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Reflections
Was Dr. Conrad Will really worth his salt? : Reflections : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisWas Dr. Conrad Will really worth his salt?
| by Roger Matile
| 6/22/2006
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Dr. Conrad Will was one of the many Pennsylvania Germans-called the Pennsylvania Dutch-who came to Illinois early and then got involved in local commerce and government.
But Will was also known for something a lot less savory than typical Pennsylvania Dutchmen were. He was not only a business owner, but also a slave owner right here in Illinois.
Will was born near Philadelphia, Pa. on June 3, 1779. After he studied medicine for a while, he moved west, probably arriving in Illinois via the Virginia-Tennessee migration route. He reportedly arrived at Kaskaskia in 1814, and the next year he moved to land along the Big Muddy River in what is now Jackson County. In 1816 or thereabouts, he obtained a government lease on one of three salines the U.S. Government deeded to the Illinois Territory.
Salines, or salt springs, were valuable natural resources on the frontier. The salt in the springs' water could be distilled using a relatively elaborate process, and then sold. Salt was used for everything on the frontier from seasoning food to preserving meat and hides. In inland areas away from the coast, salt springs like those that bubbled to the surface in Saline County or in the new Jackson County were prime sources for the indispensable material.
The federal leases required the holders to produce a set amount of salt each year or pay a penalty.
In the spring of 1816, Will traveled back east to Pittsburgh to buy a batch of giant cast iron evaporating kettles. Each of the big kettles could hold about 60 gallons and they weighed about 400 lbs. each. The kettles were floated down the Ohio River to the Mississippi, and then transported up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Big Muddy River, and from there up to Will's saline operation.
He deepened the saline spring and installed a horse-powered pump to raise the salt water into a basin. From there it was transported via wooden pipes to the kettles, which were lined up side-by-side resting on a long brick firebox. The first kettle was filled with salt water, a fire lit under it, and the evaporation process began. In turn, the increasingly salty water was ladled into each kettle, where it was further evaporated until the salt eventually precipitated out and was dug out and allowed to dry. From there it was shoveled into sacks and shipped down the Mississippi to Kaskaskia, St. Louis, and beyond.
The labor to manufacture the salt was grueling, something with which the federal government assisted by allowing slaves to be imported into Illinois for the purpose of making salt. Although the Northwest Ordinance prohibited slavery in the territory, special territorial laws and constitutional provisions permitted exceptions at the salines. Illinois' first constitution approved by Congress in 1818, continued to allow slaves to be leased for use in salt works, and it also allowed a form of indentured servitude that was virtually indistinguishable from slavery.
So with slaves and government lease in hand, Will started his operation. According to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Southern Illinois salines could produce as much as one bushel of salt for every 2.5 to 5.5 gallons of brine, which seems almost impossible. The IDNR says 170 gallons of brine on the Salt Fork of the Vermillion River produced a bushel of salt, which seems more sensible. (see http://dnr.state.il.us/orep/c2000/assessments/headwaters/salines.htm)
But in any event, salt water wasn't the problem. Fuel to keep the evaporation kettles hot was. At first, wood fires were used. As the supply of wood was exhausted near the springs, the evaporation operation was moved farther and farther away. Ever-lengthening spans of wooden pipe, made by splitting logs in half length-wise, hollowing out the interior, and then strapping them back together, were used to keep the salt water flowing into the evaporation kettles.
As Jacob Myers wrote of the saline operation in Gallatin County in the October 1921 issue of the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society: "The problem of securing fuel was a great one, because of the distance it had to be hauled. As the timber was cleared away the furnaces were moved back farther and farther from the wells and the brine was piped by means of hollow logs or pipes made by boring four-inch holes through the log lengthwise. These were joined end to end, but the joints were not always tight and there was much loss from leakage. It has been estimated that over one hundred miles of such piping was laid from 1800 to 1873."
The salt business was a hard one, and Will decided politics might be a better way to make money. He was one of Illinois' first state senators when the state was established in 1818 and in 1820 he was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives. He died in office on June 11, 1835. With their colleague's death probably still fresh in their minds, when a brand new county was formed by partitioning Cook, Iroquois, and Vermilion counties in January 1836, the General Assembly voted to name it after Conrad Will.
Will was one of a group of salt manufacturers who imported slaves into Illinois, and who later imported even more slaves while calling them "indentured servants." This form of slavery was not completely banned in Illinois until 15 years before the Civil War began.
Today, we remember Conrad Will as a politician and namesake for Will County. But like many historical characters, it turns out he's carrying a lot more baggage under the surface than he appears to be.
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