On a summer day in 1878 an argument arose in a
small Illinois community over the source of the Illinois River, "which sweeps
past our town." According to historical research workers, the editor of the
Lacon Home Journal, who was present at the discussion, took pains to look up the
matter and published his findings,
"The Illinois," he wrote, "is formed
by the union of the Kankakee and Des Plaines rivers at Dresden . . . The Des
Plaines, or Aux Plains, the Indian appellation of which is She-shik-mah-o, rises
in southwest Wisconsin, and is about 150 miles long. The Kankakee rises in
northern Indiana. . . . At Ottawa the Fox empties into the Illinois, which
further along receives the Vermilion, the Spoon, Mackinaw and the Sangamon."
Having thus settled the question, the editor then supplied his readers with
some miscellaneous geographical and historical data about the Illinois,
explaining that although most of his readers knew these facts, "others will be
glad to have their memory refreshed."
Illinois has its share of "haunted house" stories but accounts of haunted
bridges are rare. At Henry, residents still tell of a nearby bridge that
townsfolk avoided for many years.
A citizen of Henry coming home one
night in a somewhat merry but sleepy mood, it is related, stopped to rest on the
river bank underneath the bridge over Cow Creek. About midnight a party of young
people paused nearby to chat. The talk turned to ghost stories. After one
especially gruesome tale, the lone citizen shouted, "It's all imagination!"
The terrified youths, panic stricken, ran home and the next day spread the
word that the bridge was haunted. Their story was so convincing, it is said,
that for years some townspeople would go miles out of their way to avoid
crossing the bridge at night.
Back in 1897, a unique oil strike in Illinois at Varna, Marshall County, struck terror to the citizens. A newspaper writer reported that "water from the town well has tasted of oil for some time and it was thought that someone had thrown kerosene into it." When a resident who was determined to clean out the well lowered a lantern into it, a gas explosion blew the platform and pump from their foundations and shook the whole place.
Extracted 23 Oct 2019 by Norma Hass from Stories from Illinois History, compiled by the Workers of the Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Illinois, published in 1940, pages 64, 69, and 76.
| Bureau | Putnam | |
| Stark |
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La Salle |
| Peoria | Woodford |
