CHAPTER VI. 



FULTON COUNTY. 



This county contains a superficial area of about twenty-four townships, or 

 eight hundred and sixty-four square miles. It is triangular in shape, and is 

 bounded on the north by Knox and Peoria counties, on the east by Peoria 

 county and the Illinois river, on the south by Schuyler county, and on the 

 west by Schuyler, McDonough and Warren counties. 



The principal streams in the county are the Illinois river, forming its main 

 boundary on the east and southeast for a distance of about thirty miles ; Spoon 

 river and its tributaries, which traverse nearly the whole extent of the county, 

 from north to south, and Copperas creek, which drains a considerable area in the 

 northeastern portion of the county. These streams drain the whole area of the 

 county, and their valleys are from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet 

 below the general level of the adjacent highlands. 



The surface was originally nearly equally divided into prairie and timbered 

 lands, the former occupying the most elevated positions of the county, as well 

 as a part of the Illinois river bottoms, while the timber belts are mainly re- 

 stricted to the more broken lands skirting the water courses. Much of the 

 original timber, however, has been cleared away in developing the agricultural 

 interests of the county, and splendid farms now occupy a large portion of the 

 area which, but a few years since, was covered with a dense forest. Much of 

 the upland was originally timbered with a dense growth of sugar-maple, black 

 walnut, linden, hackberry, elm, honey-locust and wild-cherry, indicating a very 

 rich and productive soil. This growth of timber usually prevails where the 

 Loess overlies the drift clays on a tolerably level surface, and these lands, in 

 their productive qualities, are second to none in the State. Where the surface 

 is broken into sharp ridges, along the borders of the smaller streams, black and 

 white oak, and hickory is the prevailing timber, and the soil is a thin choco- 

 late colored, or brown, clay loam, well adapted to the growth of small grain, clover 

 or fruit. The prairies in this county generally have a rolling surface, though, 



