The crops fed the horses that planted the fields and the cows that produced the milk. The family sold the crops not consumed by the animals for additional income. My great grandfather cleared part of the hardwood forest to create more land for cultivation. His first language was German. His English translation for the work to remove the stumps of trees he had cut down was, “making out” stumps. He did this work in the rain. Horses hitched to the tree stump pulled it out of the rain softened ground. The “grip”, was his description for the flu like symptoms of sore muscles and fatigue the day after.<\/p>\n
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Deck’s Prairie Illinois farm view from South end in 2007.<\/strong> Silver Creek bordered the Eastern side of the farm for about 1 mile. Prairie Road bordered the other side. Hardwood forest, totaling about 50 acres, remained along Silver Creek and small patches on the South and North ends of the dairy farm.<\/p>\n Deck’s Prairie is approximately 10 miles north of St Louis, Missouri and 20 miles East of the Mississippi River in Illinois. This area was a crossroads for Native American and European culture for more than 1000 years. The Indian village of Cahokia had a population greater than London in 1100 A.D. The confluence of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois Rivers is 30 miles Southwest. The Lewis and Clark camp for the expedition was a few miles from here. The French explorers Marquette and Lafayette came up the Mississippi to this location in 1673.<\/p>\n Grave site for husband to Christina Deck Fitch, Michael Deck’s<\/strong> George Rodgers Clark, William Clark’s brother, and Michael Deck, one of George Washington’s bodyguard’s, scouted Kaskaskia in Southern Illinois for\u00a0 British Activity during the Revolutionary War. Michael Deck liked the area near the current city of Highland, Illinois.<\/p>\n 50 years later, in 1828, he led a wagon train with friends and relatives to Illinois to settle. The area is very fertile prairie and has had crop yields among the highest in the US. There are no signs to identify Deck’s prairie except for the Prairie Rd sign on Illinois HWY 143.\u00a0 A plaque on the South edge of the cemetery, donated by Michael Deck, provides a brief history. The are no other signs The cemetery is on the north side of HWY 143 between the cities of Highland and Marine. As of my last visit in 2011, the State of Illinois Visitor Center on the North end of Deck’s Prairie did not have any information on the area history.<\/p>\n North side of original house in 1950. The log<\/strong> My great grandfather built the original log house in 1885. He created a home on empty prairie using his construction skills and hand tools. He prepared for moving in by: finishing lumber from harvested trees, digging the well, building the house, and planting an orchard and a garden. This work, if done on schedule, will get your family in out of the cold with something to eat for dinner.<\/p>\n The outside was finished in composition siding and there was a shake roof on the second story when I first saw it. The first story was about 800 square feet with two small bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. The second story was a one room loft with access by a stairway in one of the bedrooms. The loft was the bedroom for the boys in the family. When I visited on the week ends I slept in the loft. The loft doubled as a play area for me when the weather was too cold to be outside. The temperature was a few degrees higher than the outside temperature. When my grandfather and his family moved from Independence, Missouri back to the farm in 1937 they lived in this house.<\/p>\n Deck’s Prairie residents walked to school in rain, snow,<\/strong> A system of roads and a school district served the residents of Deck’s Prairie, about 16 square miles, in 1885. The one room country school provided education for the small number of families and had approximately 15 students for grades 1 through 8. My grandfather and aunts and uncles attended this school from the 1890s to the 1940s. The local historical society maintains the school as a museum.<\/p>\n Decks Prairie Illinois dairy farmer 1915. Success means two buggies.<\/strong> The growing economy and successful farming enabled the construction of a new house on the other end of the dairy farm in 1900. My great aunt Ida,\u00a0born in 1895, is about 20 years old in the picture. I do not have any pictures of the original house and am not sure that any were taken. The second house was much larger, about 2000 square feet. A bedroom, kitchen, and living room were on the first floor and 3 bedrooms on the second floor. A cellar under the house and a smoke house in the back yard enabled on site storage and preparation of food. The house was set back from Prairie Rd about 150 feet. A barn built for horses was behind the house within a few yards of the hardwood forest that had not been cleared.<\/p>\n The barn at the second house used for horses was smaller. The construction of the second barn involved a unique feature. The floor for the hay loft on the second story was made of Cherry. There were Cherry trees in the forest and the wood is very dense and strong so it was good material for construction. Cherry is currently used for very expensive furniture and would never be used for constructing a barn or house. The barn was about 35 feet by 25 feet so the Cherry wood in that building would have filled several houses with furniture. The present value of that wood is staggering. The flooring was taken out and sold sometime after the farm became inactive.<\/p>\n Deck’s Prairie 2nd house Fred Immer family 1915.<\/strong> My great aunt Ida lived on Deck\u2019s Prairie from 1895 until she died in 1979. She stayed on the dairy farm to take care of my great grandmother Annie when she became ill. My great grandfather died in 1935 and Annie died in 1948. This period of history encompasses changes in culture and technology that are subject matter for several college history classes. A vastly oversimplified list might include: electricity, air travel, 2 world wars, the Indian Wars, atomic energy, and electronic media. There are 19th century settlers with descendants living in the area . The history of Deck’s Prairie is another project.<\/p>\n Hardwood forest covered much of an 1885 dairy farm The Eastern edge of Deck’s Prairie, in Madison County, Illinois, was not well suited to a dairy farm. The dairy farm was located about 2 miles from the small town of … Continue reading
My solo baseball practice was one half mile North West.<\/strong>
Photo by Rodger.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\nWhere is Deck’s Prairie?<\/h2>\n
Who is Michael Deck?<\/h2>\n
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daughter. Cemetery on Illinois HWY 143 west of Highland.<\/strong>
Photo by Rodger 2011.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\nLiving rural survival skills ca 1885<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theimmers.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/3\/files\/2018\/04\/Decks-Prairie-house-1950-.jpg\")
walls have been covered in siding.<\/strong>
Photo edit by Rodger 2007.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\nThe school system is great but you have to walk<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theimmers.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/3\/files\/2018\/03\/one-room-country-school-1880.jpg\")
or ice storms. School buses were in the distant future.<\/strong>
Photo by Rodger 2007.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\nAgriculture provides a good living<\/h2>\n
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One for work and one for going to town.<\/strong>
Phot0 edit by Rodger 2008.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\nA century of change<\/h2>\n
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Photo edit by Rodger 2012.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"