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"Time writes no wrinkles upon the brow of Old Ocean, as upon those of the fading race of men." With some degree of truth, the same might be said of Rock Creek Precinct. The last fifty years have produced far less change in it than in many other portions of Menard County. The "storms and sunshine" of more than three-score years have "flung their light and shade" over its hills and vales since the first people (whom God made white) laid their claims in its sheltering timber. Numbers of those log cabins may yet be found upon the summit of the little hills, or nestled away in the valleys and dells, as if hiding from the storms. The log cabins and the old-style rail fences do not show the advance in the "fine arts" displayed by some of Rock Creek's sister precincts, but still bear many of the traces of pioneer times. Much of the land, too, in quality falls below the average standard of the land in the county. There are some very fine spots, however, and upon these may be found the flourishing, well-to-do farms of the precinct.

Rock Creek is the smallest division of Menard County, and taken as a whole, is, perhaps, one of the poorest in worldly wealth. The larger portion of it is timber, and much of it rough and broken in surface. The heaviest timber is, perhaps, along Rock Creek, which meanders through it, bearing a little to the northeast after passing the center of the precinct, and emptying into the Sangamon River through Section 4. Timber borders the Sangamon River which forms the boundary line between this and Athens Precinct with numerous little groves besides, leaving but little prairie land. Geographically, Rock Creek Precinct lies south of Petersburg Precinct, east of Tallula, north of Sangamon County and west of Athens Precinct. Its only watercourses are Rock Creek and branches, and the Sangamon River - flowing along its eastern boundary, as noted above. According to Government survey, it is pretty equally divided in Ranges 6 and 7 of Township 17 north, and contains but about twenty-three full sections of land. It has no cities or towns, neither had the snort of their on horse ever echoed through its forests, disturbing the cattle grazing upon its "thousand hills." It is decidedly a rural district, devoted wholly to agricultural pursuits and home industries. In early times, it received the soubriquet of "Wolf County," but just why the name was given we could not learn. Whether it was owning to the fact that wolves abounded among its hills and brakes, or from some other fancied resemblance to something or somebody, we leave it to our readers to find out, and will now turn our attention to its early settlement.