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Lake County, as at present constituted, is bounded on the north by Wisconsin, on the east by Lake Michigan, on the south by Cook County and on the west by McHenry County. It is twenty-three and one-half miles north and south, and has an average width, from east to west, approximating twenty miles. It's area is almost 470 square miles, or nearly 300,000 acres. Fox River waters a portion of it's western border. The Des Plaines River passes through it from north to south. Numerous smaller streams are tributary to the rivers mentioned and to the great lake lying to the eastward. West of the Des Plaines are more than fifty lakes, many of them with sandy beaches, their borders set with native trees, and their waters teeming with fish. Along Fox River and between the Des Plaines River and Lake Michigan there were in an early day forests of considerable magnitude. At frequent intervals, even in what are called the prairie townships, are groves of wide extent. It's soil is fertile; it's productions varied.
Running backward to trace the origin and the organization of the county politically it is found that its territory has been claimed by other nations than the United States, and that since the relinquishment of the title of France and Great Britain it has been a part of many sub-divisions.
In 1682 Illinois became a possession of the French crown, a dependency of Canada and a part of Louisiana. In 1765 the English flag was run up on old Fort Chartres and it was counted as belonging to Great Britain. In 1779 it was wrested from the British by Colonel George Rogers Clark when he captured Vincennes, and assigned as a part of Virginia. In 1778 the legislative body enacted that "The citizens of the commonwealth of Virginia who are already settled, or shall hereafter settle on the western side of the Ohio, shall be included in a distinct county, which shall be called Illinois County," etc.
At the close of the War of the Revolution, in response to the demands of public sentiment, all of the States relinquished their claims to unoccupied territory, Virginia ceding all of this vast region out of which have since been carved the States Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin to the general government, and it became known as the Northwest Territory. For a time the name Illinois disappeared.
"The Compact of 1787," adopted by Congress after earnest debate, prohibited slavery forever in this vast territory, provided that Section sixteen of every township should be given for school purposes, and declared that existing contracts be fulfilled. "Freedom, intelligence and honesty" were thus endorsed by the Congress of the newly formed republic, and became the heritage of the great Northwest.
In 1796 Wayne County was organized and embraced nearly all of what has since been formed into the States of Michigan and Wisconsin, a portion of Indiana, and that portion of Illinois whose water courses empty into Lake Michigan This only included the narrow strip of land lying east of the water-shed between the Des Plaines River and the lake. The western portion of what is now Lake County was apparently not included within the boundary of any county. It was not a serious matter, however, as the region was uninhabited, save by Indians.
In 1803 the "Chicago District," as the region along the western border of Lake Michigan was called, was detached from Wayne County and for a half dozen years was not claimed as a part of any county.
In 1809 the territory of Indiana was divided and the name of Illinois revived and given to the portion west of the Wabash River. Other changes followed in rapid succession, and this region was in St. Clair County from 1809 to 1812, in Madison County from 1812 to 1814, in Edwards County from 1814 to 1816 and in Crawford County from 1816 to 1818 when Illinois was admitted as a state. It then became a part of Clark County and so remained until 1821. It was in Pike County from 1821 to 1823; in Fulton County from 1823 to 1825; and in Peoria County from 1825 to 1831. January 15th, of the latter year, the State Legislature passed an act organizing the County of Cook, the name being assigned in honor of Honorable Daniel P. Cook, who had been a member of Congress from 1819 to 1827. As then formed, Cook County embraced all of the territory now included in its present boundaries, as well as Lake, McHenry, DuPage, Kankakee, Iroquois and Will Counties.
In 1836 McHenry County was organized, and embraced all of its present territory as well as what is now Lake County. It was named in honor of Colonel William McHenry, an officer who had been prominent in the Black Hawk war
Southern and central Illinois had been settled long before the northern portion attracted much attention. In 1831, stimulated by the project for a canal from Chicago to the Illinois River, the tide of travel turned toward Lake Michigan. Chicago, Milwaukee and Racine were the three best known landing points, and in the very early 'Thirties, those who were seeking homes in this region apparently drifted directly westward from the places mentioned. Hence it came about that there were considerable settlements in what are now DuPage, Kane, DeKalb and LaSalle Counties, and along Rock River and in the Galena country, and also west from Milwaukee and Racine, before this immediate section was occupied. This was not to last long, however. Lake Michigan was the great commercial highway, and as it then seemed was likely to so remain for a generation at least. On land the slow-going ox team was the dependence of the farmer, and nearness to market a consideration in selecting a location. By a treaty with the Pottawatomies and other tribes, at Prairie Du Chien, in 1829, title to these lands had been acquired by the United States, but with the stipulation that the Indians might retain possession of them for a period of seven years, or until August, 1836, when they were to be removed to lands to be assigned to them west of the Mississippi River. In 1832 the Winnebago nation ceded their interests. In September, 1833, a grand council was held, with representatives present from all of the Indian nations, and a final treaty signed, making the cession complete. By the terms of the treaties with the Indians and by a law passed by the Congress, the whites were forbidden to settle upon the lands thus acquired until the time mentioned in the treaty with the Pottawatomies had been reached. They did not wait, however. Before August, 1836, a hundred homes had been erected within the borders of what is now Lake County. Every white settler was a trespasser, and knew it. The Indian acquiesced in his coming and no one else protested. And so the lands, still unsurveyed and lawfully in the possession of the red man were gradually taken up and occupied by the whites.
And what a country it was! It is not easy for those who drive along the public highways of the present time to imagine how this region looked to the pioneers. Then there were no fences. The underbrush had been kept down by fires and did not obstruct the view. There were native trees of vast size. In the spring and autumn every slough and pond contained water and in every depression was a running stream. The native grass was of luxuriant growth. There was a wonderful wealth of brilliant blossoms on every acre of dry land. The fires, which almost annually swept across the prairies, did little harm to the groves and forests and seemed to just fit the country for the wonderful crop of grass and the vast floral display that came year after year. The settlers drove everywhere unhindered, save by the sloughs or streams, and it required close watching, in the maze of tracks, to know which was the right one to follow to reach a given point. Approaching a slough or runway he sought to avoid the track of every other traveler, in order to escape the rut cut through the sod, and so made a wholly new track to right or left of those who had preceded, thus adding to the difficulty of finding the correct route.
The fencing of the farms, the laying out of roads, the bridging of streams, the cutting away of forests. and the cultivation of the soil have changed the appearance of the entire country to a marked degree. Tile and surface drains have taken the water from the sloughs and ponds, and made tillable the overflowed lands of the long ago. Some of the lakes are smaller than formerly. The creeks that once carried water to the mill-wheel have shrunken to tiny brooks. The river that was fordable only here and there in mid-summer, and ran bank full the greater part of the year, is now hardly larger than was Mill or Indian Creek or Waukegan River sixty years ago, save when unusual rains occur or belated and heavy snow-falls are hurried off by the sun and wind of a premature spring.
In an early day, probably about 1835 or 1836, Jacob Miller rowed and pushed a boat laden with about thirty bushels of potatoes, beside other family supplies, up the north branch of Chicago River to its source in what is known as the Dady slough, a little west of the city of Waukegan. This fact will serve to illustrate the difference between the then and the now as regards surface water. In winter skaters not infrequently made long trips on the ice, following the streams and sloughs for scores of miles. Trips to Chicago were often made in this way. Now, except where lakes or rivers provide the opportunity, the average school boy must learn the art of skating, if he learns at all, upon a pond his father or grandfather would have looked upon as entirely too small for even an amateur to practice on.
Water fowl were abundant for many years. Indeed, for a long time they nested in this region. In the spring and fall the lakes and ponds were often fairly covered with ducks and geese. Deer were frequently seen, and became even more plenty for a few years after the Indians left than they had been before, as the settlers did not follow them as closely as their dusky predecessors had done. It was not uncommon for them when the snow was deep to come into the yards where cattle were kept and feed from the stacks of hay. But in time they were killed off a few, however, making their home in the O'Plain woods even as late as 1871. Prairie chickens and quail rapidly increased after there were ample grain fields in which to feed, but the traps and guns became too numerous, and now it is a rare thing to see a covey in this region. Wild cats and lynx were frequently killed. There was an occasional bear encountered in the timber, but the hunters followed them so closely that all were dispatched in a few years. Wolves were not so readily disposed of and proved the sheep grower's worst enemy. Even as late as the early 'Seventies they were so troublesome that a sportsman with a pack of hounds was employed to hunt them down. The farmers joining him, the woods and prairies were scoured, with the result that only an occasional wolf has been seen in the county since, the few noticed probably having strayed down from the timber regions of Wisconsin.
And what a race of men were these frontiersmen! Verily, "There were giants in those days." Resolute, heroic, purposeful men, reaching out after new homes, constituted the pioneers who peopled what is now Lake County. It required all of the attributes that go to make men strong, to strike out into an unexplored wilderness, remote from markets, where there was no protection save the strong arm of the individual; when there must be months, and perhaps years, before anything more than the bare necessities of life could be secured; when there must be weeks of weary waiting for tidings of loved ones left behind; when schools and churches and the ministrations of the physician were something that could only be hoped for at some dim and distant period in the future; and when even neighbors might not be had until years had passed. But these attributes of strength were not wanting in the sturdy men who lived in the days of 1830 and later. For two centuries men had been reaching westward from the Atlantic seaboard, every one a pioneer. They had crossed mountains and rivers; they had cleared forests and subdued prairies; they were inured to toil and accustomed to hardship; they had learned to work and to wait, and, what may have been harder to them, as it certainly is to this generation, had learned to do without.
With few tools, and not unfrequently without a single article of hardware, they erected homes. Many a cabin was constructed without the use of any tools save an ax, an auger and a jack-knife, and if an artisan had in addition to these simple implements a rive with which to split puncheons for the floor and shakes for the roof, he was regarded as well equipped. For men like these there was no such word as "fail."
And what a journey many of them made! Largely they came from New England, New York and Pennsylvania, although a few were fresh from the old world. Not unfrequently the trip was made with teams-sometimes with oxen-from the East, a considerable part of the entire season being occupied with the journey. Wearily they plodded on, sleeping in wayside taverns of a primitive sort, or in or under the wagons which conveyed their meager household goods. Dangers and difficulties beset them, but did not turn them back. They set their faces resolutely toward the westward and pressed onward with the unalterable purpose of finding a location and making a home.
Those who came in "around the lakes" by boat shortened the time of travel materially, but were compelled to bear the torture of seasickness, and were often crowded for room upon the little steamers or sailing vessels plying between Buffalo and Chicago. The latter city reached, the first hunt was for a tavern; the second for information as to where there was vacant land open to settlement; the third for means of transportation. Often the head of a family came in advance, starting out on foot from Chicago "land hunting," as the quest for homes and farms was called. After the land nearest to Chicago was taken up this hunt compelled the homeseeker to reach out farther, and required more time. Then these sturdy homeseekers strode across the prairies, often with little money and less baggage, sleeping on the floor in the settlers' crowded cabins, or within or beside some shed, traveling until weary, finally taking the best quarter section there was left. Then, location settled, a furrow was ploughed around a tract of land, a few trees were felled, some rails split, an enclosure made, perhaps but four rails square, and the nearest settler notified of the purpose of the claimant. After the lands had been surveyed and the land office was open there was a hurried trip back to Chicago, where their money was paid for the claim, at the uniform rate of a dollar and a quarter an acre. The exception to the payment of this sum was where the pioneer had purchased a soldier's claim from some veteran of the war of 1812 or his heirs, entitling him to enter and hold a quarter section of government land.
All honor to the resolute pioneer who sought a new home, and, with toil and sacrifice and heroic endeavor, made one worthy of the name!
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