Clark County IL Archives History - Books .....Chapter I - General Features  1907
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Book Title: Historical Encyclopedia Of Illinois And History Of Clark County

CHAPTER I.

GENERAL FEATURES.

   Clark County is situated on the eastern border of Illinois, about midway
between Chicago and Cairo. It is bounded on the north by Edgar and Coles
Counties, on the west by Coles and Cumberland Counties, on the south by Jasper
and Crawford Counties, and on the east by the Wabash River and Vigo County,
Indiana.

   The county is divided into fifteen political townships, now under township
organization, and has a board of fifteen Supervisors, one for each township. The
townships are named as follows: Anderson, Auburn, Casey, Darwin, Dolson,
Douglas, Johnson, Marshall, Martinsville, Melrose, Orange, Parker, Westfield,
Wabash and York. These townships vary in extent, but some are six miles square.
Wabash is the largest, and Auburn the smallest in size. The county contains
about five hundred and nineteen square miles, and about three hundred and
thirty-one thousand acres of land. The surface in the western and southern parts
is rolling prairie or level land from which the timber has been largely cleared
away. In Douglas, Marshall, Wabash, Upper Darwin, Anderson, Melrose, Auburn and
Martinsville, there are some hills, gullies and rough land, but not enough to
detract materially from its value or utility for farming and grazing purposes.
In portions of Westfield Township, especially in the "Rich Woods" district, the
soil is of a rich black or dark gray formation, mixed with a little sand and
yellow clay, and is wonderfully productive, blue grass and all other grazing and
general farm produce growing with wonderful fecundity. In York, Darwin, and
Portions of Wabash Township, the soil is of a black or dark gray sand formation,
consisting -of a rich, dark loam, warm, mellow, and usually level or slightly
rolling land. Wheat, corn, oats, clover, alfalfa, melons, sweet potatoes, and
all kinds of vegetables and garden truck, of fine quality, and usually with the
utmost certainty, are grown here, and all of these crops, owing to the warm,
sandy nature of the soil, are, on an average, several weeks ahead of those
produced in other parts of the county, What are known as the Wabash, Big Creek,
Raccoon Creek, Mill Creek, Hurricane Creek and the Embarrass bottom lands are
also productive above the average, and adapted particularly to corn, wheat and
hay, especially the former. In this region are produced, in good years, from
forty to eighty and even as high as ninety bushels of corn per acre.

   Walnut and Union Prairies, in Darwin and York Townships, are among the finest
wheat lands in average acreage in the State, and the wheat grown there is of
superior quality. James Mundy had one wheat field this year on Walnut Prairie
that averaged more than forty-eight bushels per acre, and it is likely that the
wheat lands of both Walnut and Union Prairies average twenty-five bushels per
acre. The county is extensively tiled, and is also well drained by the north
fork of the Embarrass River and Willow Creek in the west and southwest; by Big
Creek and Hurricane Creek in the northeast and east; and by Mill, Raccoon and
Snyder Creeks and the Wabash River in the middle-west, south and southeastern
portions. The county is not particularly rich in building stone, if so it has
not yet been developed, but it contains enough good sand, gravel, lime stone and
sand stone, for mortar, grout, concrete, macadamizing and road, culvert and
bridge purposes generally, while the drilling for coal, water, gas and oil in
the various parts of the county, has amply shown that the county is practically
underlaid, throughout its entire length and breadth, with rich veins of good
quality coal, form two to seven and eight feet in thickness, and usually roofed
with slate, stone, or some other substantial substance suitable to make this
coal easily accessible for mining and commercial purposes. The coal is found at
a depth of from three hundred to eight hundred feet. The western and
middle-western parts of the county have also proven to be rich in oil and gas.
These rich and useful products have always been found, and are still being found
in large quantities, and at an average depth of about five hundred feet, so that
gas and oil wells that cost on an average of twelve hundred dollars here, cost
as much as two thousand dollars in Crawford County, where oil and gas are being
found and marketed in large and valuable quantities. The oil of Clark County is
of a high grade, and is selling at about seventy cents a barrel at the wells.
Drilling for oil and gas were begun at Oil Fields, in Parker Township, in a rude
and unsatisfactory way, many" years ago, and although wells were put down over
twelve hundred feet, and gas found, the prospectors did not discover oil in
paying quantities, although now, Oil Field, as it was then and is now called, is
honeycombed with paying wells at an average depth of between four or five
hundred feet. These early drillings were begun and prosecuted on the farm of
Timothy R. Young, in section 17, Parker Township, but although the ardent dreams
of Mr. Young, the elder, were doomed to sore disappointment, his son and
daughter, Kimball and Nellie Young, who were wise enough to retain the property
after their honored father's death, are waxing richer every day from the twenty
or twenty-five good producing wells now being operated night and day on the same
identical lands. It now seems strange indeed that wells should have been drilled
on these lands to a depth of eight and twelve hundred feet, and no oil in paying
quantities discovered, when it is now being produced there in great quantities
from wells of four and five hundred feet in depth. The discoveries and
productions of these oil and gas wells of Westfield, Parker, Casey, Johnson,
Orange and Martinsville Townships have been far beyond the dreams of the most
sanguine land owner, lessee or operator, reference to which will be more fully
made in a special chapter devoted to the gas and oil industries of Clark County,
further along in these histories. The principal agricultural productions of the
county, as be-fore intimated, include corn, wheat, oats, hay, melons, fruits and
broom corn, and practically all other kinds of agricultural productions
indigenous to this latitude and climate, while cattle, horses, mules, hogs and
poultry are raised in large quantities, and of good breed and quality. Butter,
eggs and milk products are also produced in large and increasing quantities, and
bring in quite a large total revenue to the citizens of the county.

   Clark County is the fortunate possessor of two splendidly equipped and ably
managed through lines of railroads, the Terre Haute & Indianapolis, usually
called the Vandalia Railroad; and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis
Railroad, usually and popularly-known as the Big Four. These great arteries of
trade, of travel and of freight span the county from north to south, and from
east to west, intersecting each other at Marshall, the county seat of Clark
County. The county also has the Terre Haute & Peoria Railroad, running through
the northeastern part of the county, and the Siddell & Olney Railroad, a branch
of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad running through the western part
of the county from Westfield, through Westfield, Parker and Casey Townships, and
the city of Casey, on to Olney, and farther south. The great and useful
macadamized National Road, about ninety feet wide, splendidly bridged and
culverted, also passes from east to west through the county, touching Marshall,
Auburn, Martinsville and Casey. This road was built many years ago by the
government, and extends from Cumberland, Maryland, to St. Louis, Missouri. It
was constructed, as all public works of the government are, of the best material
and in the best possible way, and is still as good as it was when first opened
up for travel, yes, a good deal better than it was then. It is now owned by the
State or county, and is under control of the Highway Commissioners of the
several townships through which it runs. An immense improvement has taken place
in the roads and bridges of Clark County within the last fifteen years. New
roads have been laid out, useless ones vacated, stone culverts and iron bridges
have taken the place of the old wooden ones. In addition, a scientific and
systematic improvement of farm lands may be noted with the result that they have
practically doubled in value and selling price. Lands that fifteen years ago
could have been bought for thirty-five and forty dollars per acre now bring
sixty, seventy or eighty dollars per acre, and a few highly improved farms of
York, and perhaps Darwin, Westfield and Marshall Townships, could be sold for as
much as even ninety and one hundred dollars per acre: while the oil lands of
Westfield^ Parker, Johnson, Casey, Orange and Martinsville Townships, are simply
not for sale. Astounding prices have, and are being paid for the gas and oil
privileges of some of these lands. A consideration of forty or fifty dollars per
acre, and one-sixth of the oil is not an unusual price, while as much as three
and four hundred dollars per acre have been actually paid or refused.

   Clark County has no bonded indebtedness. Her land owners are practically out
of debt, and many of them have snug bank accounts, with the banking institutions
of Marshall, Casey, Martinsville and Westfield, and many also have money loaned
out at good interest, and on gilt-edged security. Of the principal cities,
villages, towns and trading points of Clark County are Marshall, Casey,
Martinsville, Westfield, West Union, York, Auburn (Clark Center) and Walnut
Prairie. Besides these, there are also Melrose, Orange, Moonshine, Livingston
(Cohn), McKeen, Dennison, Castle Finn, Doyles, and other points. Marshall, the
county seat and principal city in the county, both in resident population, and
municipal importance, is situated at about the geographical center of the
county, and for beauty, healthfulness, and permanent and steady growing business
importance, is unrivalled. Its-side-walks, streets and alleys are noted for
their clean, well kept, substantial character; its shade trees are noted for
their beauty, size and abundance; the general lay of the land on which the city
rests is ideal in contour for a city, the ground sloping gradually to all points
of the compass from the Public, or Court House Square, making the city all that
could be desired for drainage purposes. Its telephone, telegraph, water and
electric light facilities and systems are well conceived, well regulated and
well served; its supply of abundant and pure, healthful water, drawn from driven
wells on the banks of Big Creek, two miles east of the city, is unsurpassed, if
indeed equaled by any city or town of equal or anything like equal size in the
State.

   The Clark County Court House, at Marshall, while not as artistic and
beautiful as some other buildings of the kind in the State, is better
ventilated, better lighted, better arranged, and more convenient than the
average in the state of Illinois. The public schools and school buildings are
above the average, while its Township High School Building is not surpassed in
beauty, arrangement and size, in any city of like population, or in any county
of equal wealth and terrritory, in Illionis. It is an honor to the men who
conceived, had charge of, and built it, and stands as a fitting monument to the
progressive spirit and educational progress of Marshall and Marshall Township.
The churches of Marshall are not up to the standard of cities and towns of its
size and importance, in Illinois. Marshall has a condensary, two good mills and
other industries, but no manufactories to speak of. Its business men are
conservative and safe, and its people generally are noted for their
self-restraint, ability and public spiritedness. Many good mining exploiters and
promoters of other wildcat schemes, who had been eminently successful in other
small cities, have run against a solid stone wall of indifference in Marshall,
and in no town or city of the State do get-rich schemes fare so badly. The city
has two good banks, two good hotels, fine restaurants, and several dry goods,
hardware, clothing, boot and shoe stores. In Marshall, men and women come as
near passing for what they are actually worth, from an honest, manly, good
citizen standpoint, regardless of financial and ancestral standing, as in any
other place in the State.

   The Standard Oil Company has recently purchased the large and commodious
Judge Fenton W. Booth residence, one block south of the Public Square, and in
its nineteen large and well arranged rooms, have established offices for the
handling of its vast oil industry of Illinois and the Wabash Valley; while the
pipe lines of the company pass near Marshall from the oil fields of Clark County
to Whiting, Indiana, where this giant corporation has an extensive refinery.

   Casey, in the western part of Clark County, at the intersection of the Terre
Haute & Indianapolis and Sidell & Olney Railroads, is the second city in size
and importance in the county, its only possible rivals being West-field and
Martinsville. Casey is seventeen miles southwest of Marshall, and near the
western border of the county. It has had a rapid growth in population, building
and expansion of both business and trade during the past three years. In fact
its material progress has been greater by far than any other city, village or
town in the county, during that time, and, counting its transcient gas and oil
prospecting, owning and developing population, is almost equal to that of
Marshall. It is the center of the oil and gas supply developing and shipping
industry of the county. It has two good newspapers and Fred E. Moore, the
publisher of the Casey Commercial, has through his paper, and through his
individual labors done more for Casey, and the business of that city, than any
hundred other men in it. The city government of Casey and the citizens in
general of that hustling, thriving little city, deserve great credit for the way
they have expanded, built up and improved their city, and for the way they have
encouraged and handled the immense oil and gas industries, and other business
interests that followed in their wake, and which all came rushing upon them from
the discovery and development of the oil and gas fields of Westfield, Parker,
Casey and Johnson Townships, in their immediate vicinity, and the contiguous
territory of Cumberland County, as well as for the pushing and enterprising
spirit of its people, and which has resulted in such substantial material
prosperity, both to their city, their township and to their county, during the
past few years. It is not improbable, if Casey can only hold its own and make
advancement after the oil fields are all fully developed, that she may become
the largest city or town in population in the county; but owing to what nature
as well as her own citizens have done for Marshall, she can never, it is
thought, become a serious rival of Marshall as a place to reside and enjoy life
and good health. It should be said, however, that Casey has taken steps to put
in improved streets, and water and sewerage systems, which will greatly improve
her beauty and healthfulness, and make of it a much better city in which to live
and enjoy the comforts and conveniences of modern urban life than before, and if
so, then Marshall must look to her laurels, else she be made to take the second
place in population, wealth and importance in Clark County.

   Martinsville, the third city of Clark County in population and business
importance, lies along the Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad, about twelve
miles southwest of Marshall. It is a thrifty, thriving, prosperous little city,
with good schools, good churches, and up to date business houses. Except
Westfield and Casey, it is nearer than any town or city in the county to the
principal oil and gas fields, and besides has paying oil and gas wells in its
own township. The Illinois Oil and Gas Company, one of the largest of the kind
in the county, was organized at Martinsville, and those owning the principal
part of the stock reside there; and moreover, Martinsville is to have the
pumping station for the Standard Oil Company's Clark County pipe line, and
immense oil tanks, of giant capacity, are to be built and operated here. It is
likely that, with the exception of Casey, Martinsville will be more benefited by
the oil and gas developments than any town or city in the county. The principal,
and some of the best gas wells in the county at this time are in Martinsville
Township.

   Westfield, the fourth town in the county, and the third as to profit by the
oil and gas developments of her neighborhood, is in the extreme northwestern
part of Clark County, on the Sidell & Olney Railroad. It is the seat of
Westfield College, the only college in the county, is surrounded by rich, black
fertile blue grass and corn lands, and is a clean, pretty well kept and well
governed little village. Its people are industrious, intelligent and moral.

   The towns of York and Darwin, down on the Wabash River, deserve special
mention, for the reasons that it was upon the soil where they stand that the
first settlers of Clark County, away back in the early days of the eighteenth
century, first set their feet. They have the distinction of being the first
towns, I do not count Aurora, to be spoken of more extensively hereafter, laid
off in Clark County, and also at about the same time, though York was probably a
little ahead in this regard. These ancient towns are surrounded by the richest,
and, taken as a whole, most valuable farm lands of the county, but their star of
ascendancy is on the wane, because of the failure of river navigation, through
the continuous shallowing of the river and the inutility of river navigation, by
reason of the Big Four Railroad running a mile and half west of York, and three
miles west of Darwin, instead of through them, as it should have done, and other
causes, the glory of these towns has departed, it is feared not soon, if indeed
ever, to return. It does not seem that anything, unless it be the striking of
oil and gas in their immediate vicinity, the developement of the mines of coal
which undoubtedly lie beneath them, or proper railroad facilities, interurban or
otherwise, can ever breathe into their shrunken and still shrinking bodies the
breath of a new and more prosperous life. Cut off from near railroad facilities
on the west, and an unnavigable river on the east, their decay was certain, and
it has, since about 1865, been slow but sure.

   West Union, a comparatively new town, one that has sprung up in the western
part of York Township, on the line of the Big Four Railroad, and about five
miles northwest of York, has reached the dignity of being the fifth largest
town, and the fifth best business point in Clark County. In fact, it is probable
that it now contains more people than any other town in the county, except
Marshall, Casey, Martinsville, and Westfield. It is the largest and the best
business point on the line of the Big Four in Clark County, with the single
exception of Marshall. It was at Aurora, two miles north of Darwin, on the
Wabash River, that the first county seat of Clark County was established in
1819, and it was the town of Auburn (Clark Centre) five miles west of Marshall
on the National Road, and at nearly the exact center of the county, when the
location of a new county seat was voted on, in 1937, that came within 91 votes
of victory over Marshall, its only competitor, the vote standing 453 for
Marshall to 362 for Auburn.


Additional Comments:
HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS
EDITED BY
NEWTON BATEMAN, LL.D.
PAUL SELBY, A. M.

PUBLISHED BY MUNSELL PUBLISHING CO., FOR MIDDLE WEST PUBLISHING CO.

AND HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY

EDITED BY
HON. H. C. BELL

ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO
MIDDLE WEST PUBLISHING CO.
PUBLISHERS
1907

Entered according to act of Congress in the years 1894, 1899, 1900, and 1905 by
WILLIAM W. MUNSELL
in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington


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