74 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



this was in May, 1869, and that the government survey was 

 made in October, 1866, therefore it was an easy matter to 

 trace the section lines and locate the corners. The corners 

 in this part of the county were plainly marked ; and gener- 

 ally the mounds were well preserved, even many of the sight 

 mounds could be plainly seen for a considerable distance. 

 These sight mounds were made of sods, and were built up 

 to the heighth of sixteen or eighteen inches at prominent 

 places on the line, as a guide to the chainmen. It was thus 

 very easy to follow the line and find the section corners. Of 

 course the old men living here now who were here forty 

 or more years ago, know all about these things, but I am 

 particular in giving this description to make it plain to the 

 young people how it looked here in the early days. The 

 first section corner that I found was plainly defined, the 

 mound well preserved, and the four pits from which the 

 earth had been taken to make the mound were only partly 

 filled with drift. The corner stake, however, had been 

 burned off near the ground by the prairie fire of the pre- 

 vious fall and the markings could not be read. I went on 

 a mile west to the next corner where the stake was standing 

 and in perfect condition. This was the corner of sections 

 4, 5, 8 and 9 in Cedar township, just three miles east of the 

 present village of Elgin. 



There is no landscape scene in nature more beautiful 

 than a fertile, gently rolling prairie in spring time just as 

 it came from the hand of its Creator. And this spring 

 morning in the year 1869 I was gazing upon a picture in 

 color, painted by the hand of the Great Master, using the 

 earth and the sky for a canvas, and done in such a master- 

 ful way as no other artist has ever been able to equal, or 

 even successfully imitate. The earth was covered with a 

 thick, bright green carpet of grass that waved and trem- 

 bled in the breeze ; there were few if any flowers, for they 

 seek the low grounds and the sheltered places along the sides 



