Settlement

Settlers came to this area to build farms. While they found the land difficult to plant in because of the thick root system, trees were not in the way as the area was mostly an open grassland. When settlers came, they traded goods with the Potawatomi to get food and animal skins. After a time, the Potawatomi were forced to move when homesteaders took over the land. The Potawatomi desired to stay “on the land given to us by the great spirit,” but they were denied, and by 1831, were forced to leave.

Here is what one woman wrote about her trip to live in Illinois.
I have dragged one foot after the other so long and hope for the best. Friday Eve. We commence a fourteen mile walk through the prairie after we got to Paris, Illinois. Hot though it was as the sun was setting it was very good some part of the way—Many bad slews. The Doctor got stuck, twice, the oxen drew him out. The prairies look fine. Many kinds of flowers grow on them—and prairie hens live on them, one of the company shot one. Eliza looks bad but says she feels like helping me get supper. Oh, dear, I think it’s hard time. Saturday 15th. Today we have been traveling through prairie and timber, both, and got lost several times—we took the wrong road and wallowed around the prairie grass, sometimes as high as the horses’ back. Night came we pitched our tents after mowing the grass down and made ourselves as comfortable as could be expected amongst the mosquitoes.

Here is what one woman’s life was like after settling.
The woman told me that they spun and wove all the cotton and woolen garments for the family, and knit all the stockings. Her husband, though not a shoe-maker by trade, made all the shoes. She made all the soap and candles they used, and prepared her sugar from the sugar-trees on their farm. All she wanted with money, she said, was to buy coffee and tea, and she could “get enough any day by sending a batch of butter and chicken to market.” They used no wheat, nor sold any of their corn, which though it appeared a very large quantity, was not more than they required to make their bread and cakes of various kinds, and to feed all their live stock during the winter.” 

Here are the problems these settlers faced each season:
Fall—the threat of fire—the prairie grass became very dry and a spark could start a fire that would burn the prairie and their cabin
Winter—freezing cold, deep snow, people got lost in the drifts when the trails were covered
Spring—the prairie became swampy when the snow melted
Summer—some days were very hot and there was no shady forest to cool yourself; there were so many insects that sometimes horses died from being stung so much.