CHAPTER X. 



MORGAN COUNTY. 



Morgan county is bounded, on the north, by Cass county ; on the east, by 

 Sangamon county ; on the south, by Macoupin and Greene counties ; and on 

 the west, by Scott county and the Illinois river. It comprises about fifteen 

 and two-thirds townships, or about five hundred and sixty-three square miles, 

 of which nearly or quite one-half, is well wooded, and the remainder is prairie. 

 Besides the Illinois river, which forms a portion of its western border, this 

 county is watered by several lesser streams, among which, the Indian, Mauvais- 

 terre, Sandy, and Apple creeks, may be mentioned as the most important. 

 Nearly all of these streams head in this county, and attain considerable dimen- 

 sions before passing beyond its limits. 



The country, away from the immediate vicinity of the streams, is, in most 

 parts, a gently undulating prairie, with a rich, dark colored surface soil, similar 

 in all respects to that in the adjoining regions, and differing but little from 

 the general character of all the prairie soils in this portion of the State. On 

 the broken land along the streams, the soil is generally lighter colored and 

 clayey, and generally bears a heavy growth of black, white and red oak, with 

 some laurel oak ; pin oak, bitternut and shell-bark hickory, black walnut and 

 butternut, white and slippery elm, ironwood, sassafras, hackberry, red bud, 

 soft and sugar maple, linden, and hazel. On the narrow strip of level bottom 

 land which borders many of the streams, we find, in addition to many of the 

 above species, swamp white oak, chinquapin oak, sycamore, paw-paw, and cot- 

 tonwood. In the extreme western portion of the county, the Illinois river is 

 bordered by an extensive tract of bottom land, ranging from four to six miles 

 in width at different points. In this bottom^with the exception of a few tracts 

 of low sand ridge, covered with stunted blackjack, the soil is a rich arenaceous 

 loam, which, whenever sufficiently elevated, is one of the best soils in the 

 county. A considerable portion of this bottom, however, is flooded by the 

 Illinois river, and certain tracts are so little elevated as to form permanent 

 shallow lakes or sloughs. Along the edges of the bluff's, at their immediate 

 base, there is generally a sandy slope, similar in soil and timber to the sand- 

 ridges in the bottom, the material of which is derived from the marly sand of 

 the Loess, of which the bluffs are mainly composed. 



