CHAPTER III. 



ADAMS COUNTY. 



This county lies upon the western border of the State, and is bounded, on 

 the north, by Hancock county; on the east, by Schuyler, Brown and Pike 

 counties ; on the south, by Pike county j and on the west, by the Mississippi 

 river. It embraces an area of about twenty-three townships, or eight hundred and 

 thirty square miles. It is well watered, having, in addition to the great river 

 which forms its western boundary, several smaller streams, which afford a thor- 

 ough surface drainage to all parts of the county. Bear creek drains the north- 

 ern portion of the county; McGee's creek, the eastern and central; and 

 McDonald's creek, Hadley's creek, and Mill creek, intersect the southern and 

 southwestern portion. These streams furnish a small amount of water power 

 for mills and machinery, as well as an abundant supply of water for the stock 

 grower. Fine springs of fresh water are abundant in some portions of the 

 county, and more especially, in the southern and western part, where the Bur- 

 lington or Quincy limestone is the prevailing rock. This limestone is some- 

 what cavernous, and admits the free passage of subterranean streams through 

 it, until they finally find an outlet at the surface, in limpid springs of cold 

 limestone water. 



The uplands in this county are nearly equally divided into timber and 

 prairie, the timber portions being mainly restricted to the broken lands in the 

 vicinity of the streams. The prairies are generally quite rolling, except in the 

 northeastern portion of the county, where they are comparatively level. The 

 general elevation of the prairie region, above the level of the Mississippi, at 

 low water, is from two hundred to two hundred and eighty feet. Along the 

 western border of the county there is a belt of alluvial bottom land, from one to 

 five miles in width, extending the whole length of the county, from north to 

 south, except for about two miles in the vicinity of the city of Quincy, where 

 the bluffs approach near to the river bank. A portion of these alluvial lands 

 are quite dry, being only overflowed by the highest floods in the river, and 

 possess a very rich and productive soil, and are partly prairie, especially the 

 higher portions adjacent to the river bluffs. The low bottoms are in part cov- 

 ered with a heavy growth of timber, embracing many varieties not found on 



