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Ripley Roots |
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Scene Three - Act Two A Growing Season in Chenoa, Illinois 1861-1862 By the Cousins Four
The best way to understand the area that was to be called the Heart of the Corn Belt is to appreciate what it took to raise corn in the former tall prairie grass area of Illinois. This area was to become the greatest producer of corn in the world. The corn grown here would change the world, as it changed the people who raised the corn. The Moschels were to become a part of those farmers who changed the world through producing corn. They moved to the Chenoa area in the 1870's, but before them came others. We will view the world through the eyes of one fictionalized man, John Wall, who left a dairy of his work from the fall of 1861 to harvest of 1862 in the county of McLean, near the developing town of Chenoa. John is a man who works hard, and has deep convictions. Those convictions led him to assist runaway slaves in the underground railroad. He believes in the war against slavery and keeping the Union together. In addition to those moral convictions he is a man who has a family and needs to provide for them. John first rented land, which was the most common way to start farming, and now he owns land which needs to be made productive. Here is a sampling of what takes place for John during one year with the help of his two sons, Jacob and George, and some hired men during part of the year. The dairy starts in October 1861. (Best information source for this piece was The Heart of the Cornbelt: An Illustrated History of Corn Farming in McLean County by William D. Walters, Jr.) ***
October 30 - Jacob and I broke five acres today, a little better than average. Good day. Soil very wet, so we did good considering that. Helped George fix broke coulter at day's end. Breaking prairie was the first task of the farmer. This occurred in Illinois from 1830's to the 1880's. Before land was broken, it was 6 to 9-foot tall grass waving in the wind and harvested by some farmers as hay. Breaking the land took equipment, men, and animals. All needed to work well to complete the task at hand. Most farmers used six oxen to pull the prairie-breaking plow but others used as few as two. The plow was usually a two-wheeled piece of equipment with a large, strong, central beam and an iron blade called a coulter which actually broke the ground. John's note about wet was endemic to the land being cultivated. There were two things evident about soil in Central Illinois--it was black and rich, but it was also wet. The prairie grass was part of a system that grew best in somewhat wet lands. The roots of this grass were deep, seven feet or more, thus one can see the problem of trying to turn the land over to be ready to accept a seed of corn in the spring. November 15 - Broke 100 acres total this year. Am glad we could do so well. Time to stop sod busting and do fencing. See lots of prairie hogs to keep out. Fencing land was a major issue of the early farmers. They needed to keep out prairie herds of savage hogs. The problem was finding enough timber to make a fence in the land of mostly prairie grass. It was estimated one acre of timber was needed to fence 10 acres of prairie. Because of this need, prairie was sold off in large lots but timber in much smaller lots. The favorite fence designs of the day were the split rail zigzag fence or the more dense worm fence. A farmer could split 100 or more rails a day and 200 yards of fence could be built in a day. (One thinks of the image of Abraham Lincoln as one of the early rail spliters; a necessary job for fencing.) Neither of these fence designs really kept out a hungry hog, and the split rail zigzag fence had the added disadvantages of taking up a lot of space. When equipment became more prevalent, it was also hard to maneuver around it. In addition to wooden fences, wire fences were possible but often wire was not available. Some farmers made raised ditch (piles of dirt) and hedge fences. Ditch fencing would eventually wear down and was not very suitable, but hedge fences, consisting of shrubbery with or without thorns, would usually stay up. Wooden plank fences were built if the timber was available nearby, which it hardly ever was. Fencing had to succeed after breaking the prairie and before planting was ever to begin. If you could not fence adequately, no crop would grow to maturity. April 15 - Removed stalks today, new rakes worked well, only one tine broke off. Jacob liked my engraving on his rake. Tiring day, ache all over. Land still pretty wet. One of the first spring jobs was to remove the corn stalks from last year's crop. A farmer made his own rake by selecting a long pole about the length of a man, attaching a shorter pole crosswise at the end and then putting several short, strong pieces of wood on the shorter pole at the end. The short end pieces were whittled to a fine end point so they would rake the brown stalks left on the ground from the year before. May 1 - Too wet to plant. Read Coleman's Journal and Prairie Farmer. Burned grass. Some neighbors in the field planting already. Wish I was one of them. The bane for early farmers was waiting for the fields to be ready for spring plowing. Wet fields were the rule, not the exception, and it was not until the 1880's that farmers had tile drainage in the fields that helped with the drying process. Until that time, they waited, and waited...impatiently. They filled those days and hours with reading farming journals and going to town and acquiring needed supplies or viewing the latest equipment. A farmer would look to see what the neighbors were doing and when they were doing it, and whether they were ahead or behind them. May 4 - Plowing started. Awfully wet. The boys and horses can hardly keep going in this mud. Cakes up all the time. This notation is both an acknowledgement of starting and probably a day of frustration as clods of mud would cake on the plowing blade. If other farmers had an area that was drier, they could get started. The anticipation of long, hard days were ahead, but the sooner started the better it was for him. Early planting assured him if the inevitable too much rain came and drowned out some new seeds in some areas, he would have time for replanting. May 10 - Plowing almost done. Need to pick my seed corn, and it had best be good quality. Need to line up some equipment from Craddocks. After the plowing, John Hall was ready to take the next steps and make the land ready for cultivation. This included harrowing, rolling, and marking to get ready for planting. Each of these steps made the soil ready to accept the seed. The harrow, which was often nothing more than a spiked board drawn by horses, leveled the ridges; the rollers continued to break up the lumps or clods and smooth the field; and the marker showed the way where the planter would plant the seed. After the field was prepared, the next important thing was to choose the best seed corn possible. John had selected his best corn ears from last year's harvest and dried them during the winter. Right before planting, this corn was shelled by best means available. In John's case this involved the entire family sitting down with two ears of corn, one in each hand, and rubbing one against the other until you had shelled the seeds off the cob. John tried to make a game of it by offering a prize to the most corn shelled in the least amount of time. The prizes he had hidden in the barn were a corn husk doll if one of his daughters won, and a whittling knife if one of his sons won. After the shelling was over for that day, John went to his nearest neighbor, John Craddock, and made arrangements to borrow his corn planter. Borrowing and lending of equipment was understood among neighbors. All participated in the sharing of tools and equipment, and it was generally understood this was a part of being a neighbor. What goes around, comes around.
May 12 - First planting. Most neighbors started already. Will plant some and then shell more seed corn. Weather looks threatening though. The twin concerns of starting too late and threatening weather which might drown out anything planted were the major problems of the farmer. Deciding when to start was difficult and farmers would use several methods to decide. For example, it could be the first blossom of an apple tree, or the first green leaf out on an oak tree, or some superstitious event to designate the day planting began. After started, planting continued in earnest. When done by hand, the farmer might even recite an ancient verse, "One for the blackbird, and one for the crow, one for the cutworm and two left to grow." This saying did not take into account those seeds that rotted in the ground because of getting too wet. After the planting started and when the weather cooperated, it continued for two or three weeks. The rotating tasks would be making sure the fields are plowed, harrowed, rolled, marked, seed shelled, and finally planting by hand or with a corn planter. June 1 - Worked late to finish the planting! Now only replanting to do. Paid field hand Tom what I owed him to date, hope he'll be around at husking time and might need him for some cultivation work if he stays. The horses made it through to now--I'll let them rest a day or two before cultivating. By this notation John is acknowledging that one important phase of farming is done, but standing water or washouts would eventually have them replanting. Replanting was sometimes more difficult than the original planting, but it was taken as just another step in the continuous journey to make a crop. For the rest of June the work entailed keeping the weeds down that might choke off life to the struggling new little corn shoot. This was done by plowing, harrowing, and if necessary, going through the fields by hand (many hands) getting out the dastardly weeds until the corn could make it on their own. Tom was one of a series of field hands hired which John acquired throughout a work season. If he would get a "good one," he tried to get him to stay by promising room and board through November, knowing he would have to find work for part of August, but there was always fixing fence. Field laborers could be transients or soldiers just mustering out of the Civil War or neighbor boys who might not be needed on their own farm that day and wanting to earn a little extra money. The other part of the work team were the horses or oxen which were often worked very hard in bad conditions with inadequate quality feed or hay.
September 15 - Harvest starts. We all cut about 35 shocks today as an average. Corn a little green. Shocking corn was needed in this era because a method had to be found for preserving corn in the field and allowing it to dry, but not depend on the corn stalk to keep its produce off the ground. The corn of the day did not have a sturdy stalk. If left to nature the corn ear would drop to the ground and rot. The solution was to bundle 49 stalks of corn together in a shock, cutting each of these 49 stalks and bundling them together with twine or rye straw and each stalk would hold the others up. There was an elaborate procedure used to cut these 49 stalks and then bind them all together. The instructions for doing so look like a complicated dance routine that must be followed properly to get the desired end result. It was, no doubt, exhausting work. The shock stayed in the field until the ears were completely dry. November 1 - Husking started today. Days getting short, work getting long. Pretty darn cold. Jacob did the most husking today. Rewarded him with two pieces of pie for supper. Better think of something good for tomorrow's winner.
After the stalks dried, the next step in the process was to take the ears off the stalk. This was done manually by grasping the end of the corn ear with one hand and using the other hand to tear it off the stalk. Then the ears, still with husks, were thrown into a wagon. The filled wagon was taken back to the farm and the family gathered to husk the corn. Each family member had a husking glove with a metal hook on it. The procedure was to strip the ear of all the dried leaves, leaving only the ear. In order to get the job done with dispatch and best humor most families tried to make it a social event. All family were involved as many hired farm hands as they could, although everyone was usually doing the same task at nearly the same time. Husking could go on for several months or could be finished by year's end. It depended on the amount of corn to be done and the number of hands there to do it. (Author's note:T. Ripley still has the husking glove owned and used by her grandmother whose own mother was Margaret Moschel Klein, the woman who came here as a 21-year-old in 1862.) November 15 - Building pens to hold corn. Think we will be done husking in a few weeks if we can keep at it. Coming near the final step in the corn harvesting process, the farmer had to find a way to store his corn before he sold it. Many different types of cribs were used, some quickly and inexpensively built, and others taking longer to build which were more expensive. The purpose in either case was to have a structure that kept the corn out of the weather but which allowed air to circulate among the stored ears. Because John was a relatively new farmer he probably built the so-called rail cribs built of standard fence rails, notched and made into an oblong and a roof of clapboard or straw. November 30 - Work nearing an end. Now when should I sell? This is the final dilemma and reward for the farmer. Corn in this era was getting about 30 to 35 cents a bushel. (Current 2001 corn prices are $ 1.80 a bushel.) John could sell the corn in the ear, or he could shell it himself or have it shelled at the local mill. Shelled corn sold for more, but it had to be sold quicker because it would not last long. Many farmers just decided to use the corn as feed to livestock and then sell the livestock. One other item that also could be sold were the remaining stalks in the field. They could garner as much as $1.50 an acre. December 1 - Work is near enough done for this year. Have decided to enlist in war. I thought the war would be over by now, but clearly it will go on for a while. I have to live my convictions. Brother Joe will break new ground for next year on other side of Chenoa, will pay $12.50 an acre for land. Hopefully I'll be back by planting time. I'll have to place my trust in God. ***
As John Wall had been breaking prairie and growing a crop the past year, Illinois had been heavily involved in the war. John believed he had to join those that were fighting to save the Union and oppose slavery. There were several regiments organized from McLean County Illinois. Let us imagine that John Wall managed to get into the 94th Illinois Infantry, headed by John McNulta. Col. McNulta raised this regiment in the summer and fall of 1862. The average age of enlistment was 24.5, the youngest being 14 and the oldest being 55. Two thirds of the enlistees were farmers. This regiment was involved in engagements from December 7, 1862, to April 8, 1865. The actual engagements were Battle of Prairie Grover, Arkansas; Capture of Van Buren, Arkansas; Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi; Expedition to Yazoo City and Black River; Skirmish at Atchafalaya, Louisiana; Capture of Brownsville, Texas; Siege of Fort Morgan, Alabama; Skirmish at Franklin Creek, Mississippi; and Siege of Spanish Fort, Alabama. The number of men killed in this regiment were 11 and 45 wounded. Leaving Illinois in December 1862, John Hall would have to wait a long time before coming back to Illinois to have another year of raising corn. If he was still alive and not wounded on April 8, 1865, he just might make it back in time to plant corn that year and start once again the seasons of a farm life. ***
The life of the small town of Chenoa in 1862 was moving along as well. This is where John Hall and family would purchase supplies and most other things they needed. The economic life of Chenoa township still revolved around one man, Matthew Scott. He was the person who had encouraged and financed the most land being broken; he was the biggest land owner; and he was a big money lender. The township revolved around his land development efforts. Scott paid taxes of around 30 cents per acre at this time and his taxes (and the taxes of others) went toward schools, Civil War bounties, and local governments. There was no formal town organization in Chenoa until 1864, but some elements of a community were in their infancy. Much of the community that existed was there to serve the railroad workers. Some of the buildings that existed were the Anderson Schoolhouse, churches (Methodist, Catholic, Presbyterian), post office (postmaster John B. Lenney), hotels, saloon, stockyard, and railroad turntable. A doctor (Stevenson) was also there to serve the people, and a cemetery existed as a final resting place. There were also things that were not there, like sidewalks, police, or trees. It is stated there was only one tree in Chenoa in 1863, a wild cherry with the rest of the young trees stamped out by roaming cattle and hogs. This, then, was community that existed the decade before the Moschels were to arrive. *** How would this part of the Midwest change after the Civil War? We are given an indication by a writer from Beatrice, Nebraska, writing in the Champaign, Illinois, newspaper. He said, "Why not avoid the anxiety of finding a desirable farm to lease at $4 per acre and make a new start in Nebraska. For the price of your annual rental, you may buy in this country from one-half to three- fourths as much land as you rent in Illinois, derive as much, or more revenue there from the first year, and have the land besides. Come West and experience once more that manly independence to which you have doubtless been strangers for years." Continuing to go West was the answer for some. Others stayed in the Midwest. The Moschels would do both. |
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© 2014 Theresa Ripley All rights reserved |
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