As the use of land increased in Union County and good land became
less and less available, new methods of providing for more and better crops were
improvised. In the "Bottoms" three drainage districts were organized to reclaim
the land that was swampy and to drain the numerous small lakes which existed
there.
The first attempt which was made to organized the citizens of this
area to carry out the above project failed and was superceded by another
organization. The second time the project was organized, 1913 to 1916, the plans
were carried through.
Three drainage districts were established, Preston,
Clear Creek and Miller Pond. Directors of each district were elected by the land
owner. Each land owner had so many votes per forty acres so that a man owning
400 acres was allowed ten times as many votes as a man owning 40 acres. Preston
district which comprised 8,806.18 acres of land elected Mr. Tom Rixleben, Mr.
Will J. Rendleman and Mr. Harry Verble, directors. Clear Creek comprising 17,313
acres, elected Mr. Dan Davie, Mr. James Reynolds and Mr. Russell Corlis,
directors, and Mill Pond which comprised 4200 acres elected Mr. Ed Karraker, Mr.
Henry Sifford and Mr. John Lingle directors. The citizens then petitioned the
court to recognize these men as duly authorized commissioners to represent the
land owners of their respective districts in all business transactions.
Part of the minutes of the meeting petitioning the court were as follows: "The
lands aforementioned, lying within the boundaries and comprising the territory
hereinafter mentioned and described, are exceedingly fertile and productive in
character and thereby are well adapted to all purposes of agriculture which can
be employed and utilized in this latitude and locality, nevertheless, they are
of the character and description known as 'bottom' lands, are of generally low
elevation and be adjacent to the Big Muddy and Mississippi Rivers, in
consequence of which they, to a large extent, are subject to overflow and
inundation from said streams in time of flood, by reason of which their tillage
in their natural unprotected state is rendered precarious and cannot be
undertaken and presented with safety or assurances of ability to mature and
garner crops grown therein. Moreover, a large portion of said lands are swampy,
covered by small lakes and ponds in which the surplus water from floods and
surface water from rains and melting snow and ice collects and remains standing
and stagnant during the greater or less portion of every year, whereby is
produced noxious weeds and rank vegetation, which in decaying, causes vile and
noxious vapors, mosquitos and other poisonous and disease bearing insects also
breed and thrive because of stagnant and noxious vegetation. By reason of all
which the lands require a combined system of drainage and protection from
overflow, which, as the petitioners believe and allege, can be accomplished
within the limits of reasonable cost and expenses.
After the districts
were set up, taxes of approximately twenty-two dollars per acre were levied to
carry on the project. This money was to be paid in partial payments ever a
period of several years.
An engineer was then employed to survey the
territory and make plans for ditches and levees. Then the work was completed. By
this means approximately 30,000 acres of land was reclaimed for use in
agriculture.
The bonds have been retired and the project has been
successful in a way but the ditches have not been maintained as was originally
planned and in many places they have been filled by soil erosion and growth of
brush until now there is need for another project in oil reclamation.
The
Federal government made an appropriation in 1934 of $300,000 for the repair of
the back levee along the Mississippi in Preston and Clear Creek Districts but so
far the directors have not petitioned the government for the use of the money
and if this is not done within a definite period the money will revert to the
treasury.
Some of the farmers were forced to sell their land in order to
meet the cost of the drainage project but in most instances this was due to the
fact that the land was heavily encumbered before the assessment for drainage was
made.
Three destructive floods occurred, 1922, 1925, and 1927, which
broke the levee and did much damage to the land. Much sipe water soaks through
under the levee when the river is high which still prevents the use of some of
the land.
The present commissioners of the district are: Preston, Mr. Tom
Rixleben, Mr. W. J. Rendleman and Mr. Ralph M. Springs; Clear Creek: Mr. Dan
Davie, Mr. James Reynolds, and Mr. Russell Corlis. Mr. John Lingle is the
secretary of these two districts. The commissioners of Miller Pond district are
Mr. Edwin Lingle, Mr. Ed Karraker and Mr. A. M. Wilson and Mr. Perl Zwahlen is
secretary.
In 1917 the Farm Bureau was organized to help the farmer take
advantage of the benefits in education and other constructive projects carried
on by the United States Department of Agriculture through the University of
Illinois. Part of the expenses of the bureau was to be paid by the Department of
Agriculture and the remainder the fees collected for membership in the county.
Extension work was put into the county with the understanding that a farm
adviser would be appointed.
The first meeting of a temporary organization
was held October 19, 1917. It was known as the Union County Improvement
Association and the officers elected were: Charles Ware, president; Claude Rich,
vice-president; L. G. Richardson, secretary and Rooney Dillow, treasurer.
The first meeting of the permanent and present organization was held March
1, 1918. This organization became known as the Farm Bureau of Union County. The
officers elected were: A. A. Fasig, president; Claude Rich, vice-president; L.
G. Richardson, secretary; and Clyde Harris, treasurer; with C. F. Keist, E. B.
Walton, O. J. Penninger, L. L. Casper and W. W. Davie serving on the executive
committee.
The present board is made up of Ernest Vincent, president;
Ralph Williams, vice-president; Charles Eddleman, secretary and treasurer, and
Ray Guthrie, Ed Wiggs, N. M. Gurley, T. D. Dillow, Ernest Newbold, O. H. Clutts,
Mark Otrich, Elbert Miller, D. L. Miller and Ike Knight serving as directors.
The first farm adviser, Mr. C. E. Durst came to Union County early in 1920.
In June, 1920, he was succeeded by Mr. Doerschuk, who remained until February
15, 1923. Mr. E. A. Bierbaum, the present adviser worked with Mr. Doerschuk as
assistant adviser in 1921. Mr. Foote became adviser in February, 1923 and was
followed by Mr. Fager in April, 1925. He was followed by Mr. Brock, June 4, 1927
and in 1929 Mr. Bierbaum returned, this time as adviser and has remained since
that time.
The Farm Bureau was primarily organized as a farm organization
to sponsor agriculture extension work in the county but since the time of
organization it has taken under its supervision other Activities. The Farm
Bureau now acts as liaison between the activities of the Illinois Agricultural
Association. From year to year new activities have developed in this
organization and have become available to the local unit. Under the educational
activities of the I. A. A. comes the Information and Publicity Department, which
keeps the membership informed by means of I. A. A. records and news releases.
This was established in 1919. Next comes the Corporate Secretary who is
responsible for the corporate records of the I. A. A. and affiliates. Under the
Corporate Secretary comes the Department of Safety, established in 1935 to
encourage farm, home and highway safety, and the Department of Soil Improvement,
established in 1937 to encourage and develop soil building, and the Department
of Office Management which supervises 300 employees.
The third department
of the I. A. A. is the Treasury which is responsible for the funds of the I. A.
A. and nine affiliates. Within the department is the Assistant Treasurer whose
responsibility is to supervise all investments for the I. A. A. and affiliates,
established in 1935. Next comes the comptroller, which supervises budgets and
accounting for the I. A. A. and affiliates. This was established in 1927 when
the organization had developed into a large corporation.
The fifth
department is that of Field Secretary, which maintains organization relations
with farm bureaus and affiliates. Within this department are the department of
organization, established in 1919 to assist with membership acquisition and
maintenance; the department of young people's activities, established in 1936 to
develop future leadership; the department of grain marketing, established in-.
1920 to develop cooperative grain marketing; the department of produce of cream
marketing, established in 1921 to develop crop produce and cream marketing; the
department of livestock marketing established in 1920 to develop cooperative
livestock marketing; the department of fruit and vegetable marketing,
established in 1921 to develop cooperative fruit and vegetable marketing; the
department of milk marketing, established in 1920 to develop cooperative milk
marketing.
The sixth department of the I. A. A. is the Field Service
established in 1937 to assist county Farm Bureaus with special projects. Next
comes the Department of General Counsel established in 1921 as legal adviser.
Under the Department of General Counsel comes the Legal Department, established
in 1919 to give legal service to the organization and its affiliates, and the
Transportation Department, established in 1919, which oversees transportation
and utility matters.
The Taxation and Statistics Department, established
in 1921, handles tax problems and economic studies.
Organizations which
have become corporations growing out of I. A. A. activities are the Illinois
Agricultural Service Company, which provides management service for affiliated
companies responsible to the respective boards of directors including: (1) The
Illinois Farm Supply Company, established in 1927, which serves 138 farnt
cooperatives and paid dividends of $1,418,800 in 1938; (2) the Illinois Farm
Bureau Service Association, established in 1924, which serves 87 county Farm
Bureaus and paid dividends of ยง62,000 in 1938; (3) the Illinois Agricultural
Auditing Association, established' in 1924 which provided 470 audits at cost for
353 cooperatives in 1938; (4) the Illinois Grain Corporation, established in
1930, a statewide marketing cooperative for local elevators; (5) the Illinois
Producer's Creameries established in 1930, having nine member creameries which
produced 7,000,000 pounds of butter in 1938; (6) the Illinois Livestock
Marketing Association, a statewide agency for cooperative livestock marketing,
established in 1931; (7) the Country Life Insurance Company established in 1928
which is a company having 83,000 policies with a value of $133,000,000 in force;
(8) the Illinois Agricultural Holding Company which holds all capital 1 stock of
the Country Life Insurance Company; (9) the Illinois Agricultural Mutual
Insurance Company which has 80,000 policies of auto employer's liability,
accident and 4-H Calf Club; (10) the Farmer's Mutual Reinsurance Company which
has in force $231,000,000 worth of fire, wind and hail insurance policies.
A second affiliated organization is the Illinois Fruit Growers Exchange
established in 1921. Through this fruits and vegetables were marketed in 18
states and Canada during 1938. Another agency is the Illinois Milk Producer's
Association with 23 members doing cooperative marketing of $3,700,600 worth of
milk annually.
Through the Farm Bureau all the above services are
available to its members.
The Farm Bureau also works with the Farm
Security Administration, the Soil Conservation Administration and the Farm
Credit Association, three departments of the Federal government i which loans or
grants money to the farmer. The farm security administration will be discussed
in a later chapter on Relief in Union County.
Soil Conservation is a
large program in this county. It is organized under the Conservation and
Domestic Allotment Act passed by the Federal government in 1936 and revised in
1938. Its purpose is (1) to conserve the natural resources of the soil, (2)
control production, and (3) help the farmer obtain his fair share of the
national income.
The first program of this type was established in 1933
and was known as the corn-hog-wheat program and its purpose was to pay the
farmer's benefits for reducing hog and corn production to get rid of surpluses,
to stabilize the market and to increase the price. This program was declared
unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States. The committee which
supervised the corn-hog-wheat program were Charles Eddleman, Odie Bridgeman,
John Orr, J. R. Montgomery, Guy Johnson and Fred Dillow.
The first
committee administering the soil conservation program was J. R. Montgomery,
chairman, Dan Davie, vice-chairman and secretary, and L. L. Flamm. The present
committee is Dan Davie, chairman, L. L. Flamm, vice-chairman, P. D. Dillow and
Elaine Rushing, secretary, treasurer and office manager. This committee
distributes the allotments paid by the Federal government to the farmers for
conforming to the program of soil conservation.
As agriculture
developed and as new modes of transportation, became available, the shipper's
association and various civic and. farmer groups became interested in developing
new modes of marketing produce.
As long as only rail and water
transportation was available for shipping, produce was sent to distributing
centers such as Chicago, Memphis, New Orleans, etc. Brokers had headquarters in
these centers and bought most of the produce which came in to sell to the
retailers in various parts of the country. The farmer paid for the packing and
shipping of the produce to these centers and frequently when there was a market
break the additional loss of these handling charges served a hardship on the
farmer.
With the advent of hard roads and trucks the picture of marketing
changed.
In Anna, in 1934, a Municipal Market was constructed where the
farmers could bring their produce to be sold directly to brokers or other
buyers. This project was the result of efforts of the Union County Farm Bureau
to provide a place for cooperative marketing. The Anna Chamber of Commerce
became interested and donated $2,000 toward the construction of the market. The
City of Anna donated $500, and $17,500 was obtained from the Civil Works
Administration, making a total of $19,800. The $2500 provided most of the
material used and the C. W. A. allowance provided for the labor and part of the
material.
The following is a report of the committee in charge of the
building of the market:
"At a cost of approximately $20,000, Anna
constructed for the farmers of Southern Illinois, a market place that is second
to none. The facilities offer to the producer an excellent and orderly method of
disposing of his fruits or vegetables in season.
"The market fills a long
needed facility," says Mr. J. L. Fuller, one of the older and more experienced
fruit growers of the' community, "a facility that offers direct selling with car
loading and truck loading platforms and a fruit and vegetable shipping:
association which makes the way of disposing of products varied and many enough
to suit the most particular seller or buyer."
With $3,500 for materials
and a substantially larger amount for labor in construction the community offers
ideal surroundings for fair dealings between buyer and seller.
Early in
the development of the project a small committee of Farm Bureau members met with
their Farm Adviser and worked out skeletal plans for the project but due to lack
of ready capital, were not able to have the project put under way with farmer
owned capital. When the C. W. A. developed, the project merited consideration by
that administration and with funds from that source, later funds furnished by
the Anna Chamber of Commerce, the project was completed and made ready for
operation May 15, 1934.
Under the able management of Mr. Woodward, who
had twelve years of experience in similar market facilities at Benton Harbor,
Michigan, the project has proceeded with surprising success.
The actual
operation of the market is under the direction of a market commission consisting
of Mr. J. L. Fuller, Mr. P. M. West and Mr. R. L. Shannon.
The Illinois
Central Railroad, seeing the advantage of such facilities to the growers of the
territory spent some $8,000 in improving their car loading facilities adjacent
to the market.
In short, the market offers ideal opportunity to all fruit
and vegetable growers of Southern Illinois to dispose of produce on an F. O. B.
basis.
The market employs a market master and checker. The local farmer
is charged 10c per load for what he sells in the market. If a man comes from
another state to sell his produce he is charged one dollar per load.
Several brokers and buyers pay $50.00 per year for stalls where they operate
their business and day buyers pay $1.00 per day for the use of the market
facilities.
In cooperation with the market, the City of Anna passed an
ordinance prohibiting house to house peddling so that all produce can be sold
thru the regular market channels.
The project has been self-supporting
and a small surplus has been accumulated.
The Cobden market, called the
People's Fruit and Vegetable Shipper's Association was built by the shippers of
Cobden and donations solicited from other residents.
This market was
built at a cost of $10,000 in 1935. It is maintained for approximately $150 per
year. It serves the same purpose that the Anna market serves.
Mr. Melvin
Caraker is manager of the People's Fruit and Vegetable Shipper's Association and
Mr. Frank A. Rendleman is manager of the market. They work together at the
market Fees are charged if the market sells produce for the farmer but any
farmer is allowed to sell his own produce there free of charge.
These
markets in strawberry and peach marketing seasons are interesting spectacles.
Almost any market day through the summer finds them busy but these two seasons
find them especially so. Both towns are over-run with trucks at these times
which bear license plates from practically every state in the United States.
Another interesting market in Union County is the W. H. Bishop Horse and
Mule Auction. This market is not the result of the expansion of horse and mule
raising in the county but it could well be the cause of the development of the
industry especially since so much of the Union County land is more adapted to
pasture than to crop raising.
The Bishop Auction is rather, the result of
the long experience Mr. W. H. Bishop has had in the marketing of horses and
mules. He felt that such an enterprise would be a paying business so he invested
his own capital of several thousand dollars in the equipment to run this market.
He began in 1933 with one barn where he carried on a retail business in horses
and mules. By 1939 he had added two retail barns and the large building housing
the horse and mule auction, the office and lunch room. This building is air
conditioned, modern and convenient in every respect.
This is the largest
industry in Union County owned and operated by one individual.
Every
Tuesday buyers from all parts of the country assemble to bid on the horses and
mules led into the auction ring. Animals are brought from all parts of the
country to be sold here. There is established fees for the selling of each
animal and regular fees are charged for keeping animals to be sold.
Assisting Mr. Bishop in his business are his brothers, John and Noble Bishop,
his sister, Mrs. Mamie Biggs and his nephew, Luther Davis, Jr. Mr. Harry C.
Kearney is the auctioneer.
Contributed 11 Sep 2017 by Norma Hass, extracted from History of Union County, by Lulu Leonard, published in 1941.
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