pg. 977

In 1837, Warren Wilson, Nathaniel Dorrance, Silas Marshall, Misses Harriet and Susan Dodge, George S. Moore, arrived in Port Byron. Mr. Wilcox was the first carpenter and joiner, and built many of the best houses here, for he was a master workman. Nathaniel Dorrance was actively engaged in building, and later with Tillotson C. Temple and Jacob Dickinson built a steam saw and grist mill. They cut lumber, bought and ground grain, shipping the flour to St. Louis. Miss Harriet Dodge taught the second school in a log cabin near the river. She became the wife of George S. Moore.

The township was covered with large trees. The prairie fires that burned over the entire region every fall killed animals and the small growth, leaving what were called barrens or oak openings. These fires lasted for several weeks, filling the air with smoke, and the period was called Indian summer.

The land sloping toward the river, was covered with beautiful wild flowers in the proper season, and presented a charming appearance. Wild game was found in abundance, including deer, squirrels, pigeons, quail, pheasants, etc. There were other wild creatures, such as wolves, badgers, coons, minks, muskrats, and wild cats. Wild bees were common, and honey plentiful. Wild fruit was abundant, for there were crab apples, grapes, plums, blackberries, strawberries, nuts, etc. Corn, vegetables and other farm produce was grown easily and of good quality. At first there was little wheat or small grain raised because of the lack of mills to grind it, and no market. Peaches and apples were planted, and the early settlers believed this was an ideal climate for fruit raising.

Birds were, eagles, geese, ducks, prairie chickens, pheasants, quail, pigeons, wild turkeys, blackbirds, etc. Fish were, pike, pickerel, black and white bass, salmon, buffalo catfish, sunfish, redhorse, suckers, perch, sturgeon, eels, shad, etc.

pg. 978-9

CONCERNING SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES

Indians frequently visited the school taught by Miss Dodge, through curiosity, and had to be asked to go away, as the number of them peering in through the small window, excluded the light. The log cabins were built of logs, a story high, chinked and plastered with clay, and a fireplace and chimney, at the end of the building, were built of stone at the base, and sticks at the top, and covered with clay mud, both within and without. The roof was covered with clapboards, about three feet long, nailed to small logs placed lengthwise of the cabin. The floor was made of puncheons, or thick planks split out of logs with wedges. They were comfortable when a good fire was burning, but very cold without one. In 1843, a brick schoolhouse was constructed and paid for by subscription, with a fireplace in the west end, and a stove in the east end of the building. The teachers were all hired and paid by the parents who subscribed the necessary amount Sunday school was held regularly every Sunday in this building, and singing and spelling schools, also lectures and the local entertainments of all kinds, for it was the only hall. In the evening, the room was lighted with candles.

The Methodist church was built in the early fifties, the Rev. Stephen Odell, and his son John, laying the brick, Warren Wilcox being the carpenter and joiner.

The Congregational church was built soon afterwards. The Rev. William A. Thompson was pastor for a number of years, but was drowned in the Maraias dâOgee slough, while crossing it during a storm, into Whiteside county to preach.

Elders St. Claire, Hooper, Cruse, Worthington when on their itinerary over the northern part of the state were occasional visitors, being entertained by Dr. Jeremiah H. Lyford, in his home, a one-story, two-room cabin, in the thirties and forties. Charles Beach was Sunday school superintendent for many years in Port Byron, living in Iowa. Camp meetings were in evidence every year, being held in the beautiful sugar maple groves, supplied with plenty of spring water. People came great distances with their families, camping in tents and improvised houses. These meetings resulted in the regeneration of their moral and religious lives, giving them an uplift for the benefit of all the community.

In early days, women did their washing on the banks of the river under shady trees. Water and wood was in abundance. Many owned a large wash kettle, under which a fire was built. When the washing was done, the clean clothing was hung on the crab apple, plum trees and grape vines. During the proper season, these trees and shrubs were covered with blossoms, whose beauty and fragrance were appreciated by every one traveling along the public highway.

The Maraias d'Ogee slough, the outlet of the two great rivers, named by an early French explorer, is in a low depression, the boundary line between Rock Island county and Whiteside county, on the north, where in the olden time, before the dyke was built, the water overflowed when the Mississippi river was at its highest, and when the latter was at its highest, the slough overflowed into the Mississippi river.

Port Byron was on the route of the Underground Railroad before the war. Dr. J. H. Lyford was one of those who assisted the slaves to escape from bondage to freedom, as they followed the North Star on the way to Canada, where they could where they could become free and independent men.

A peculiar depression (or slough) in the southwestern part of Whiteside County, connecting the Mississippi and Rock Rivers, through which, in times of freshets, the former sometimes discharges a part of its waters into the latter. On the other hand, when Rock River is relatively higher, it sometimes discharges through the same channel into the Mississippi. Its general course is north and south.÷Cat-Tail Slough, a similar depression, runs nearly parallel with the Maredosia, at a distance of five or six miles from the latter. The highest point in the Maredosia above low water in the Mississippi is thirteen feet, and that in the Cat-Tail Slough is twenty-six feet. Each is believed, at some time, to have served as a channel for the Mississippi.

Each time the Mississippi River was its ally, throwing the thunderous might of its spring floods against the dikes west of Albany. In 1938 the Mississippi won the battle, smashing the dikes and spilling six to seven feet of water over thousands of acres of farm land. Had the Fish and Wildlife Service been financially strong at that time, the flood-ravaged bottoms could have been purchased and some of the great marsh preserved. But such was not the case.

During the flood of 1965, the dikes west of Albany held firmly. If those levees had broken, Ol' Miss would have sent millions of gallons of water pouring across the "Dosia," roaring toward Rock River and creating a vast inland lake. Perhaps it might have changed the whole course of the record flood that year.

Today the Meredosia Bottoms still attracts hunters and fishermen. Ducks and geese can be found in limited numbers each fall, working the drainage ditches, few remaining marsh pockets, or the corn fields.

Dove hunting is a major sport, especially on the sand hills and bluffs along its stern edge. Crappies, bluegills, bass, bullheads, carp, and a few bass are taken from the drainage ditches and remaining sloughs. Of late, pheasants, quail, and Hungarian partridge have taken up residence on the rich agricultural lands.

The bottoms, best known as "The Meredosia," still have pockets of water on the Mississippi River Side. Years ago, the section had many picturesque areas known as Hickory Island, Willow Island, Black Slough and Sand Slough.

One of the few remaining traces of this bountiful wetland is a 60-acre tract of near virgin marsh owned by Jean Pope of East Moline. Pope, perhaps one of the finest wing and trap shots this country ever produced, is a rugged individual and outdoorsman, who still goes back to the "Dosia" each fall to hunt ducks and geese. He's been hunting there since the early 1900s, when ducks and geese could be shot spring and fall. His tales of shooting experiences are almost unbelievable when one considers today's bag limits. But, Pope speaks the truth, for the Meredosia Bottoms were a waterfowl paradise second to none, and there were 200,000,000 or more ducks and geese in that era.

Man came to the "sea of willows" and found there a natural wonder that overflowed with game birds, fish, and animals. This marsh was, in all respects, comparable to the Great Dismal Swamp in the Carolinas and Virginia or Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia. Little survives of the "Dosia" today because man was able to drain it, plow it, and harvest crops from its rich bottom lands.

Whether or not man did right is always open to question, and in this day of vanishing wetlands, when the tile line and drainage ditch take precedence over many of our natural habitat areas, we may never really know how much we lost when the Meredosia Bottoms, as a marsh, ceased to exist. Certainly, there will never be another "sea of willows" quite like it in this country.

Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Rock Island County --1914
Submitted by Mary Lou Schaechter

Submitted by Mary Lou Schaechter and summarized by Diana Alm