CHAPTER V. 



SCHUYLER COUNTY. 



This county embraces a superficial area of a little over eleven townships, or 

 about four hundred and fourteen square miles, and is bounded on the north 

 by McDonough and Fulton counties, on the east by Fulton county and the 

 Illinois river, on the south by Brown county, and on the west by the counties 

 of Adams and Hancock. Its surface is considerably diversified with hills and 

 valleys, prairies and heavily timbered woodlands, the proportion of prairie and 

 timber lands being about one of the former to three of the latter. Along the 

 bluffs of Crooked creek, and the Illinois river, the surface is quite broken and 

 hilly, but even these broken lands possess a rich and productive soil, and are 

 valuable for agricultural purposes, wherever they are sufficiently level for cul- 

 tivation. The prairies are mostly small, and are restricted to the northern 

 and western portions of the county. The county is well watered, mainly by 

 Crooked creek, and its affluents, which traverse its southern and western por- 

 tion, and by Sugar creek and the Illinois river, the'' former intersecting the 

 eastern portion of the county, and the latter forming, in part, its eastern 

 boundary. Crooked creek furnishes considerable water power, and, in the 

 early settlement of the country, the inhabitants of this, and several of the ad- 

 joining counties, were dependent upon the water mills upon this stream for 

 nearly all their milling facilities. More recently, however, steam power has, 

 to a great extent, superseded the old water mill, and most of the mills on this 

 stream now have a steam engine attached, to enable them to run throughout 

 the year. 



On the ridges adjacent to the small streams, the timber is mostly black oak 

 and hickory, but on the more level portions of the timbered region, as well as on 

 the bluffs of the Illinois river, we find, in addition to these, elm, linden, sugar- 

 maple, wild-cherry, and honey-locust, an arboreal growth which indicates a soil 

 of the best quality, fully equal to the best prairie soils. Much of the upland, 

 where this growth of timber prevails, is underlaid by the marly sands and 

 clays of the Loess, and rank among the very best lands in the State. Fine 

 blue grass pastures are easily made upon these lands, and the soil is well 

 adapted to the growth of fruit, especially the grape. 



