Highways.--The first road or trail for the passage of travelers has been mentioned in connection with the settlement of the county. A few routes were marked out from one neighborhood to another and traveled by the early settlers before the county was organized. To the first court held in the county, it being in March, 1819, petitions were presented for the establishment of the following highways: One leading from Herculaneum to the county line in the direction of Ste. Genevieve; another leading from Herculaneum in the direction of Potosi, in Washington County, to intersect a road at Big River; another leading from Herculaneum to a point on the Meramec, in the direction of St. Louis, to connect with the St. Louis road on the opposite side of the river. The first and last of these routes were on the line of the old "King's trace," and the second was on the route over which immense quantities of lead had previously been hauled from Potosi to Herculaneum in the "barefooted wagons," that is wagons or carts with wooden tires. On the first of these proposed roads Jacob Horine, John Sturges and Peter McCormack were appointed commissioners to lay out and make the route, and report their doings at the next term of the court; on the second, Samuel McMullin, John Null and George Hammond were appointed commissioners, and on the last St. Amant Michau, Mathias Brindley and Elisha Ellis were made the commissioners. From this time forward public roads were established from point to point throughout the county to suit the convenience of the increasing population. After the close of the Civil War the question of constructing gravel roads at the expense of the county began to be agitated, and was finally submitted to a vote of the people, who decided it in the affirmative.

In 1867 work was commenced simultaneously on the Hillsboro and Lemay Ferry, and the Morse's Mill, Big River and Fenton gravel roads. The former was completed in 1873 and the latter in 1879. In 1869 work was commenced on the Hillsboro and Victoria gravel road, and it was finished in 1871. The work on the De Soto and Victoria gravel road was commenced in 1873 and finished in 1875. The construction of the De Soto and Valle Mines gravel road, only two miles of which were built next to De Soto, was begun and finished in 1871. The House's Springs and Rockford Bridge gravel road, being about a mile in length, was built during the time of the construction of the Morse's Mill, Big River and Fenton road. The length of these roads are, in round numbers, about as follows: Hillsboro and Lemay Ferry, 21 miles; Morse's Mill, Big River and Fenton, 22 miles; Hillsboro to De Soto, via Victoria, 8 miles; De Soto and Valle Mines, 2 miles; House's Springs and Rockford Bridge, 1 mile. This makes a total of 54 miles of gravel road within the limits of the county. About nine miles of the south end of the Morse's Mill, Big River and Fenton road were built by the "House's Springs, Big River Valley Macademized and Gravel Road Company," of which John H. Morse was president, and was purchased by the county from that company on the 2d of May, 1882, for the sum of $15,000. The whole of these roads now owned and kept in repair by the county, and all are free for public traveling, there being no toll gates nor toll collected. In reference to the cost of these roads, the following editorial, published in the Democrat, at Hillsboro, August 24, 1887, is here inserted:

The question is often asked, "What have the gravel roads of this county cost?" County Clerk Donnell has lately figured up the cost, so that the question can be answered. There have been built about fifty miles of road; there was paid in cash, at various times, to contractors, $75,992.05, and bonds issued amounting to $183,891. There has been paid to this date, as interest on said bonds, the sum of $182,220.08, and interest on warrants, $1,500. This foots up:

Cash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$ 75,992 05
Bonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183.89l 00
Coupons received. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182,220 03
Interest on warrants,  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  1,500 00
             Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  $443,603 08

To which must be added interest on outstanding bonds, which will yet have to be paid, amounting to $5,160, which will make the grand total of $448,763.08, or an average of $8,573.26 per mile. These figures look startling, but are correct. The county has already paid $423,703.08, and has $25,060 yet to pay. Of this debt there is due in principal and interest, in 1888, $9,990; in 1889, $3,190; in 1890, $990, and 1891, $10,890. On account of issuing bonds at a time when they had no market value, the contract price of building roads was much higher than it would have been for cash. The contract prices amounted to $258,883.05, or an average of $5,187.66 per mile, while the interest paid on the debt created will be $188,880.03, or an average of $3,777.60. It is pretty safe to calculate that if cash had been paid for the work as it was done, and the work contracted for on a cash basis, there could have been at least 128 miles built. Everybody recognizes the fact that going in debt for roads was a mistaken and almost ruinous policy, and we refer to the fact now only for the purpose of bringing the lesson fresh to the memory, so that in future such work will be done only when there is money to pay for it.

Since the publication of the foregoing article, the balance of the bonded debt has been reduced to $20,000 as shown by the financial report of the efficient county court clerk, R. W. Donnell, for. the year ending February 28, 1888. The first county bonds for the construction of these roads were issued May 19, 1868, and the last were issued January 21, 1873.

The St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway was completed through Jefferson County in 1858. It enters the county from the north after crossing the Meramec River near its mouth, and follows down the Mississippi to Illinois Station, then bears to the right leaving the river and soon striking the valley of the Joachim which it follows in a southwesterly direction to the city of De Soto, and, continuing nearly the same direction, it leaves the county on the south, in Sections 30, 39 and 4. Its length in the county is thirty-three miles, and in this distance it has thirteen stations. [For another railroad see Crystal City. ]

Taxation and Finances--The rates of taxation for Jefferson County for 1819, the first year of its existence, were as follows: On each horse, mule or ass above three years old, 25 cents; on each head of neat cattle above three years old, 61/4 cents; on each stud horse, the price charged for the season; on each slave between sixteen and forty-five years of age, 50 cents; on each billiard table $25; on every able-bodied single man of twenty-one years of age and upward, not possessed of $200 worth of property, 50 cents; on water gristmillls, sawmills, horsemills, tanyards and distilleries in actual operation, 40 cents on each $100 of their valuation. From the foregoing it will be seen that the taxes were at that time mostly a specific charge upon the individual thing instead of upon its value, as they were subsequently charged. It is to be regretted that the early abstracts of the tax books have not been preserved. The following table will show the assessed value of the taxable property of Jefferson County and the amount of taxes charged thereon for the years noted, commencing with 1861, which is as far back as the abstracts are found to be on file.

Year.    Taxable Property      Total Taxes
1861        $1,730,014 00      $12,216 40
1866         1,978,537 00       42,400 81
1870         3,686,599 00       66,158 75
1880         3,164,506 00       53,138 58
1887         3,621,983 00       39,840 89

It is somewhat startling to observe the difference in the amounts of taxes charged for the years 1861 and 1866, but for the year 1866 there was charged a military tax of $13,214.67. The largest amount of tax is shown to have been charged in 1870, but of this amount $25,806.19 was charged for gravel road purposes. In 1880 the gross amount of taxes charged was much less than in 1870, but of the amount charged $25,316.05 was for the payment of gravel road bonds. In 1887 the gross amount of taxes charged was much less than in 1880, there being only $7,243.99 charged to redeem gravel road bonds. These bonds being now all redeemed but $20,000, the taxes must continue to grow lighter, as they have done since they reached such a high point in 1870. The financial condition of Jefferson County is very good, there being an indebtedness only of the $20,000 above mentioned, and $6,211.25 which she owes to her own school fund. Her orders on the treasury are cashed as fast as issued.

Population.--The following shows the white, colored and total population of Jefferson County at the end of each decade, as shown by the United States Census:
1820--White, 1,620; colored, 212; total, 1,832.
1830--White, 2,344; colored, 236; total, 2,580.
1840--White, 3,960; colored, 324; total, 4,284.
1850--White, 6,407; colored, 512; total 6,919.
1860--White, 9,763; colored, 564; total, 10,327.
1870--White, 14,617; colored, 763; total, 15,380.
1880--Total, 18,736.
1888--Estimated total, 22,000.

The whole number of colored people, as shown in the foregoing, up to and including the year 1860, were slaves, the free colored not being included.