Sterling-Rock Falls Historical Society

An Early History of Sterling, Illinois

The Rock River Valley of Wisconsin and Illinois is an area which is rich in American history. For many years it was the home and hunting grounds of various Indian tribes. It is often referred to as the "Land of Black Hawk." As we stand at his monument near Oregon, Illinois, and look out over the rich farmlands, we can not help but think how much he hated to give this area to the coming white men. In his last speech he said, "Rock River was a beautiful country. I like my towns and my cornfields, and the home of my people; I fought for it; it is now yours. It will produce you good crops."

Today one of the counties in this area bears the name of a man who was in command of troops who defeated this great chief. The man was Samuel Whiteside. During the Black Hawk War, he was a Brigadier General of the militia. It was due to his help that the war was brought to a successful conclusion and the territory was opened to peaceful settlement.

Whiteside County comprises an area of six hundred seventy six square miles. It is intersected by the Rock River which flows from the northeast to the southwest where it enters the Mississippi River near Rock Island. It is bounded on the north by Carroll and Ogle Counties, east by Ogle and Lee Counties, south by Henry and Bureau Counties, and the western boundary is formed by Rock Island County and the Mississippi River. Through this area the Rock River flows for a distance of about fifty miles.

On this stream is situated the present day city of Sterling with a population of 12,761. It is vastly different from the village founded by Hezekiah Brink in 1834.

In 1834 Hezekiah Brink made an exploring trip in the river valley in the company of a Mr. Andrews and Mr. Holland of Dixon. They traveled down the north side of the river past the present city of Sterling, and stopped near what is now the village of Como. Then they traveled up Elkhorn Creek and crossed it in an Indian canoe; swimming their horses across. They went down to the Rock River again by following an Indian trail to a place opposite the Prophet's village. They grazed their horses here and crossed over the river to a cabin of a Mr. McClure and spent the night. The next day they returned to Dixon. After much discussion, they decided where they would locate their claims. Mr. Brink chose an area east of the present day street of Broadway. Then he went on to Oswego on the Fox River, where he exchanged his horse for a yoke of oxen. Returning then to Indiana, he brought his family back to his claim and occupied his cabin about May 11 1835. His nearest neighbor was the Mr. McClure at old Prophetstown whom I mention previously.

Mr. Brink's claim was bounded on the south by the Rock River and on all other sides by continuing expanses of prairie. The only variation in the landscape was a narrow belt of timber near the river. The Indians were somewhat numerous at first but as a general rule, they were peaceful. They remained only a few years after the settlement of the county and then went westward.

The population grew with the arrival of John J. Albertson and Isaac H. Albertson who came from Dutchess County, New York, in 1835. They settled to the east of Mr. Brink's claim. In the same year, William Kirkpatrick came and built a cabin. He was from Sangamon County, Illinois, and in going from there to his saw mill on Yellow Creek, near Freeport, he crossed the Rock River at the present day Sterling.

The residents of the area thought that Mr. Kirkpatrick's claim to the west of Brink's claim was made for speculative purposes. They did not like "land sharks" and told him so. After a time, Mr. Kirkpatrick entered into a bond of one thousand dollars, by which he agreed to lay out a town near the rapids of the river within one year. The bond was made and complied with, and the village of Chatham came into existence.

While these events were going on to found the village of Chatham, Mr. Brink laid out a village upon his claim. He maintained that the plotting and survey was done before Mr. Kirkpatrick laid out Chatham.

It was in May of 1836 that a steamer captained by D. S. Harris came up the Rock River. With the aid of settlers and oxen, it was successful in crossing the rapids and landed near Mr. Brink's claim. She was loaded with groceries and provisions. Mr. Brink deeded part of his claim to Captain Harris for the greater part of the provisions. In turn they agreed to lay out a town. A few months later Israel Mitchell of Jo Daviess County, made a survey and plotted a village. It was named Harrisburgh in honor of Captain Harris.

In 1836, settlers continued to come. Among them were Elijah Worthington and Julius D. Pratt of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania; Luther Bush from New York; Van J. Adams from Ohio; and Wyatt Cantrell from Kentucky. In 1837 there were but four cabins in Harrisburgh.

Life in these early times was centered chiefly around agriculture. The first land broken here was done by Hezekiah Brink in 1834. He also did the first breaking in Como in 1834 with three yoke of oxen. The neighbors called upon him for "breaking", for which he received five dollars a day. Forty acres were broken by him in 1835 where Sterling now stands.

Most of the land behind the Rock River is rolling prairie, except along Elkhorn Creek and along the river in the middle and upper portions of Sterling. There it is bluffy and was originally covered with timber. It was hard work to "break the prairie" but after it was done, the deep soil produced well. The trouble was not in raising crops but in finding markets for them.

The residents of Chatham and Harrisburgh agreed that the Rock River would continue to be a navigable stream. They looked to it as a means of importing desired goods and as a means for exporting their products. They looked to St. Louis and other southern ports as places of trade for them. In building their houses and stores, they were careful to erect them near the river so as to be near this good means of transportation.

The people of this area also relied upon Chicago which was one hundred and ten miles to the east. At this early time, Chicago was the wheat market for the Rock River Valley. The trip was usually made in a heavy lumber wagon.

Colonel Ezekiel Kilgour usually owned four or five yoke of oxen. To accommodate his neighbors, he would "yoke up his oxen" and take a load of wheat to Chicago. The load for eight oxen was about sixty bushels. The round trip would consume ten or twelve days if the mud was not too deep in the Sammanock Swamp and no breakdowns occurred. Yet many times, it took two or three weeks to complete the journey. When prices were high, the sum realized above the cost of transportation was about ten cents a bushel.

Much of the early life of Sterling was centered about the river. Yet the much relied upon Rock River presented difficulties to navigation. The "upper rapids" extended for one and one fourth miles with a fall of eight feet three inches in that distance. The river bed was of a smooth calcareous rock. It was proposed to improve the rapids by building a dam and then constructing a canal about two thousand feet in length, with a lock capable of a lift of nine feet nine inches. The cost was to be about eighty five thousand, three hundred ninety five dollars.

In 1839, the General Assembly of the state appropriated forty thousand dollars to begin this work. The money was spent but the river was still not made navigable.

Still determined to carry on the project, the people of the counties along the river petitioned the General Assembly to pass an act which would allow them to levy a tax to carry on river improvement. The act was passed in February, 1845, and more work was carried out. Until the railroad came into this area, attempts were still going on to make the river navigable. Once the railroad came, however, the idea of making the stream navigable was abandoned.

While the limestone in the river was in impediment to navigation, the limestone cliffs along it added to the scenic beauty of Sterling. It is one of the few cities in Illinois to capitalize on its scenic river margin.

The river traffic of the early days also influenced the laying out of the city streets. Nine avenues running from the river have a width of one hundred feet while another is one hundred fifty feet wide. The streets parallel to the river are only sixty to sixty six feet wide. The wide streets were designed to carry the heavy traffic from the river transportation system. These early people did not see that in this modern day the river would hinder transportation and most traffic would flow parallel to it.

The two villages, which were founded about the same time, developed a rivalry which, if it had continued, would have hindered the growth of both. The reason for their uniting is an interesting one. The General Assembly in 1836 created five new counties in Illinois. Whiteside County was among that number. As in many other instances, there was an immediate desire by many towns to have the county seat located in their town. Chatham and Harrisburgh were each determined that the other should not have it. Yet, realizing that neither might get it, they decided to cooperate to secure it. The area of ground between the two towns was surveyed and plotted thus joining the two. It was now necessary to name the new town.

The selection of a name was left purely to chance; it was decided by the flipping of a coin. The winning party was also to have the county buildings erected on its side of Broadway, the dividing line between the villages.

Hezekiah Brink and E. B. Worthington represented Harrisburgh and Nelson Mason and Hugh Wallace represented Chatham. The coin was tossed and the representatives of Chatham won. It was decided to name the town Sterling in honor of Colonel Sterling, a Pennsylvania friend of Hugh Wallace.

While the people of Sterling had agreed as to where the county seat should be located, the county voters had not. A county election held on September 23, 1839, gave a majority of the votes to the village of Lyndon. A contract was soon let by the county commissioners, and a building was erected for county purposes. The people of Sterling maintained that the election was not fair as a precinct's votes which would have given a majority to Sterling were thrown out. In February, 1840, a re-canvass of the September 23, 1839, election was ordered. The rejected precinct's votes were counted, and Sterling was found to have a majority of seven votes.

The County Commissioners then removed the county seat to Sterling where it remained until September, 1842. In the annual election of that year, county commissioners favorable to having Lyndon as the county seat were elected. Shortly thereafter, the county seat was returned to Lyndon.

The matter was now such that the General Assembly of 1834 appointed a commission to locate the county seat permanently. This commission reported on May 27, 1843, to locate it at Lyndon.

This however, did not solve the problem as Sterling maintained that in 1841, it had started to erect a courthouse. Lyndon had donated forty acres for county purposes but had erected no buildings on it. Sterling, then, was able to get the commissioners to order circuit court in May, 1846, to hold its sessions in Sterling. Lyndon tried to force the circuit court to hold its sessions in Lyndon as the commissioners appointed by the state ruled that Lyndon was the permanent county seat. The court ruled, however, that while Lyndon had a building for county offices and court, it was not upon land donated to the county as required by law.

In the continuing struggle between these two villages, the General Assembly was again appealed to for settlement of the issue. Subsequently, an election was held on April 3, 1849, and a majority vote cast in favor of Sterling.

For the next eight years, the county seat was located in Sterling. In 1857, the residents of the county once more appealed to have the county seat moved. The general Assembly passed an act on February 7, 1857, which provided that at the November election the voters should decide whether to move the county seat from Sterling to Morrison provided that certain conditions were complied with. At that election three thousand, two hundred and three votes were cast with Morrison receiving a majority of fifty nine votes. As a result, Sterling lost the county seat as it was moved to Morrison on May 31 1858. It has remained there ever since.

The town of Sterling was never organized as a village previous to its incorporation as a city. Instead they remained under township organization for a number of years. The city finally organized under a special charter granted by the General Assembly and approved on February 16, 1857. The first city election was held in April, 1857. Lorenzo Hapgood was elected mayor. The city council met for organization on the evening of April 23, 1857.

Although Sterling had grown constantly since its founding, it was not at a rapid rate. Up until the coming of the railroad, it was behind the towns of Fulton, Albany, and Dixon. The reason for this slow growth was the need for a better means of transportation to get products to market.

The idea of constructing a direct railroad west to the Mississippi was suggested as early as 1851. Prior to this, railroads had been constructed to Freeport and Rockford; but it did not meet the needs of Sterling. Finally, the Chicago and Galena Union Railway planned and built a railroad from Chicago to Fulton. The first train entered Sterling in 1855. This was the cause of a huge celebration with Stephan A. Douglas being one of the principal speakers of the day.

While the Rock River was never to be as important to transportation as the early citizens thought, it did have an influence on the community. The first man to take advantage of it as a source of power was Wyatt Cantrell, who constructed a mill on the rapids in 1838. He served the people of the southern and eastern parts of Whiteside County as well as the north side of Henry and Bureau Counties by grinding grist for about ten years.

The Sterling Hydraulic Company was organized in 1854 and work on a dam and race was started. The dam, one thousand feet in length and fourteen feet wide, was completed in September, 1855, at a cost of about seven thousand dollars.

The river, of course, presented an obstacle to land travel to the south for many years. Hezekiah Brink ran a free rope ferry across the river in 1839 and 1840. He did this to induce travelers to come to his settlement. After its discontinuance, the only means of crossing for several years, was by fording.

The first wooden bridge to be built was completed in 1857 but soon washed away in a flood. The Sterling Bridge Company, in 1863, constructed a toll bridge at a cost of thirty thousand dollars. In August, 1876, an election showed that the people desired that the city should build a free bridge. It was completed in 1878.

While ferries ran from time to time, they were not practical. The bridges soon forced them to cease operations.

Even though the people of Sterling were busy in these early days with problems of local and county government, transportation, development of resources, and earning a livelihood, there were those individuals who were interested in cultural and social advancement. Mail service, school churches, and newspapers were inaugurated very soon after the settlement had begun.

The problem of receiving mail was a great one in these early days. As early as 1836, an attempt was made to establish a post office with Hezekiah Brink as Postmaster but he declined the position. In June, 1837, a post office was established in Chatham, called Rock River Rapids. The mail was brought from Dixon by Nelson Mason who had secured the contract. He carried it for eight cents per mile with it being taken no farther west than the Rapids. It came three times a month to Dixon by a coach traveling from Peoria to Galena. The post office was located in Mason and Barnett's store near the river. Previous to the establishment of the post office in Chatham, the people had to go to Dixon for their mail. The first postmaster, John D. Barnett, held his position about a year. Then Daniel D. Guiles received the appointment and moved the office to Harrisburgh. In 1841, Eliphalet B. Worthington was appointed postmaster and kept the office in his house in Harrisburgh. Shortly thereafter, he purchased some lots in the neutral area between the two towns, built a house, and moved the office to it. As a result, he was able to stay in office twelve years. The postmastership then passed to a Bradley Nichols and then to Joseph Hutchinson, a strong Democrat. The residents did not like this appointment and liked it less when he moved the office west of the business portion of the town. The dissatisfaction was so great that some people refused to receive mail or to send it through the office but sent it to Nelson or Como instead. To spite the postmaster, one day when the streets were a sea of mud, about fifty persons rolled up their trousers, arranged the cuffs to carry a great deal of mud, and then started for the post office. Once in the store where the post office was kept, they rolled down their trousers and stamped off the mud. Since this had been done noisily, the sheriff climbed upon a dry goods counter to quiet the crowd. Of course, he left mud on the goods displayed there. Shortly after this, the office was moved closer to the business district as the people desired it to be.

The education of the village's young people was not neglected for very long. Although there were no school houses, a cabin was used as a school room. Mrs. Eliphalet B. Worthington opened the first school in her house. In order to get her to do this, the owners of Harrisburgh had given her a city lot. The next school was taught by L. P. Whipple, in a building erected for a shop. This was in the fall of 1838.

As the population grew, there was an increased demand for additional educational facilities. The First Ward School was organized in 1856. The district was unable to build a schoolhouse but Hezekiah Brink put up a stone house which was rented as a school until 1860. A new school was built in that year. In 1877, the average attendance was two hundred twenty students with three teachers employed.

The Second Ward School, for a good while, was held in a wooden building erected in 1859. The original cost of this building was two thousand dollars and with additions served until 1867 when a new building was erected. It contained eleven rooms which would seat six hundred pupils. School was first held in it on April 1, 1867 with a principal, C. C. Buell and five assistants. It was organized into four departments: Primary, intermediate, grammar, and high school. The time spent in a grade was not fixed but pupils were advanced as fast as their abilities permitted. The high school course covered a period of three years. The first class graduated in 1873.

The Third bard School was organized in 1866. Until 1874, the school's departments were kept in three wooden buildings. Increased population caused the need of a new building, and one was erected in 1874 at a cost of twenty-eight thousand dollars.

One early account describes the Second Ward School as a place where the "halls, study and recitation rooms are convenient as the designer could devise. It is furnished with seats of the Sterling School Furniture Company's manufacture, which have had a greater influence to harmonize and reconcile the pupil to the discipline of the schoolroom than application of the birch or ferule."

St. Patrick's Catholic Church, at an early date, had a school building close to it where an education could be obtained. In the summer of 1868, the parish was divided and the old parsonage given to the Sisters of Mercy who came to teach the parochial school. A new schoolhouse was then erected near the Sisters' house, and the school was held for about one year. About that time, dissatisfaction came in and the Sisters left Sterling. Lay teachers were then employed until about 1870 when the old school was enlarged and moved to a new location. The Sisters were asked to return and take charge, which they did.

In addition to the public and parochial schools, there were schools of a private nature. The Edwards Seminary was begun in 1875. The records of 1876 show an attendance of one hundred pupils and three teachers.

The Business College was located in the Academy of Music block. It was conducted by E. Loomis and H. A. Aument. Its courses were given in three departments; commercial, penmanship, and phonographic.

Closely associated with the schools in education was the Sterling Public Library organized on April 27, 1878. Upon organization, the library received a donation of books which had belonged to the "Christian Association." The only stipulation was that the city must maintain a free library. This the city council agreed to do. It has, since the early day, continued to grow and provides a worthwhile service to the community.

Religion, a matter which was usually close to the hearts of God fearing early settlers in our country, was not neglected in this new settlement. The oldest church organization was formed in 1838 in Hezekiah Brink's cabin by Reverend Barton H. Cartwright. He was one of the early Methodist missionary preachers of the West. Prior to its building, the services were held in the old stone school and the old Court house. From this first church the present day First Methodist Church has emerged.

The First Presbyterian Church was organized on November 4, 1844, and a building was constructed between 1848 1852. One church had its beginning in 1854. The Catholics of the Sterling area in 1854 were served by the Dixon priest, who occasionally went to Sterling and said the mass. An English Lutheran Church of eleven members was organized that year. In 1856, the Congregationalists talked of organizing a church and on April 15, 1857, met for organizational purposes. On June 21, 1857, it was publicly organized with thirty members in the Presbyterian Church. With only seven communicants, the Parish of Grace Church, Episcopal, was organized in May, 1864. The First Baptist Church began with eleven members on June 1, 1856, and held services for some time in the school room of the First Presbyterian Church. Five members made up the Evangelical Association in 1865 and they were Germans. The Fourth Street M.E. organized in October, 1867. A Reformed Mennonite Society was organized in 1866 with a membership of sixty five. The German Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart was organized in 1870 as was Bethlehem Lutheran Church. The latter's members were of Swedish birth or descent and originally numbered only eleven. Six members organized the German Lutheran Church in 1874. A year later the Christian Church was formed with twenty members. Thus the religious needs of a varied society were met. Today twenty five churches serve the same need.

To a pioneer community, news from outside the immediate area was eagerly sought. The early pioneers also knew that a newspaper could urge people to work harder to achieve certain goals. One of these early goals was the completion of a railroad westward from Dixon to the Mississippi River. As a result several meetings were held to establish a newspaper. Charles Boynton, who had published a paper at Albany, was to establish one in Sterling. His first paper appeared on December 7, 1854. The "Times” was neutral in politics but when sold to Grattan and Norwood in 1855 became Republican. Its Republican life was short as in the spring of 1856 it became Democratic under L. D. Crandal. In the winter of 1856 1857, Worthington and Biggart published it, but it ceased publication in 1857 after a hard struggle for survival.

Yet Sterling was not to be without a newspaper as a William, Caffrey had established the "Sterling Republican" in July, 1856. H. G. Grattan started the "Sterling Gazette" in the winter of 1857 1858. After a time these two papers united and took the name of the "Republican and Gazette." Walter Nimocks purchased Grattan's share in the paper, but the new partnership soon failed. Mr. Caffrey continued publication alone while Nimocks went to Kansas. Soon after this, the name "Sterling Gazette" was adopted. In 1861 C. M. Worthington and Co. purchased the paper with Mr. Worthington finally gaining sole ownership. A few more changes took place in ownership, but it is still in existence today. It has always been a staunch Republican paper. Successful daily publication began on February 16, 1882.

Other papers existed in the community but all have now ceased publication. On June 11, 1868, the "Whiteside Chronicle" appeared. It later changed its name to the "Sterling Standard." It was Republican in political ideals and a strong advocate for temperance. The "Sterling Clear Grit" began publication on October 13, 1877, and concerned itself largely with local matters. The "Sterling Beobackter" commencing in 1877 was Democratic in politics and the only German newspaper in the county. The only independent paper was the "Daily Blade" beginning in June, 1881. It suspended publications in December, 1883, but was revived one year later as a Democratic paper by its original publisher, A. J. Booth.

While only one newspaper was to survive these early years, they undoubtedly served a worthwhile purpose in the community. The "Sterling Gazette" has a wide circulation in the county with a net paid circulation of over twelve thousand, five hundred.

The present day Sterling is referred to by the Chamber of Commerce as "The heart of American Hardware." One has only to look upon the great factories in the city today to see that manufacturing is of great importance. Wyatt Cantrell had used water power to run his grist mill in the early days and from then on manufacturing continued to grow.

In 1849, an association was formed under the name of "The Sterling Hydraulic Company" for the improvement of navigation and the production of water power. The dam was completed in 1855, and in 1856, one advertisement was inserted in one Chicago, New York, and Boston paper stating the advantages and location of water power for sale here. It did not, however, meet with much success.

Shortly after the Civil War, in 1867, efforts were made to revive an interest in manufacture with these efforts being met successfully. One of the earliest endeavors was the grinding of flour. Joshua V. and William Kinney erected the first mill in 1856. In 1865, forty five thousand barrels of flour were produced. A good deal of it was put in sacks for foreign export.

The Commercial Mills were built by Lukens and Bye shortly after 1856 and were capable of producing two hundred barrels of flour per day. Another, the Pacific Mills, produced about one hundred fifty barrels per day. It also did custom grinding for farmers.

John S. Miller started the Sterling Distillery in 1864. It was the second largest distillery in the United States. The capital employed in the business amounted to about three hundred fifty thousand dollars. It covered an area of about five acres and cattle sheds in conjunction with it of sufficient size to feed two thousand head. Six hundred forty thousand bushels of grain were used annually to produce three million gallons of alcohol. Taxes to the United States Revenue Department amounted to nearly two million dollars. The alcohol was shipped principally to Europe and South America. It was closed in 1884.

The Sterling Pump Works began in 1863 for retail purposes but soon entered the wholesale trade. It also manufactured Hull's Patent Double Surface Washboard which, according to accounts, was in great demand.

The Sterling School Furniture Company was founded under the name Novelty Iron Works Company in 1868 with the idea of making castings and sewing machines. A demand by a Chicago firm for castings for school seats caused the company to undertake their own manufacture. In addition to school seats, they made church, office, and lodge furniture, porcelain ware, stove pipe registers, pump cylinders, stove reservoirs, and many kinds of small castings.

In June, 1871, the Williams and Orton Manufacturing Company was organized. They produced mill machinery and general machinists' goods. In 1878, they began production of the Williams' Reaper and Mower.

Paint was produced in the city by the Sterling Mineral Paint Company established in 1871. The mineral used in its production was obtained in Coloma Township. The mineral was dug, placed upon the ground, and allowed to partially dry. In the winter, it was brought over the river and placed in large piles. Only one color, dark brown, was produced for many years. It was used quite extensively by the railroads that period for freight cars, shops, and depots. Chemical analysis showed it to be largely peroxide of iron.

The Sterling Manufacturing Company was partially started in 1855 but was not incorporated until 1870. It was largely concerned with the manufacture of wood products. Among the numerous articles were sashes, doors, blinds, church seats, butter tubs and boxes, stair rails, harrows, and lumber.

Mr. A. B. Spies, in 1863, started a shop which grew into a company called the Anchor Works. A walking corn plow was manufactured here after Spies invented it. Harrows, wagons, carriages, buggies, and sleighs were also manufactured.

The Sterling Burial Case Company, later known as the Rock Falls Manufacturing Company, was organized in 1873. It manufactured ten thousand coffins annually by 1885. They had a choice of fifty styles from the cheapest to the best grade with distribution to twenty six states and territories. Hearses were also manufactured here.

The manufacture of the first gasoline engines took place in Sterling at the Williams and Orton Manufacturing Company. "Two men, John Charter and G. M. Robinson hit upon the idea of making such an engine. They employed Franz Berger, a mechanical engineer from Pennsylvania, who worked for months. The proprietors spent tens of thousands of dollars in experimental machines before the first gasoline engine was sold to the trade in the world was completed in the shop here in 1886, and sold to Lawrence Brothers. It was a ten horsepower engine"

For some years the largest packing company west of Chicago was located here. It covered an acre of ground and five hundred hogs were processed daily. Later it packed vegetables, fruits, and meats of all kinds.

Many other industries were located here as well and were in some cases, the forerunners of the modern factories of today. Some products manufactured by these were barb wire twisting machines, feed mills, wind mills, wire brush machine, bee hives, paper furniture, glass cases, harness, ale, and concentrated butter color. One company engaged in the manufacture of "a line of knocked down store fronts… used extensively in boom towns of Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and in the mining towns of Colorado to give little shacks the appearance from the street of being good sized stores."

Through the early efforts of these companies, the modern manufacturing plants of today came into being. We have only to look at the products manufactured by such companies as Northwestern Steel and Wire, R. B. and W. Bolt and Nut Company, Lawrence Brothers, National Manufacturing Company, Frantz Manufacturing Company, Charter Wire Products Company, and Wilburt Vault Company to see that in many cases, their present manufactures are the modern counterpart of earlier products. In 1952, the value of the manufactured goods of the country, for the first time, exceeded those of agriculture by approximately two million dollars.

Thus the modern day city of Sterling, "The Heart of American Hardware", in the Land of Black Hawk has not only exceeded the expectations of its earliest settlers but has progressed far beyond. It is a modern day city with fine churches, schools, residential areas, and recreational facilities. It is reasonable to assume that it will increase in population as it has ever since its founding by Hezekiah Brink in 1834. If Black Hawk could return to gaze over this valley he loved, he would truly see that his prophecy had been fulfilled.