HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
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flock of pure Spanish Merinos kept by B. Peck & Sons, of Geneva, who for full fifty years have been very widely known as among the most reliable and intelligent flock masters In the State.
Pens of excellent Berkshire, Poland-China, Chester Whites -and other breeds of hogs used to be exhibited at the fairs of our local agricultural societies, and during that period of dairy development, when a good deal of butter was made upon the farms and much milk worked up into cheese at the neighboring factories, the hog was a profitable farm product; but that condition is also past, and now our dairymen buy their pork, beef, mutton and butter almost as universally as does the mechanic. The old-time methods of farming and farm-living in Kane County are gone forever, being superseded by new, and in many respects, better modes.
An epoch in the transition from pioneer to settled conditions is marked by the laws of 1864, forbidding domestic stock to run at large. It will be observed that stock is, of necessity, permitted to graze at will upon the unenclosed pasturage of a new country; and not until the land is well occupied and cultivated, will public sentiment require the owner to confine his grazing animals upon his own premises. As the capabilities of the country were developed, hamlets and villages sprung up, with postoffice, school-house, church, store, tavern, blacksmith, shoe-shop, and other similar conveniences- first along the stage routes and later upon the railway lines throughout the county; but the utility and beauty of the river traversing the whole length of the county inevitably fixed the location of the larger villages and cities upon its banks, and their growth has ever fully equaled the prosperity of the country. It should be remembered that, previous to the great war, nothing was produced upon the farm for a market beyond Chicago, and the very limited manufacturing interests of the towns had little wider scope. The supply of a small portion of strictly local needs of the people absorbed the energies and covered the aspirations of the people of both country and town.
Marvelous changes have been evolved in only four decades. Today, it may fairly be questioned if there is another community, of similar area and population, upon earth, furnishing from its farms and factories products distributed so universally and widely over and around the whole world. For, wherever civilized man resides, the "Elgin National Watch" marks the standard time; and wherever a ship traverses the sea, "Borden's Condensed Milk" is an indispensable part of its supplies for comfort and health. And so, also, for man's mental and moral culture the "David C. Cook Publishing Company," with offices at Elgin, Chicago and New York, is daily mailing its wholesome literature to every land and clime under the sun. Scores and hundreds of other manufacturing plants within the county are constantly shipping their various products to all portions of our own land, and to many foreign countries; the weekly prices of our Dairy Board of Trade are quoted, and its goods are sold in the commercial centers of America and Europe; and the superbly-bred horses, cattle and sheep of Kane County are taking premiums at the great exhibits, and are shipped at the very highest prices to every State in the Union. It is highly suggestive to note what one Progressive movement, establishing a large industrial plant, will accomplish for the development of a community, and striking illustrations of this are shown by comparing the growth of Aurora, .Elgin and St. Charles-the three largest cities in the county. The census of 1850 gave Aurora Township a population of 1,835, St. Charles 2,132 and Elgin 2,359. In 1855 Aurora succeeded, by an enlightened liberal policy that was bitterly opposed by some of her good citizens, in securing the great Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Car Shops, and the census of 1860 shows her population 1o have increased to 6,011-a gain of over two hundred per cent. St. Charles had fallen in numbers to 1,882, and Elgin had reached 3,341. Again, in 1865, the first buildings of the Elgin National Watch Company were erected, and the next census shows Elgin's population to have increased to 6,739. and St. Charles had reached but 2,281. St. Charles has now entered upon a progressive manufacturing career, and it may safely be predicted that the next census will show a very gratifying growth of that beautiful city. From Carpentersville, near the north line of the county, to Montgomery at its south line, ten unusually fine cities and villages adorn the banks of the lovely river, with an aggregate population of 60,000 or more enterprising, cultivated people. Kane is the only county in the State having two cities, each containing more than 20,000 inhabitants; and the beautiful Fox is the only river having two such cities upon its banks, except the great Mississippi, which
