 1857

		By amount of cash in hands of the Treasurer of county…….$2,691 71
		Amount of county revenue for 1856………………………….5,466 55
										$8,148 26
		Amount paid by J. P. West, Collector, as part of 
			Revenue for 1856…………………...$4,350 78	
		County orders unredeemed…………………...1,952 21
		Jury certificates…………………………………112 70
										 $6,415 69	
			Balance in favor of county…………………………...$1,723 57	
								Adolph Krebaum,
										Clerk.

The progress of agriculture in this county and in the State has more than exceeded the expectations of the most sanguine. In the year 1867, we compiled from statistical reports the following, as to

THE CROPS IN ILLINOIS.
Our people have but little conception of the amount of produce raised in our State. They know the soil is prolific, and that in their immediate vicinity there is a great yield. Further than this, they have no idea of the aggregate of the crops of the State. It would astonish most of them to be told that last year there were in Illinois 4,931,783 acres of corn planted, and that the product from these acres amounts to 155,844,350 bushels; 2,195,263 acres were cropped with wheat, yielding 28,551,421 bushels; rye spread over 43,721, giving 666,455 bushels, enough to make whisky sufficient to demoralize the whole State. In oats there were 883,952 acres, producing 30,054,370 bushels.

Barley occupied 41,510 acres, giving 1,037,753 bushels. Buckwheat, 16,250 acres, raising 273,010 bushels. Potatoes took up 58,982 acres, and yielded 4,102,035 bushels. The hay crop covered 1,591,880 acres, and turned off 2,340,063 tons, and 25,578 acres were in tobacco, yielding 17,546,981 pounds. The crops above enumerated occupied 9,788,920 acres, valued at $160,148,704. In this statement there is no account taken of the various fruit crops for which our State is so famous. With these counted in, the value of our products would be considerably swollen, and we should show a wealth of agricultural products which cannot be rivaled by any State in the Union.

It must be remembered that not more than one-sixth of our land is under cultivation, if there is more than one acre in seven. Truly, our State is a giant, rich in soil, and teeming with muscle and intellect. Running through five degrees of latitude, we present a climate and variety of soils which are truly the admiration of our sister States. From Galena to Cairo we present the various fruits and products raised in the temperate climates. Our grazing fields are not to be surpassed by any in the world. Our cotton grows luxuriantly, and our hemp, flax and tobacco are fast becoming staple articles.

In this showing no mention has been made of our sorghum crop. The number of acres in this article has not been ascertained; yet, from all we can gather, a large surface must have been put in, and the yield highly flattering and remunerative. The root crops, too, have not been considered, and yet there can be no doubt but thousands of acres were devoted to them last year, and that the value of their products reached millions of dollars.

Who can say that the dwellers in our State should not be proud of her? Her broad and beautiful prairies, and our groves of luxuriant timber, are objects over which we can feel a just pride. In all that goes to make up a great State, we can be excelled in but few, if any particulars. Our soil, our railroads, and other facilities, besides bordering on a great inland sea, peculiarly fit Illinois for the title of the Empire State of the great Northwest.

From the Mason county Herald, December, 1854, we extract the following statement of the exports of Havana for the year 1854:

	Exports.	Bu. To Chicago.	Bu. St. Louis.		Total Bu.
	Wheat………………………………..57,386			  57,386
	Corn………… 323,518		38,800			362,318
	Oats…………....  4,800		20,000			  24,800	
	Rye……………...3,500		  3.000			    6,500
	Potatoes……………………………….3,000			    3,000
	Beans………………………………….1,000			    1,000
	Total bushels…331,818	           123,186		455,004

Exports.
To St. Louis.

	Hides………………………………………………………...500
	Butter…………………………………………………..6,000 lbs
	Rags……………………………………………………7,000 lbs.
	Lard……………………………………………………..300 bbls.	
	Bulk meat…………………………………………...5,300 pieces.

Articles manufactured in Havana and sold in the year 1854:

	Cooperage, valued at……………………………………...$2,000
	Saddlery, valued at…………………………………………5,000
	Saddlery, valued at…………………………………………5,000
	Plows, valued at………………………………………….…5,000
	Boots and Shoes, valued at………………………………....6,000
	Stoves and Tinware, valued at…………………………….10,000
	Sundries, valued at………………………………………….4,000		
		Total……………………………………………...$31,000	
Lumber sold-1,500,000 feet; worth $33,000.

Exports of Bath for 1854. Reported by G. H. Campbell:

	Corn……………………………………………………200,000 bu.
	Wheat……………………………………………………25,000 bu.
	Rye………………………………………………………..4,500 bu.
	Oats……………………………………………………….6,000 bu.

Pork slaughtered, over two thousand head. Bath has one steam flouring mill and two steam saw mills.

The population of Mason county in 1845 was 3,135; in 1850 it was 5,921; in 1854 it was estimated at 8,000.
In 1848 Havana contained 151 population.
In 1850 Havana contained 462 population.
In 1854 Havana contained 800 population. (Estimated.)

From the books of the State Auditor we get the following as to the number of domestic animals on the first of May, 1876, and the number of acres in grain last year.
In Mason county there were of-

	Horses……………………………………………………….6,131
	Cattle………………………………………………………...8,334
	Sheep…………………………………………………………..640
	Hogs………………………………………………………...15,883
	Total horses in Illinois…………………………………….924,044
	Total cattle in Illinois……………………………………1,861,278
	Total sheep in Illinois……………………………………...826,077
	Total hogs in Illinois……………………………………..2,670,363
	Wheat in Mason county…………………………………8,083 acres
	Corn in Mason county	…………………………………96,542    "
	Other grains in Mason county	…………………………16,458    "
	Orchards in Mason county………………………………1,509    "
	Total wheat in Illinois	………………………………2,005,262    "
	Total corn in Illinois…………………………………8,218,299   "
	Total other crops in Illinois………………………….2,277,615    "
Total orchard in Illinois………………………………..312,902    "

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