|
With the exception of the two congressional townships missing from the extreme norhtwest corner, Kankakee county is in the form of a parallelogram, extending about thirty-six miles east and west , and about twenty-four miles north and south. Its total area is about six hundred and forty-three square miles. Of the seventeen townships within its borders, five of them, Sumner, Rockville, Manteno, Essex and Salina have limits corresponding to the bondaries of congressional districts.
Each congressional township is six miles square and is divided into sections numberes from one to thirty-six, the latter being in the Southeast corner of the townships, the irregularities generally existing on the north and west sides.
A considerable portion of the land in Kankakee county was at one time included in the general classification of "Swamp Land," and its redemption forms the most convincing proof of the genius and resource and inexhaustable patience of its people. Not only remarkable fertility, but law and order have followed in the wake of this undertaking, for prior to, and for some years after the organization of the county, the swamp lands in its eastern part adjoining those of Western Indiana, were rendezous of conterfeiters, horse theives and criminals in general, who remained practically unmolested in their stronghold until the drainage of the swamps made an organized community possible.
From a point within a few miles of the eastern to the western line, the county is underlaid with limestone, which formation varies from a few feet to from forty to sixty feet below the surface. Kankakee county land may be roughly classified as to surface soil into three groups: sand and marsh land, light black soil, and a heavy black loam, the land increasing in value in the order mentioned. The sand land is always found in low ridges, covered with a growth of different varieties of oak, the ridges separated from each other by stretches of heavy black muck. Sand land exists principally in Pembroke township, in the southeastern part of the county, but there also is a strip of this character four to six miles wide extending from the western border to a point a little west of the city of Kankakee. With the exception of the sand land, and a few spots near the river where the limestone is near the surface, the soil of Kankakee county ranks with the most productive in the state, as shown by its uniformity in high prices of from $125.00 to $175.00 per acre. In it are raised all those products common to the North Temperate zone, and which admittedly are the most substantial and life giving of any which come from the soil. The amount of rainfall is fully one-half less than in the southern part of the state, and the avearage difference in temperature is about 10 degrees Fahrenheit.
The county drained by the Kankakee river is drained by the Kankakee river and its numerous tributaries. This beautiful stream, which was the pride of the Pottawatomies and the salvation of the early settlers, performs as noble a mission today as when the whisperings of the great spirit brooded over its waters. Its source is in the marshes of Northwestern Indiana, and it enters the county about midway of its eastern line, flowing in an irregular southwesterly direction to a point near Aroma, half way between the eastern and western boundaries, and about four miles from the southern line. Here it is augmented by the Iroquois, a muddy stream also having its rise in the marshes of the Hoosier state, and with it takes its way north and west to the extreme southwestern corner of Rockville township, where it transfers its beneficence to Will county, and later joins the Illinois on its way to the Mississippi. From the Indiana to the Rockville township line the Kanakakee, like all elements of splendid usefulness, draws to itself innumerable recuits, rivulets, creeks and runs adding their strength and encouragement, until the whole organized force becomes as satisfying and grateful waterway, and a natural outlet for the drainage of the fertile prarie lands. In common with the rest of the state, a remarkable feature of the county is the almost entire absence of natural lakes and ponds. However, on the south side of the river towards the southern boundry, artesian water is found at a fairly avarage depth.
The mineral productions of the county are not unimportant, Potter's clay exists in many sections, and a valuable strata of tile clay is found at Kankakee city, Grant Park and St. Anne, resulting in extensive tile and brick manufacturies at these centers. The manufacture of lime forms a considerable revenue and the deposits of limestone are increasingly used for ballast and macadamizing. Kankakee stone has long had a wide reputation. It abounds in large quanities at Kankakee city, and is used in many of the public and private buildings throughout this and adjoining counties. The coal fields in the western portion of the couny are destined to become more and more important as their resources are developed and their present value even cannot be over-estimated. They are being steadily and eeasily worked and are very productive.
The pony of the indian and prairie schooner of the pioneer have been supplanted by the eight steam and one elctric railroad which traverse the county. Those operated by steam include the Illinois Central and its branch, the Kankakee & Southwestern; the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis, and the Kankakee & Seneca, both operated by the Big Four; The Indiana, Illinois & Iowa; the Chicago Southwestern, Chicago & Eastern Illinois, Walbash, and the Illinois, Iowa & Minnesota. The electric line, the Kankakee Riverview Interurban, which is projected to run from Kankakee to Momence and St. Anne by way of Waldron, is said to have been successfully financed and will be built in the spring of 1906. |
