6 
ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 
have but little doubt,) we are standing here to-day on a portion oi 
the first land ever raised above the ocean wave. Be this as it may, 
we find plenty of evidence to show beyond a doubt, that this vicinity 
has been the home of what was once a great nation. 
A people who were versed in the arts, which in part or whole are 
lost to us, or only known by the relics found here and there in the 
copper mines of Lake Superior, or in the mounds erected by them, 
and perhaps elsewhere. These people inhabited this country and 
undoubtedly tilled the soil hundreds of years, yea, many thousands 
of years ago. 
It is believed by many that they had a hand in removing the timber 
from the lands and thereby laying the foundation of our great prairies 
The presumption is, that this occured long before the red mar 
was allowed to roam over the prairie state. The Indians found here 
by the present generation have no traditional history of any race 01 
people living here before them, other than those mentioned below. 
They found the mounds here when they took possession of the 
country. After years of toil and endurance for some cause to us 
unknown, these inhabitants abandoned their homes, or were exterm¬ 
inated. Subsequent to this the soil remained a wild waste or in othei 
words, all written accounts in regard to it are virtually unknown to his¬ 
tory. In process of time the territory was overrun by the Illinois tribe 
of Indians, who were a powerful nation, and commited mauy aggress¬ 
ions on the neighboring tribes, and finally waged war on them unti 
endurance was no longer considered a virtue. About this time an alli¬ 
ance was formed by six of the adjacent nations or tribes who com¬ 
bined to exterminate the troublesome Illinois. This being done the 
country contiguous to the Fox River, by conquest fell into the hand* 
of the "Potcowatomie Nation, who held it and cultivated only here anc 
there a garden spot. 
The large production of vegetable matter raised from year to yeai 
was burned and went back to the soil in the form of ash and potash 
In this situation the early settlers of this section found the soil forty oi 
fifty years ago. It was at that time in a ripe condition to product 
large crops of the various cereals. 
The wheat raised at that time was large and plump in kernel, anc 
not unfrequently yielded on an average from twenty to forty bushel: 
per acre, and sometimes even more than this amount was gathered. 
Many of the early farmers conceived the idea that the soil was sc 
rich in the elements of production that it never could be exhausted 
At least their actions would seem to indicate that this was the fact, a: 
we found many who was always borrowing from mother earth withou 
the least attempt to pay. The result of this practice was that within ; 
quarter of a century wheat ceased to be a profitable crop to grow 
The berry had become small or shriveled, and the average productioi 
was only about ten bushels to the acre. Corn continued to produce ; 
fair yield but the price was so low that it hardly paid for threshing 
and marketing. 
The same could be said of oats and other small grain. Then cam* 
the query what should be done? About this time a company wa: 
organized in Chicago to build a railway from that city to Galena 
