of Menard and Mason Counties
By T.G. Onstott
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CHAPTER XLIII Page 399 In 1845, just fifty years ago, when a lad of fifteen, we first set our foot on Riverside soil at the south end near the mound. A German by the name of John Shulte had erected a warehouse there and kept a small store in the upper story. He soon had the German trade as far east as Long Point. We recollect seeing the Himmel's and Wessling's and Bishop's hauling their grain there, and it is believed that about as much grain was marketed there as at Havana. The grain all being sacked up, a steamboat would land along side of the house and for several hours load out of the warehouse. The untimely death of John Shulte was caused by his going down in his well to clean it out. The rope broke, and the bucket struck him on the head, killing him instantly. Mrs. Shulte continued the business for a number of years and was married again to John Korhman, but died back of 1850. She was of strong mind and could hold her own with any kind of a customer. We recollect one day when a boat was loading a captain was filling his pockets out of an egg basket, when Mrs. Schulte with a board gave his coat a whack and broke all his eggs. The mound at that day contained many Indian relics and was no doubt built by the red men as were other mounds above Havana. Steam boating was then the only mode of conveyance and the old single engined boats could be heard for five miles and as we lived only half a mile back we had time to get there and see the boats pass. Among the first-class boats were the Ocean Wave, Prairie State, John J. Hardin, Die Vernon and Connecticut. In 1848 the first boat with a steam whistle came up and its unearthly scream alarmed the whole country for miles around. Our first impression was that the "biler had busted." Where the grounds are located we have killed dozens of squirrels and caught catfish in front of the park that weighed from ten to twenty pounds. Little did we dream than in a half of a century thousands of people representing the culture and advanced civilization of the age would tent upon the ground, where the deer and wolf had held disputed sway, and that the peerless Divine who had entranced the world, by his eloquence, or that the inimitable Sam Jones should hold an audience on the banks of the majestic Illinois.
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