One day I went with some friends to pick flowers and search for
arrowheads on Buffalo Rock. It was a warm day, and as I had been suffering from
malarial fever, I stopped at Eagle's Cliff to rest while the others went on.
The scene was very peaceful. Eighty feet below my resting place the Illinois
river lapped against the sandstone rock, while to the east, south and west I
could see the rolling farms of the valley. Now and then a bird was startled from
its resting place and I watched the slow, graceful sweep of its wings as it flew
across the water.
As I looked down on the quiet scene I began drowsily
to think of the early days in the valley and the many changes that have since
taken place.
Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by a soft pat, pat of
a moccasined foot. Turning about I discovered an Indian chief standing behind
me.
I was not at all afraid, and immediately started a conversation:
"Are you an Illinois Indian? Did you live on the Rock and won't you sit down and
tell me about it?" I asked.
The Indian slowly smiled: "The white
children are just as impetuous as in the days of long ago," he answered. "Yes, I
will tell you the legend my father told me."
"Hundreds of years ago
Buffalo Rock was an island in the Illinois river, but the channel changed, then
the Illinois flowed at the rock's southern base. Up and down this river paddled
the canoe of the Illinois, for this strong confederacy occupied the valley at
that time. This land was very rich, so other tribes waged war with mine for its
possession.
"About this time from the south there came a party of
Frenchmen whose leaders were a fur trader, Joliet, and a young priest, Father
Marquette. On down, down the river they went teaching and trading with my tribe.
So life went on with the yearly hunt, times of peace when all were prosperous,
and times of war, when all were desperate.
"A few years later another
Frenchman named La Salle, visited my tribe. He left his lieutenant Tonti to hold
his fort at Starved Rock.
"Finally, a new governor was sent to Canada.
This man, was an enemy of Tonti's and sent a captain named Pilette to replace
Tonti. When Richard Pilette came, Tonti refused to return to Canada, so Pilette
gathered together a group of Indians who sympathized with him, and fortified
this rock.
"He called Buffalo Rock 'Fort Miami,' because most of his
sympathizers were of the Miami tribe.
"Tonti was tired of the struggle,
La Salle was dead, the Iroquois were fiercer than ever, and the Illinois were
exhausted from years of warfare. Tonti now abandoned his fort and left the
Illinois to their fate.
"Some of the Illinois Indians sought safety in
the lower Mississippi valley with the French, but others, loving their homes
more than safety, continued the struggle here.
"A short time after this
Pontiac was assassinated and enemies of my tribe laid the blame on the Illinois
and attacked them from the north.
"The Illinois were starving and unable
to get food or water. As a great herd of buffalo were grazing at the west end of
the Rock, the Illinois, in desperation, made this plan. A number of braves were
sent to the west end of the Rock; they were to get behind the herd and drive
them eastward at such a speed that when they neared the eastern edge of the
cliff the buffalo would plunge over to their death. Below the Rock at the
eastern edge were the squaws of the tribe ready to complete the slaughter by
cutting the throats and bleeding the animals.
"That, according to the
legend of the Illinois, is how Buffalo Rock got its name and how the Illinois
Indians secured food in their last struggle to hold the valley."
When my
visitor had completed his story he stood looking across the river. Just when I
was beginning to think he had forgotten my presence, he turned to me and said:
"Can you tell me, little girl, what white man has done with the Rock?"
"I will be glad," I said, "to tell you what I know of Buffalo Rock."
"My grandfather tells me that when he was a boy the place was owned by an
old man named Lon Edwards. Edwards did not use the Rock so he sold it to a man
named Duke McFarson. McFarson was the head of a religious sect called 'The Holy
Rollers,' who held their meetings in the large tabernacle on the Rock. McFarson
sold the Rock to the Patholetic Tent Colony, who for several years used Buffalo
Rock as a tuberculosis sanitarium. Not having sufficient money they sold the
Rock to Richard T. Crane, the millionaire plumbing goods manufacturer of
Chicago. The Crane Company turned Buffalo Rock into a rest resort for their
veteran employees. In 1929 the Crane Company moved their sanatarium to Geneva,
Wis., and made a gift of Buffalo Rock to the State of Illinois."
Just
then we heard a blast, which echoed along the base of the Rock. The Indian
turned an inquiring face upon me and I was just beginning to explain that the
western end of the Rock was being blasted out for sand when I heard the whistle
of a dredge boat going down the river. I then began to explain to the Indian the
Illinois river was cleared and being dredged out so that it may be used for
commerce, when I heard someone say:
"Listen to Rosemary talking to
herself."
I turned to see if the Indian was thus rudely interrupting,
but in his place stood my friends, with their arms filled with flowers. I sat up
and rubbed my eyes. The sun was streaming down upon Eagle's Cliff and my friends
were anxious to go home.
"Where did the Indian go?" I asked, as I
scrambled to my feet.
"Back to the page of your history book," answered
one of my companions.
As we hurried home I told them the long dream
which I have just told to you.
Extracted 08 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from Stories of Pioneer Days in La Salle County, Illinois, by Grammar Grade Pupils, published in 1932, page 17.
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