the
other hand had a pleasant time. They played around over the snow, caught
all the deer they wished, and were bold and impudent. The stories of the
deep snow would fill a large volume and are eagerly told by these early
pioneers, who lived during the cold winter in their snowbound huts. It
has been impossible to learn precisely the depth of the snow, during the
winter, as the snow fell it drifted and other snow fell and other drifts
were made, many measurements were taken in the timber, but even here great
errors were likely to occur for the snow after falling soon settled. The
few remaining early settlers vary in their statements. Some placed the
depth at a little less than 3 feet on the level, others at a little more
than 4 feet. In the spring of '31 when the snow melted, the face of the
country was covered with water. The little creeks became great rivers,
and all intercourse between the settlers was stopped, for people could
better have traveled with boats than with ox teams. The spring was backward
and the crops were sown late. Nevertheless, a fair crop of wheat was harvested,
but the corn, upon which the settlers depended, was bitten by the early
frosts in the fall.
In 1831
the seat of Justice of our county was at Blooming Grove (now Bloomington).
In 1832 occurred the Black Hawk War, which caused most of the settlers
of Kappa to seek shelter from the Indians in stockades and temporary forts.
In 1840 the County of Woodford was formed, principally by the efforts of
Thomas Bullock, and the county seat located at Versailles, but in 1843,
it was changed to Hanover, now called Metamora. In 1835 the Kappa Mill
was built, but on the opposite side of the mill race from where it now
stands. It was only a saw mill then and was built and owned by Jacob Moots.
In 1850 the mill was bought by Hiram Havens, now of Hudson, Illinois, who
made it into a grist mill by putting in one run of stone. In '52 the old
mill burned down from a very curious cause, viz: highwater. The usual spring
freshet caused the water to rise up onto the floor of the mill and partially
surrounded a barrel of lime that was standing there. The slacking lime
ignited a partition wall and so the mill was burned to the water's edge.
The mill was rebuilt in '53 by James Jaynes,
-18-
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