Time Was

    During Braidwood's early years, it was a city of transients. Miners would come in to work for a season then move on hoping to find greener pastures further west.
    By 1870 the great Wild West was beginning to open up, and in 1874 an event occurred which affected even  Braidwood. Let's go back to 1874 and listen to the call of gold from the Black Hills, SD.

    Throughout written history, gold has been searched for, fought over, hoarded and in general brought men much misery.
    But nonetheless, people looked to it for their salvation and were willing to throw everything they owned away to posses it.
    This was especially true in the 19th century. Before the black diamonds of the coal fields were harvested, Will County caught the fever in a bad way.

    Valentine's Day will soon be with us so today we look at two stories concerning lovers, and in one case, many of them. I would say that a word to the wise, etc. but love is rarely wise. But at least in the last incident, it all worked out well.
    Our first story takes place in Braidwood. It involves Prof. A.B. James alias A.B. Remington. Remington was 33 years old and an exceptionally good-looking man. He had wavy black hair and stood over six feet tall. He dressed well. His manner was smooth.

    The financial state of the country, state, county and townships were at an all-time low 130 years ago. And as many political pundits say today, “It's the economy, stupid!” And if there was one thing that was prevalent in 1878, it was politics, down and dirty politics at that.
    There had been a general countrywide depression in 1873, and in this area John Daniels' bank in Wilmington had gone bust in 1874. He was the largest owner of coal lands in Braidwood, and those lands were sold in bankruptcy court.