The origin and history of Edward's Trace the topic at the April meeting of the Logan County Genealogical & Historical Society

 

[April 16, 2024] 

At the April Logan County Genealogical and Historical Society meeting, LCGHS member Gary Dodson shared a presentation on an old Indian trail known as Edwards Trace.

As he began the presentation, Dodson said he hoped everyone was ready for a test because he was giving one. He then asked several questions to get everyone’s thinking processes going and find out how much they already knew about the subject.

The first question Dodson asked was the original name of Edward’s Trace.

One person said she thought it was Kickapoo, but Dodson said it was simply called the Old Indian Trail, which is all he found in his research. The word trace means trail. Dodson said the word trace was used in the early years of history.

The trail started way down south in Kaskaskia and ended way up north in Galena. Dodson said some thought it started near Edwardsville because Governor Edwards recruited 350 frontiersmen to go North and destroy all the Indians.

An interesting fact Dodson shared about the people who live in Kaskaskia is that they have a Missouri address, but an Illinois Zip Code and telephone number. They also vote in Illinois.

Nearly 3,000 years ago, the trail was developed by wild animals such as buffalo, elk, deer, bears and several other animals. When these animals developed the trail, Dodson said they were looking for water, protection, and food just like men did as they walked through the area.

The trail was in use by the animals that developed it before man. Dodson said man came along and claimed it for their use.

Next, Dodson asked those in attendance if they knew where German Prairie was.

Nobody could answer the question, so Dodson told everyone German Prairie is now called Bissell, which many have heard of. Part of the Edwards Trace went up towards Bissel and swerved back over.

When Dodson asked if anyone had heard of Devil’s Hoe, a few people raised their hands. He said Devil’s Hoe was a stopping off ground for Native Americans and some early settlers. Devil’s Hoe is right across the area from Clear Lake.

If Dodson were to take someone on a walk and point to a directional marker, he said it would not be a sign, but would be a tree trunk that has been bent. The bent over trees function as pointers Indians developed in making trails.

Dodson asked how many trails join in to Edwards Trace and said there are millions. These include the Pekin Trail.

Illinois was originally part of the Northwestern Territory. Dodson said the river was the stopping off point. Anything west was like a no man’s land.

Instead of pensions, Dodson said the government would give people land. They did not come up with true pensions until after the Civil War.

Another question Dodson asked was who was the first person to live in Lincoln.

One man knew it was a woman who had been kidnapped in Kentucky but could not recall her name.

The woman’s last name was Gilman and she had three children. Dodson said Native American’s kidnapped them. In one book Dodson read, it said the Indians brought the family up the Edwards Trace. However, he said they actually went through Kentucky and up through Ohio. They then crossed over Vincennes, went up to Decatur on another trail and came out at Elkhart.

Many have heard the Kickapoo Indians were mean and ferocious, killing anyone who got in the way, but Dodson said it was not true. He said the tribe was not ferocious until you got in their way and wanted a fight.

It was the Kickapoo Indians who kidnapped Mrs. Gilman and her children, but they made sure to stop and get them game to eat and furs to wrap the children’s feet. They never got beaten or anything during the three years the tribe had them.

After three years, the family was ransomed back to Gilman’s husband. Mrs. Gilman got 165 acres, but moved down to the Belleville area and started another farm.

When Dodson asked if anyone knew where the American Bottoms is, Bill Donath said he knew it was down by the Kaskaskia area.

Dodson said it is near Cahokia Mounds, which was the first introduction to American soils. He asked whether the farmers that came from Kentucky, the East Coast and other Southern states knew how to grow crops in the prairielands of Illinois.

One man said they did not know how to grow crops here because they thought with the prairie grass, they had to clear the lumber to get anything to grow. They did not have plows that would cut this soil.

In this area, Dodson said the people from the other areas did not know how to farm in this place. It was Indians who taught people to plant crops like corn, beans and squash.

Edwards Trace stayed in place until 1840, when the Alton and Sangamon Railroad closed it down.

When Dodson asked if Elkhart, Elkhart Hill and Elkhart Grove are all the same location, some thought they were.

Actually, these are three different locations. Elkhart is the town, Elkhart Hill is the hill rising above it and Elkhart Grove is where there were trees and hotels.

Sometimes Elkhart was called fire city because of the fires. Dodson said at one point, some of the town was lost in a fire. John Gillett lost his house and ten businesses burned down. Governor Oglesby also lost his house.
 

General Edwards was told to do a search and destroy mission. Dodson said there was brutality never seen before as his troops burned and destroyed every native property they could find as well as all their food storages. He said that is how they got rid of the Indians who were not causing them any problems until they were confronted.

Illinois is one of five states not allowed by law to have [Native American] reservations. Dodson said Illinois is also one of two states that had the most tribes. The Souix Indians were one of the major tribes in Northern Illinois.

When he start talking about the Old Indian Trail going down into the Edwards Trace, Dodson said the trail started in Northern Illinois and people worked their way down. Most of the tribes in Illinois came across Ohio and Indiana then down through Illinois.

Around Eminence, Dodson said there was gold that had fallen out of the glaciers and people thought they had struck it big.

If you follow the Edwards Trace, Dodson said you will find it followed the path right along with our mother road Route 66, Interstate 55, Interstate 155 and Route 4.

Someone asked how people got across the Sangamon River, and Dodson said they looked for a shallow place.

Thousands of years ago, Dodson said the Wisconsin Glacier covered Illinois down to Shelbyville. These glaciers dug all of our creeks and rivers. The floodwaters from the glaciers cut the Sangamon Channel. We know Sangamon River is a river because of the signs there.

As the glaciers receded, they left behind great deposits of fertile soil and forests. Dodson said there were almost three feet of topsoil in some spots due to the glaciers.

When four legged animals make a new trail, then Native Americans walk on it, then horses and later stagecoaches, it compacts the topsoil. Dodson said when the soil is compacted, it makes a traceable trail.

As retired Illinois State Museum Director Michael Wiant has said, people travelled on trails in Illinois and elsewhere between 12,000 and 14,000 years ago. Streams and rivers were not the only means of overland travel.

After all this time, Dodson said there are still visual signs of the trail remaining in our soil near Elkhart, Lake Springfield, near Henson Robinson, Rochester and further south in Macoupin County.

Along the trails, Dodson said you can find mounds. Going out near Devil’s Hoe and Clear Lake, he said you can find several mounds.

Recently, Dodson said there was a farmer building a brand new shed. In the process of putting up a pole barn, the man realized it was on top of a mound. When the state found out, Dodson said they red-flagged it and the man could not build.

When I-55 was built, Dodson said the work was stopped until everything could be checked out. Many relics were found there.

In Dixon Mounds, there are bones that will always be there. Dodson said the government said these bones should go back to the tribes, but many of these tribes no longer exist.

One reminder Dodson gave everyone is that “Native American” is the preferred term. He said Native Americans will say Indians refers to the people from India.

Land was taken from the Native Americans who did not have paperwork. They were here before the white man, but they did not end up with the land.

Native Americans were great farmers and Dodson said they went to Funks Grove in McClean County for their sugar groves, which was an important food source in the spring. The tribes travelled the same trails over and over through the year. The Native Americans required a source of water and game and travelled yearly to plant their crops.

Near I-55 by Kickapoo Creek, one man said when the work was stopped, it was determined there was just a temporary village there in the spring.

Over at Memorial Park, Dodson said there is the main village. Up by Lexington, there was another major village. When Edwards went up with his men, he wiped out these villages.

Illinois was certified as a state in 1818. In 1832, Andrew Jackson and Edwards got the removal act put into force. Dodson said the Native Americans did not deserve it. They helped the white man learn how to plant and treat sicknesses with herbs.

Dodson said you should have history talk for you and have it be your evidence. When Dodson was a State Trooper, he learned to look at all the material before him and not stop until he could not find anything else.

[Angela Reiners]

Related resources

Furry, William. “Barely a Trace.”

Sielaff, Anna. “Student project tells the story of Edwards Trace.” 10 Oct. 2022, hool.Illinois.edu.

Others who were helpful to Dodson’s research include Robert Messner, David Brady, Luke Moore and Tracy Garrison.

The Academia database has several articles on the topic.

Edwards Trace binder at LCGHS (it cannot be checked out, but pages can be copied)