Synopsis of Canals surveyed by order of the Indiana Legislature during the Year 1835.
La Fayette and Terre Haute division of the Wabash and Erie canal. Length, 90 miles; total cost, $1,067,914.70; per mile, $11,865 79.
Central canal, north of Indianopolis. Total length, from Indianopolis via Andersontown, Pipe creek summit to the Wabash and Erie canal at Wabash town, 103 miles 34 chains; total cost, $1,992,224.54; per mile, $17,106 51. Length, via Pipe creek summit to Peru, near the mouth of the Missisinawa, 114 miles 46 chains; total cost, $1,897,797.19; per mile, $14,871.85. Length, via Pipe creek summit (including lateral canal to Muncietown) to Wabash town, 124 miles 51 chains; total cost, $2,103,153.61; per mile, $15,873.83. Length, via Pipe creek summit (including lateral canal to Muncietown) to Peru, 185miles 63 chains; total cost, $2,008,726.26; per mile, $14,793.12. Total length, from Indianopolis via Muncietown to the Wabash and Erie canal at Peru, 131 miles 41 chains; total cost, $2,058,929.41; per mile, $14.549 71.
Central canal, south of Indianopolis. Total length, from Indianopolis to Evansville, 188 miles; total cost, $2,642,285.92; per mile, $14,054.71. Route down the valley of Main Pigeon. Length, 194 miles; total cost, $2,400,957.70; per mile, $12,376.02.
Terre Haute and Eel river canal, which forms a connexion between the Wabash and Erie canal and White river or Central canal. Total length, 40½ miles; total cost, $629,631 65; which, including a feeder, is $13,540.46 per mile.
Wabash and Erie canal, eastern division, [east of Fort Wayne], Upper line: Length, 19 miles 30 chains; total cost, $154,113.13; per mile, $7,952.17.—Lower line: Total length, 20 miles 76½ chains; total cost, $254,817.52; per mile, $11,159.04.
The following are the works provided for in the Bill, and the sums appropriated for them:
1st. The White Water Canal, including a lateral canal or rail-road, to connect said canal with the Central or White river canal.$1,400,0002d. Central or White river Canal,3,500,0003d. Extension of the Wabash and Erie Canal,1,300,0004th. Madison and La Fayette Rail-road,1,300,0005th. A M'Adamized turnpike road from New Albany to Vincennes,1,150,0006th. Turnpike or rail-road from New Albany to Crawfordsville,1,300,0007th. Removing obstructions in the Wabash,50,000$10,000,0008th. The Bill gives the credit of the State to the Lawrenceburgh andIndianopolis Rail-road Company, for the sum of $500,000.
Manufactures.—Besides the household manufacture of cotton and flannels, common to the western people, at Vincennes, and probably other towns, machinery is employed in several establishments. It will be seen from the sketch of each county, already given, that in most parts of the State there is a supply of water power for manufacturing purposes. Both water and steam power, saw and grist mills, are already in operation in various parts of the State.
Education.—The same provision of one section of land in each township, or a thirty-sixthpart of the public lands, has been made for the encouragement of common schools, as in other Western States. A law has been enacted providing for common schools, and the public mind has become measurably awakened to the subject of education. Some most extravagant and exaggerated statements have been made relative to an incredible number of children in this State, "who have no means of education." As in all new countries, the first class of emigrants, having to provide for their more immediate wants, have not done so much as is desirable to promote common school education; but we have no idea they will slumber on that subject, while they are wide awake to the physical wants and resources of the country. Academies have been established in several counties, and a college at Bloomington, from the encouragement of State funds, and other institutions are rising up, of which the Hanover Institution near the Ohio river, and Wabash College at Crawfordsville, promise to be conspicuous.
History.—This country was first explored by adventurers from Canada, with a view to the Indian trade, towards the close of the seventeenth century; and the place where Vincennes now stands is said to have been thus early occupied as a trading post. A company of French from Canada, made a settlement here in 1735. The country, in common with the Western Valley, was claimed by France,until it was ceded to Great Britain, at the treaty of peace in 1763, under whose jurisdiction it remained, until subdued by the American arms under the intrepid Gen. G. R. Clark, and his gallant band, in 1779. A territorial government was organized by Congress in 1787, including all the country north-west of the river Ohio, which was then called the North-western Territory. In 1802, when the State of Ohio was organized, all that part of the Territory lying west of a line due north from the mouth of the Great Miami, was organized into the Territory of Indiana,—which was divided, and from which Illinois Territory was formed in 1809. In June, 1816, a constitution was adopted, and at the ensuing session of Congress, Indiana was made a State.
General Remarks.—The importance of Indiana, as a desirable State for the attention of the emigrant to the West, has been too much overlooked. Though not possessing quite equal advantages with Illinois, especially in the quality and amount of prairie soil, it is far superior to Ohio, and fully equal,—nay, in our estimation, rather superior to Michigan. Almost every part is easy of access, and in a very few years the liberal system of internal improvements, adopted and in progress, will make almost every county accessible to public conveyances, and furnish abundant facilities to market.
Along the wide, alluvion bottoms of the streams, and amidst a rank growth ofvegetation, there is usually more or less autumnal fever, yet, in general, there is very little difference in any of the Western States as to prospects of health.
Mechanics, school teachers, and laborers of every description, are much wanted in this State, as they are in all the States further west; and all may provide abundantly and easily, all the necessaries of living for a family, if they will use industry, economy and sobriety.
[10]See a valuable statistical article, by B. Drake, Esq., in the Western Monthly Magazine, for January, 1836, entitled, "Cincinnati, at the close of 1835."
[10]See a valuable statistical article, by B. Drake, Esq., in the Western Monthly Magazine, for January, 1836, entitled, "Cincinnati, at the close of 1835."
Situation, Boundaries, and Extent.
The State of Illinois is situated between 37° and 42°, 30´ N. latitude; and between 10° 25´, and 14°30´ W. longitude from Washington city. It is bounded on the north by Wisconsin Territory, north-east by lake Michigan, east by Indiana, south-east and south by Kentucky, and west by the State and Territory of Missouri. Its extreme length is 380 miles; and its extreme width, 220 miles; its average width, 150 miles. The area of the whole State, including a small portion of lake Michigan within its boundaries, is 59,300 square miles.
The water area of the State is about 3,750 square miles. With this, deduct 5,550 square miles for irreclaimable wastes, and there remains 50,000 square miles, or 32 millions of acres of arable land in Illinois,—a much greater quantity than is found in any other State. In this estimate, inundated lands,submerged by high waters, but which may be reclaimed at a moderate expense, is included.
Face of the Country, and qualities of Soil.—The general surface is level, or moderately undulating; the northern and southern portions are broken, and somewhat hilly, but no portion of the State is traversed with ranges of hills or mountains. At the verge of the alluvial soil on the margins of rivers, there are ranges of "bluffs" intersected with ravines. The bluffs are usually from fifty to one hundred and fifty feet high, where an extended surface of table land commences, covered with prairies and forests of various shapes and sizes.
When examined minutely, there are several varieties in the surface of this State, which will be briefly specified and described.
1.Inundated Lands.I apply this term to all those portions, which, for some part of the year, are under water. These include portions of the river bottoms, and portions of the interior of large prairies, with the lakes and ponds which, for half the year or more, are without water. The term "bottom" is used throughout the West, to denote the alluvial soil on the margin of rivers, usually called "intervales," in New England. Portions of this description of land are flowed for a longer or shorter period, when the rivers are full. Probably one eighth of the bottom lands are of this description; for, though the water maynot stand for any length of time, it wholly prevents settlement and cultivation, though it does not interrupt the growth of timber and vegetation. These tracts are on the bottoms of the Wabash, Ohio, Mississippi, Illinois, and all the interior rivers.
When the rivers rise above their ordinary height, the waters of the smaller streams, which are backed up by the freshets of the former, break over their banks, and cover all the low grounds. Here they stand for a few days, or for many weeks, especially towards the bluffs; for it is a striking fact in the geology of the western country, that all the river bottoms are higher on the margins of the streams than at some distance back. Whenever increase of population shall create a demand for this species of soil, the most of it can be reclaimed at comparatively small expense. Its fertility will be inexhaustible, and if the waters from the rivers could be shut out by dykes or levees, the soil would be perfectly dry. Most of the small lakes on the American bottom disappear in the summer, and leave a deposit of vegetable matter undergoing decomposition, or a luxuriant coat of weeds and grass.
As our prairies mostly lie between the streams that drain the country, the interior of the large ones are usually level. Here are formed ponds and lakes after the winter and spring rains, which remain to be drawn off by evaporation, or absorbed by an adhesive soil.Hence the middle of our large, level prairies are wet, and for several weeks portions of them are covered with water. To remedy this inconvenience completely, and render all this portion of soil dry and productive, only requires a ditch or drain of two or three feet deep to be cut into the nearest ravine. In many instances, a single furrow with the plough, would drain many acres. At present, this species of inundated land offers no inconvenience to the people, except in the production of miasm, and even that, perhaps, becomes too much diluted with the atmosphere to produce mischief before it reaches the settlements on the borders of the prairie. Hence the inference is correct, that our inundated lands present fewer obstacles to the settlement and growth of the country, and can be reclaimed at much less expense, than the swamps and salt marshes of the Atlantic States.
2.River Bottoms or Alluvion.The surface of our alluvial bottoms is not entirely level. In some places it resembles alternate waves of the ocean, and looks as though the waters had left their deposit in ridges, and retired.
The portion of bottom land capable of present cultivation, and on which the waters never stand, if, at an extreme freshet, it is covered, is a soil of exhaustless fertility; a soil that for ages past has been gradually deposited by the annual floods. Its average depth on theAmerican bottom, is from twenty to twenty-five feet. Logs of wood, and other indications, are found at that depth. The soil dug from wells on these bottoms, produces luxuriantly the first year.
The most extensive and fertile tract, of this description of soil, in this State, is theAmerican Bottom, a name it received when it constituted the western boundary of the United States, and which it has retained ever since. It commences at the mouth of the Kaskaskia river, five miles below the town of Kaskaskia, and extends northwardly along the Mississippi to the bluffs at Alton, a distance of ninety miles. Its average width is five miles, and contains about 450 square miles, or 288,000 acres. Opposite St. Louis, in St. Clair county, the bluffs are seven miles from the river, and filled with inexhaustible beds of coal. The soil of this bottom is an argillaceous or a silicious loam, according as clay or sand happens to predominate in its formation.
On the margin of the river, and of some of its lakes, is a strip of heavy timber, with a thick undergrowth, which extends from half a mile to two miles in width; but from thence to the bluffs, it is principally prairie. It is interspersed with sloughs, lakes, and ponds, the most of which become dry in autumn.
The soil of the American bottom is inexhaustibly rich. About the French towns it has been cultivated, and produced corn in succession for more than a century, withoutexhausting its fertilizing powers. The only objection that can be offered to this tract is its unhealthy character. This, however, has diminished considerably within eight or ten years. The geological feature noticed in the last article—that all our bottoms are higher on the margin of the stream, than towards the bluffs, explains the cause why so much standing water is on the bottom land, which, during the summer, stagnates and throws off noxious effluvia. These lakes are usually full of vegetable matter undergoing decomposition, and which produces large quantities of miasm. Some of the lakes are clear and of a sandy bottom, but the most are of a different character. The French settled near a lake or a river, apparently in the most unhealthy places, and yet their constitutions are little affected, and they usually enjoy good health, though dwarfish and shrivelled in their form and features.
"The villages of Kaskaskia, Prairie du Rocher, and Cahokia, were built up by their industry in places where Americans would have perished. Cultivation has, no doubt, rendered this tract more salubrious than formerly; and an increase of it, together with the construction of drains and canals, will make it one of the most eligible in the States. The old inhabitants advise the emigrants not to plant corn in the immediate vicinity of their dwellings, as its rich and massive foliageprevents the sun from dispelling the deleterious vapors."[11]
These lakes and ponds could be drained at a small expense, and the soil would be susceptible of cultivation. The early settlements of the Americans were either on this bottom, or the contiguous bluffs.
Besides the American bottom, there are others that resemble it in its general character, but not in extent. In Union county, there is an extensive bottom on the borders of the Mississippi. Above the mouth of the Illinois, and along the borders of the counties of Calhoun, Pike, and Adams, there are a series of bottoms, with much good and elevated land; but the inundated grounds around, present objections to a dense population at present.
The bottoms of Illinois, where not inundated, are equal in fertility, and the soil is less adhesive than most parts of the American bottom. This is likewise the character of the bottoms in the northern parts of the State.
The bottoms of the Kaskaskia are generally covered with a heavy growth of timber, and in many places inundated when the river is at its highest floods.
The extensive prairies adjoining, will create a demand for all this timber. The bottom lands on the Wabash are of various qualities. Near the mouth, much of it is inundated. Higher up it overflows in high freshets.
These bottoms, especially the American are the best regions in the United States for raising stock, particularly horses, cattle, and swine. Seventy-five bushels of corn to the acre is an ordinary crop. The roots and worms of the soil, the acorns and other fruits from the trees, and the fish of the lakes, accelerate the growth of swine. Horses and cattle find exhaustless supplies of grass in the prairies; and pea vines, buffalo grass, wild oats, and other herbage in the timber, for summer range; and often throughout most of the winter. In all the rush bottoms, they fatten during the severe weather on rushes. The bottom soil is not so well adapted to the production of small grain, as of maize or Indian corn, on account of its rank growth, and being more subject to blast, or fall down before harvest, than on the uplands.
3.Prairies.Much the largest proportion is undulating, dry, and extremely fertile. Other portions are level, and the soil in some cases proves to be wet;—the water, not running off freely, is left to be absorbed by the soil, or evaporated by the sun. Crawfish throw up their hillocks in this soil, and the farmer who cultivates it, will find his labors impeded by the water.
In the southern part, that is, south of the National road leading from Terre Haute to the Mississippi, the prairies are comparatively small, varying in size from those of several miles in width, to those which contain only afew acres. As we go northward, they widen and extend on the more elevated ground between the water courses to a vast distance, and are frequently from six to twelve miles in width. Their borders are by no means uniform. Long points of timber project into the prairies, and line the banks of the streams, and points of prairie project into the timber between these streams. In many instances are copses and groves of timber, from one hundred to two thousand acres, in the midst of prairies, like islands in the ocean. This is a common feature in the country between the Sangamon river and lake Michigan, and in the northern parts of the State. The lead mine region, both in this State and the Wisconsin territory, abounds with these groves.
Theoriginof these prairies has caused much speculation. We might as well dispute about the origin of forests, upon the assumption that the natural covering of the earth was grass. Probably one half of the earth's surface, in a state of nature, was prairies or barrens. Much of it, like our western prairies, was covered with a luxuriant coat of grass and herbage. Thesteppesof Tartary, thepampasof South America, thesavannasof the Southern, and theprairiesof the Western States, designate similar tracts of country. Mesopotamia, Syria, and Judea had their ancient prairies, on which the patriarchs fed their flocks. Missionaries in Burmah, and travellers in the interior of Africa, mentionthe same description of country. Where the tough sward of the prairie is once formed, timber will not take root. Destroy this by the plough, or by any other method, and it is soon converted into forest land. There are large tracts of country in the older settlements, where, thirty or forty years since, the farmers mowed their hay, that are now covered with a forest of young timber of rapid growth.
The fire annually sweeps over the prairies, destroying the grass and herbage, blackening the surface, and leaving a deposit of ashes to enrich the soil.
4.Barrens.This term, in the western dialect, does not indicatepoor land, but a species of surface of a mixed character, uniting forest and prairie.
The timber is generally scattering, of a rough and stunted appearance, interspersed with patches of hazle and brushwood, and where the contest between the fire and timber is kept up, each striving for the mastery.
In the early settlements of Kentucky, much of the country below and south of Green river presented a dwarfish and stunted growth of timber, scattered over the surface, or collected in clumps, with hazle and shrubbery intermixed. This appearance led the first explorers to the inference that the soil itself must necessarily be poor, to produce so scanty a growth of timber, and they gave the name ofbarrensto the whole tract of country. Long since, it has been ascertained that thisdescription of land is amongst the most productive soil in the State. The termbarrenhas since received a very extensive application throughout the West. Like all other tracts of country, the barrens present a considerable diversity of soil. In general, however, the surface is more uneven or rolling than the prairies, and sooner degenerates into ravines and sink-holes. Wherever timber barely sufficient for present purposes can be found, a person need not hesitate to settle in the barrens. These tracts are almost invariably healthy; they possess a greater abundance of pure springs of water, and the soil is better adapted for all kinds of produce, and all descriptions of seasons, wet and dry, than the deeper and richer mould of the bottoms and prairies.
When the fires are stopped, these barrens produce timber, at a rate of which no northern emigrant can have any just conception. Dwarfish shrubs and small trees of oak and hickory are scattered over the surface, where for years they have contended with the fires for a precarious existence, while a mass of roots, sufficient for the support of large trees, have accumulated in the earth. As soon as they are protected from the ravages of the annual fires, the more thrifty sprouts shoot forth, and in ten years are large enough for corn cribs and stables.
As the fires on the prairies become stopped by the surrounding settlements, and the wild grass is eaten out and trodden down by thestock, they begin to assume the character of barrens; first, hazle and other shrubs, and finally, a thicket of young timber, covers the surface.
5.Forest, or timbered Land.In general, Illinois is abundantly supplied with timber, and were it equally distributed through the State, there would be no part in want. The apparent scarcity of timber where the prairie predominates, is not so great an obstacle to the settlement of the country as has been supposed. For many of the purposes to which timber is applied, substitutes are found. The rapidity with which the young growth pushes itself forward, without a single effort on the part of man to accelerate it, and the readiness with which the prairie becomes converted into thickets, and then into a forest of young timber, shows that, in another generation, timber will not be wanting in any part of Illinois.
The kinds of timber most abundant are oaks of various species, black and white walnut, ash of several kinds, elm, sugar maple, honey locust, hackberry, linden, hickory, cotton wood, pecan, mulberry, buckeye, sycamore, wild cherry, box elder, sassafras, and persimmon. In the southern and eastern parts of the State are yellow poplar, and beech; near the Ohio are cypress, and in several counties are clumps of yellow pine and cedar. On the Calamick, near the south end of lake Michigan, is a small forest of white pine. The undergrowth are redbud, pawpaw, sumach,plum, crab apple, grape vines, dogwood, spice bush, green brier, hazle, &c.
The alluvial soil of the rivers produces cotton wood and sycamore timber of amazing size.
For ordinary purposes there is now timber enough in most parts of the State, to say nothing about the artificial production of timber, which may be effected with little trouble and expense. The black locust, a native of Ohio and Kentucky, may be raised from the seed, with less labor than a nursery of apple trees. It is of rapid growth, and, as a valuable and lasting timber, claims the attention of our farmers. It forms one of the cleanliest and most beautiful shades, and when in blossom gives a rich prospect, and sends abroad a delicious fragrance.
6.Knobs, Bluffs, Ravines, and Sink-holes.Under these heads are included tracts of uneven country found in various parts of the State.
Knobsare ridges of flint limestone, intermingled and covered with earth, and elevated one or two hundred feet above the common surface. This species of land is of little value for cultivation, and usually has a sprinkling of dwarfish, stunted timber, like the barrens.
The steep hills and natural mounds that border the alluvions have obtained the name ofbluffs. Some are in long, parallel ridges, others are in the form of cones and pyramids. In some places precipices of limestone rock,from fifty to one or two hundred feet high, form these bluffs.
Ravinesare formed amongst the bluffs, and often near the borders of prairies, which lead down to the streams.
Sink-holesare circular depressions in the surface, like a basin. They are of various sizes, from ten to fifty feet deep, and from ten to one or two hundred yards in circumference. Frequently they contain an outlet for the water received by the rains. Their existence shows that the substratum is secondary limestone, abounding with subterraneous cavities.
There are but few tracts ofstony groundin the State; that is, where loose stones are scattered over the surface, and imbedded in the soil. Towards the northern part of the State, tracts of stony ground exist. Quarries of stone exist in the bluffs, and in the banks of the streams and ravines throughout the State.
The soil is porous, easy to cultivate, and exceedingly productive. A strong team is required to break up the prairies, on account of the firm, grassy sward which covers them. But when subdued, they become fine, arable lands.
Rivers, &c.—This State is surrounded and intersected by navigable streams. The Mississippi, Ohio and Wabash rivers are on three sides,—the Illinois, Kaskaskia, Sangamon, Muddy, and many smaller streams are entirely within its borders,—and the Kankakee, Fox,Rock, and Vermillion of the Wabash, run part of their course within this State. The Mississippi meanders its western border for 700 miles. Its principal tributaries within Illinois, are Rock, Illinois, Kaskaskia, and Muddy rivers. The Illinois river commences at the junction of the Kankakee, which originates near the South Bend in Indiana, and the Des Plaines, which rises in the Wisconsin Territory. From their junction, the Illinois runs nearly a west course, (receiving Fox river at Ottawa, and Vermillion near the foot of the rapids,) to Hennepin, where it curves to the south and then to the south-west, receiving a number of tributaries, the largest of which are Spoon river from the right and Sangamon from the left, till it reaches Naples. Here it bends gradually to the south, and continues that course till within six miles of the Mississippi, when it curves to the south-east, and finally, to nearly an east course. Its length, (without reckoning the windings of the channel in navigation,) is about 260 miles, and is navigable for steamboats at a moderate stage of water to the foot of the rapids. The large streams on the eastern side of the State are Iroquois, a tributary to the Kankakee, Vermillion of the Wabash, which enters that river in Indiana, Embarras, that has its source near that of the Kaskaskia, runs south-easterly, and enters the Wabash 9 miles below Vincennes, and Little Wabash near its mouth. Along the Ohio, the only streams deservingnote are the Saline and Bay creeks, and Cash river, the last of which enters the Ohio six miles above its confluence with the Mississippi.
Productions.—These are naturally classed intomineral,animalandvegetable.
Minerals.The northern portion of Illinois is inexhaustibly rich in mineral productions, while coal, secondary limestone, and sandstone, are found in every part.
Iron ore has been found in the southern parts of the State, and is said to exist in considerable quantities in the northern parts.
Native copper, in small quantities, has been found on Muddy river, in Jackson county, and back of Harrisonville, in the bluffs of Monroe county. Crystallized gypsum has been found in small quantities in St. Clair county. Quartz crystals exist in Gallatin county.
Silver is supposed to exist in St. Clair county, two miles from Rock Spring, from whence Silver creek derives its name. In early times, a shaft was sunk here, by the French, and tradition tells of large quantities of the precious metals being obtained.
In the southern part of the State, several sections of land have been reserved from sale, on account of the silver ore they are supposed to contain.
Leadis found in vast quantities in the northern part of Illinois, and the adjacent territory. Here are the richest lead mineshitherto discovered on the globe. This portion of country lies principally north of Rock river and south of the Wisconsin. Dubuque's, and other rich mines, are west of the Mississippi.
Native copper, in large quantities, exists in this region, especially at the mouth of Plum creek, and on the Peek-a-ton-o-kee, a branch of Rock river.
The following is a list of the principal diggings in that portion of the lead mine region that lies between Rock river and the Wisconsin, embracing portions of Illinois State, and Wisconsin Territory. Some of these diggings are, probably, relinquished, and many new ones commenced.
Apple Creek,Plattsville,Galenaand vicinity,Cassvilleand vicinity,Cave Diggins,Madden's,Buncombe,Mineral Point,Natchez,Dodgeville,Hardscrabble,Worke's Diggings,New Diggings,Brisbo's,Gratiot's Grove,Blue Mounds,Spulburg,Prairie Springs,W. S. Hamilton's,Hammett & Campbell's,Cottle's,Morrison's,McNutt's,and many others.Menomonee Creek,
Amount of Lead Manufactured.For many years the Indians, and some of the French hunters and traders, had been accustomed todig lead in these regions. They never penetrated much below the surface, but obtained considerable quantities of the ore which they sold to the traders.
In 1823, the late Col. James Johnson, of Great Crossings, Ky., and brother to the Hon. R. M. Johnson, obtained a lease of the United States government, and made arrangements to prosecute the business of smelting, with considerable force, which he did the following season. This attracted the attention of enterprising men in Illinois, Missouri, and other States. Some went on in 1826, more followed in 1827, and in 1828 the country was almost literally filled with miners, smelters, merchants, speculators, gamblers, and every description of character. Intelligence, enterprise, and virtue, were thrown in the midst of dissipation, gaming, and every species of vice. Such was the crowd of adventurers in 1829, to this hitherto almost unknown and desolate region, that the lead business was greatly overdone, and the market for awhile nearly destroyed. Fortunes were made almost upon a turn of the spade, and lost with equal facility. The business has revived and is profitable. Exhaustless quantities of mineral exist here, over a tract of country two hundred miles in extent.
The following table shows the amount of lead made annually at these diggings, from 1821, to Sept, 30, 1835:
Lbs. of lead made from 1821, to Sept. 1823,335,130Lbs. of lead made for the year ending Sept. 30, 1824,175,220Lbs. of lead made for the year ending Sept. 30, 1825,664,530Lbs. of lead made for the year ending Sept. 30, 1826,958,842Lbs. of lead made for the year ending Sept. 30, 1827,5,182,180Lbs. of lead made for the year ending Sept. 30, 1828,11,105,810Lbs. of lead made for the year ending Sept. 30, 1829,13,344,150Lbs. of lead made for the year ending Sept. 30, 1830,8,323,998Lbs. of lead made for the year ending Sept. 30, 1831.6,381,900Lbs. of lead made for the year ending Sept. 30, 1832,4,281,876Lbs. of lead made for the year ending Sept. 30, 1833,7,941,792Lbs. of lead made for the year ending Sept. 30, 1834,7,971,579Lbs. of lead made for the year ending Sept. 30, 1835,3,754,290Total,70,420,357
The rent accruing to government for the same period, is a fraction short of six millions of pounds. The government formerly received 10 per cent. in lead for rent. Now it is 6 per cent.
A part of the mineral land in the Wisconsin Territory has been surveyed and brought into market, which will add greatly to the stability and prosperity of the mining business.
Coal.Bituminous coal abounds in Illinois. It may be seen, frequently, in the ravines and gullies, and in the points of bluffs. Exhaustless beds of this article exist in the bluffs of St. Clair county, bordering on the American bottom, of which large quantities are transported to St. Louis, for fuel. There is scarce a county in the State, but what can furnish coal, in reasonable quantities. Large beds are said to exist, near the Vermillion of theIllinois, and in the vicinity of the rapids of the latter.
Agatized Wood.A petrified tree, of black walnut, was found in the bed of the river Des Plaines, about forty rods above its junction with the Kankakee, imbedded in a horizontal position, in a stratum of sandstone. There is fifty-one and a half feet of the trunk visible,—eighteen inches in diameter at its smallest end, and probably three feet at the other end.
Muriate of Soda, or common salt. This is found in various parts of the State, held in solution in the springs. The manufacture of salt by boiling and evaporation is carried on in Gallatin county, twelve miles west-north-west from Shawneetown; in Jackson county, near Brownsville; and in Vermillion county, near Danville. The springs and land are owned by the State, and the works leased.
A coarse freestone, much used in building, is dug from quarries near Alton, on the Mississippi, where large bodies exist.
Scattered over the surface of our prairies, are large masses of rock, of granitic formation, roundish in form, usually called by the people "lost rocks." They will weigh from one thousand to ten or twelve thousand pounds, and are entirely detached, and frequently are found several miles-distant from any quarry. Nor has there ever been a quarry of granite discovered in the State. These stones are denominatedbowldersin mineralogy. They usually lie on the surface, or are partiallyimbedded in the soil of our prairies, which is unquestionably of diluvial formation. How they came here is a question of difficult solution.
Medicinal Waters, are found in different parts of the State. These are chiefly sulphur springs and chalybeate waters. There is said to be one well in the southern part of the State strongly impregnated with the sulphate of magnesia, or Epsom salts, from which considerable quantities have been made for sale, by simply evaporating the water, in a kettle, over a common fire.
There are several sulphur springs in Jefferson county, to which persons resort for health.
Vegetable Productions.The principal trees and shrubs of Illinois have been noticed under the head of "Forest or timbered land." Of oaks there are several species, as overcup, burr oak, swamp or water oak, white oak, red or Spanish oak, post oak, and black oak of several varieties, with the black jack, a dwarfish, gnarled looking tree, excellent for fuel, but good for nothing else.
The black walnut is much used for building materials and cabinet work, and sustains a fine polish.
In most parts of the State, grape vines, indigenous to the country, are abundant, which yield grapes that might advantageously be made into excellent wine. Foreign vines are susceptible of easy cultivation. These arecultivated to a considerable extent at Vevay, Switzerland county, Indiana, and at New Harmony on the Wabash. The indigenous vines are prolific, and produce excellent fruit. They are found in every variety of soil; interwoven in every thicket in the prairies and barrens; and climbing to the tops of the very highest trees on the bottoms. The French in early times, made so much wine as to export some to France; upon which the proper authorities prohibited the introduction of wine from Illinois, lest it might injure the sale of that staple article of the kingdom. I think the act was passed by the board of trade, in 1774.
The editor of the Illinois Magazine remarks, "We know one gentleman who made twenty-seven barrels of wine in a single season, from the grapes gathered with but little labor, in his immediate neighborhood."
The wild plum is found in every part of the State; but in most instances the fruit is too sour for use, unless for preserves. Crab apples are equally prolific, and make fine preserves with about double their bulk of sugar. Wild cherries are equally productive. The persimmon is a delicious fruit, after the frost has destroyed its astringent properties. The black mulberry grows in most parts, and is used for the feeding of silk-worms with success. They appear to thrive and spin as well as on the Italian mulberry. The gooseberry, strawberry, and blackberry, grow wild and in great profusion. Of our nuts, the hickory,black walnut, and pecan, deserve notice. The last is an oblong, thin shelled, delicious nut, that grows on a large tree, a species of the hickory, (theCarya olivæ formisof Nuttall.) The pawpaw grows in the bottoms, and rich, timbered uplands, and produces a large, pulpy, and luscious fruit. Of domestic fruits, the apple and peach are chiefly cultivated. Pears are tolerably plenty in the French settlements, and quinces are cultivated with success by some Americans. Apples are easily cultivated, and are very productive. They can be made to bear fruit to considerable advantage in seven years from the seed. Many varieties are of fine flavor, and grow to a large size. I have measured apples, the growth of St. Clair county, that exceeded thirteen inches in circumference. Some of the early American settlers provided orchards. They now reap the advantages. But a large proportion of the population of the frontiers are content without this indispensable article in the comforts of a Yankee farmer. Cider is made in small quantities in the old settlements. In a few years, a supply of this beverage can be had in most parts of Illinois.
Peach trees grow with great rapidity, and decay proportionably soon. From ten to fifteen years may be considered the life of this tree. Our peaches are delicious, but they sometimes fail by being destroyed in the germ by winter frosts. The bud swells prematurely.
Garden Vegetablescan be produced here in vast profusion, and of excellent quality.
That we have few of the elegant and well dressed gardens of gentlemen in the old states, is admitted; which is not owing to climate, or soil, but to the want of leisure and means.
Our Irish potatoes, pumpkins and squashes are inferior, but not our cabbages, peas, beets, or onions.
A cabbage head, two or three feet in diameter including the leaves, is no wonder on this soil. Beets often exceed twelve inches in circumference. Parsnips will penetrate our light, porous soil, to the depth of two or three feet.
Thecultivated vegetable productions in the field, are maize or Indian corn, wheat, oats, barley, buckwheat, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, rye for horse feed and distilleries, tobacco, cotton, hemp, flax, the castor bean, and every other production common to the Middle States.
Maizeis a staple production. No farmer can live without it, and hundreds raise little else. This is chiefly owing to the ease with which it is cultivated. Its average produce is fifty bushels to the acre. I have oftentimes seen it produce seventy-five bushels to the acre, and in a few instances, exceed one hundred.
Wheatyields a good and sure crop, especially in the counties bordering on the Illinois river. It weighs upwards of 60 pounds perbushel; and flour from this region has preference in the New Orleans market, and passes better inspection than the same article from Ohio or Kentucky.
In 1825, the weevil, for the first time, made its appearance in St. Clair and the adjacent counties, and has occasionally renewed its visits since. Latterly, some fields have been injured by the fly.
A common, but slovenly practice amongst our farmers, is, to sow wheat amongst the standing corn, in September, and cover it by running a few furrows with the plough between the rows of corn. The dry stalks are then cut down in the spring, and left on the ground. Even by this imperfect mode, fifteen or twenty bushels of wheat to the acre are produced. But where the ground is duly prepared by fallowing, and the seed put in at the proper time, a good crop, averaging from twenty-five to thirty-five bushels per acre, rarely fails to be procured.
The average price of wheat at present is a dollar per bushel, varying a little according to the competition of mills and facilities to market. In many instances a single crop of wheat will more than pay the expenses of purchasing the land, fencing, breaking the prairie, seed, putting in the crop, harvesting, threshing, and taking it to market. Wheat is now frequently sown on the prairie land as a first crop, and a good yield obtained.
Flouring mills are now in operation in manyof the wheat growing counties. Steam power is getting into extensive use both for sawing timber, and manufacturing flour.
It is to be regretted, that so few of our farmers have erected barns for the security of their crops. No article is more profitable, and really more indispensable to a farmer, than a large barn.
Oatshave not been much raised till lately. They are very productive, often yielding from forty to fifty bushels on the acre, and usually sell for twenty-five cents the bushel. The demand for the use of stage and travellers' horses is increasing.
Hempis an indigenous plant in the southern part of this State, as it is in Missouri. It has not been extensively cultivated; but wherever tried, is found very productive, and of an excellent quality. It might be made a staple of the country.
Tobacco, though a filthy and noxious weed, which no human being ought ever to use, can be produced in any quantity, and of the first quality, in Illinois.
Cotton, for many years, has been successfully cultivated in this State for domestic use, and some for exportation. Two or three spinning factories are in operation, and produce cotton yarn from the growth of the country with promising success. This branch of business admits of enlargement, and invites the attention of eastern manufacturers with small capital. Much of the cloth made in familieswho have emigrated from States south of the Ohio is from the cotton of the country.
Flaxis produced, and of a tolerable quality, but not equal to that of the Northern States. It is said to be productive and good in the northern counties.
Barleyyields well, and is a sure crop.
Thepalma christi, or castor oil bean, is produced in considerable quantities in Madison, Randolph, and other counties, and large quantities of oil are expressed and sent abroad.
Sweet Potatoesare a delicious root, and yield abundantly, especially on the American bottom, and rich sandy prairies.
But little has been done to introduce cultivated grasses. The prairie grass looks coarse and unsavory, and yet our horses and cattle will thrive well on it.
To produce timothy with success, the ground must be well cultivated in the summer, either by an early crop, or by fallowing, and the seed sown about the 20th of September, at the rate often or twelve quarts of clean seed to the acre, and lightly brushed in.
If the season is in any way favorable, it will get a rapid start before winter. By the last week in June, it will produce two tons per acre, of the finest hay. It then requires a dressing of stable or yard manure, and occasionally the turf may be scratched with a harrow, to prevent the roots from binding too hard. By this process, timothy meadows may be made and preserved. There are meadowsin St. Clair county, which have yielded heavy crops of hay in succession, for several years, and bid fair to continue for an indefinite period. Cattle, and especially horses, should never be permitted to run in meadows in Illinois. The fall grass may be cropped down by calves and colts. There is but little more labor required to produce a crop of timothy, than a crop of oats, and as there is not a stone or a pebble to interrupt, the soil may be turned up every third or fourth year for corn, and afterwards laid down to grass again.
A species of blue grass is cultivated by some farmers for pastures. If well set, and not eaten down in summer, blue grass pastures may be kept green and fresh till late in autumn, or even in the winter. The English spire grass has been cultivated with success in the Wabash country.
Of the trefoil, or clover, there is but little cultivated. A prejudice exists against it, as it is imagined to injure horses by affecting the glands of the mouth, and causing them to slaver. It grows luxuriantly, and may be cut for hay early in June. The white clover comes in naturally, where the ground has been cultivated, and thrown by, or along the sides of old roads and paths. Clover pastures would be excellent for swine.
Animals.Ofwild animalsthere are several species. The buffalo is not found on this side the Mississippi, nor within several hundred miles of St. Louis. This animal once roamedat large over the prairies of Illinois, and was found in plenty, thirty-five years since.Wolves,panthersandwild cats, still exist on the frontiers, and through the unsettled portions of the country, and annoy the farmer by destroying his sheep and pigs.
Deerare also very numerous, and are valuable, particularly to that class of our population which has been raised to frontier habits; the flesh affording them food, and the skins, clothing. Fresh venison hams usually sell for twenty-five cents each, and when properly cured, are a delicious article. Many of the frontier people dress their skins, and make them into pantaloons and hunting shirts. These articles are indispensable to all who have occasion to travel in viewing land, or for any other purpose, beyond the settlements, as cloth garments, in the shrubs and vines, would soon be in strings.
It is a novel and pleasant sight to a stranger, to see the deer in flocks of eight, ten, or fifteen in number, feeding on the grass of the prairies, or bounding away at the sight of a traveller.
Thebrown bearis also an inhabitant of the unsettled parts of this State, although he is continually retreating before the advance of civilization.
Foxes, raccoons, opossums, gophers, and squirrels, are also numerous, as are muskrats, otters, and occasionally beaver, about our rivers and lakes. Raccoons are verycommon, and frequently do mischief in the fall, to our corn. Opossums sometimes trouble the poultry.
Thegopheris a singular little animal, about the size of a squirrel. It burrows in the ground, is seldom seen, but itsworksmake it known. It labors during the night, in digging subterranean passages in the rich soil of the prairies, and throws up hillocks of fresh earth, within a few feet distance from each other, and from twelve to eighteen inches in height.
The gray and fox squirrels often do mischief in the cornfields, and the hunting of them makes fine sport for the boys.
Common rabbitsexist in every thicket, and annoy nurseries and young orchards exceedingly. The fence around a nursery must always be so close as to shut out rabbits; and young apple trees must be secured, at the approach of winter, by tying straw or corn stalks around their bodies, for two or three feet in height, or the bark will be stripped off by these mischievous animals.
Wild horsesare found ranging the prairies and forests in some parts of the State. They are small in size, of the Indian or Canadian breed, and very hardy. They are found chiefly in the lower end of the American Bottom, near the junction of the Kaskaskia and Mississippi rivers, calledthe Point. They are the offspring of the horses brought there by the first settlers, and which were suffered to run at large. The Indians of the West havemany such horses, which are commonly called Indian ponies.
Domestic Animals.These are the same as are found in other portions of the United States. But little has been done to improve the breed of horses amongst us. Our common riding or working horses average about fifteen hands in height. Horses are much more used here than in the Eastern States, and many a farmer keeps half a dozen or more. Much of the travelling throughout the Western country, both by men and women, is performed on horseback; and a large proportion of the land carriage is by means of large wagons, with from four to six stout horses for a team. A great proportion of the ploughing is performed by horse labor. Horses are more subject to diseases in this country than in the old States, which is thought to be occasioned by bad management, rather than by the climate. A good farm horse can be purchased for fifty dollars. Riding or carriage horses, of a superior quality, cost about seventy-five or eighty dollars. Breeding mares are profitable stock for every farmer to keep, as their annual expense in keeping is but trifling: their labor is always needed, and their colts, when grown, find a ready market. Some farmers keep a stallion, and eight or ten brood mares.
Mulesare brought into Missouri, and find their way to Illinois, from the Mexican dominions. They are a hardy animal, grow toa good size, and are used by some, both for labor and riding.
Ourneat cattleare usually inferior in size to those of the old States. This is owing entirely to bad management. Our cows are not penned up in pasture fields, but suffered to run at large over the commons. Henceallthe calves are preserved, without respect to quality, to entice the cows homeward at evening.
In autumn their food is very scanty, and during the winter they are permitted to pick up a precarious subsistence amongst fifty or a hundred head of cattle. With such management, is it surprising that our cows and steers are much inferior to those of the old States?
And yet, our beef is the finest in the world. It bears the best inspection of any in the New Orleans market. By the first of June, and often by the middle of May, our young cattle on the prairies are fit for market. They do not yield large quantities of tallow, but the fat is well proportioned throughout the carcass, and the meat tender and delicious. By inferiority, then, I mean thesizeof our cattle in general, and the quantity and quality of the milk of cows.
Common cows, if suffered to lose their milk in August, become sufficiently fat for table use by October. Fallow heifers and steers, are good beef, and fit for the knife at any period after the middle of May. Nothing is more common than for an Illinois farmer to go among his stock, select, shoot down, and dressa fine beef, whenever fresh meat is needed. This is often divided out amongst the neighbors, who in turn, kill and share likewise. It is common at camp and other large meetings, to kill a beef and three or four hogs for the subsistence of friends from a distance.
Steers from three years old or more, have been purchased in great numbers in Illinois, by drovers from Ohio. Cattle are sometimes sent in flat boats down the Mississippi and Ohio, for the New Orleans market.
We can hardly place limits upon the amount of beef cattle that Illinois is capable of producing. A farmer calls himself poor, with a hundred head of horned cattle around him. A cow in the spring is worth from seven to ten or fifteen dollars. Some of the best quality will sell higher. And let it be distinctly understood, once for all, that a poor man can always purchase horses, cattle, hogs, and provisions, for labor, either by the day, month, or job.
Cows, in general, do not produce the same amount of milk, nor of as rich a quality as in older States. Something is to be attributed to the nature of our pastures, and the warmth of our climate, but more to causes already assigned. If ever a land was characterized justly, as "flowing with milk and honey," it is Illinois and the adjacent States. From the springing of the grass till September, butter is made in great profusion. It sells at that season in market for about ten cents. Withproper care it can be preserved in tolerable sweetness for winter's use. Late in autumn and early in the winter, sometimes butter is not plenty. The feed becomes dry, the cows range further off, and do not come up readily for milking, and dry up. A very little trouble would enable a farmer to keep three or four good cows in fresh milk at the season most needed.
Cheese is made by many families, especially in the counties bordering on the Illinois river. Good cheese sells for eight and sometimes ten cents, and finds a ready market.
Swine.This species of stock may be called a staple in the provision of Illinois. Thousands of hogs are raised without any expense, except a few breeders to start with, and a little attention in hunting them on the range, and keeping them tame.
Pork that is made in a domestic way and fatted on corn, will sell from three to four and five dollars, according to size, quality, and the time when it is delivered. With a pasture of clover or blue grass, a well-filled corn crib, a dairy, and slop barrel, and the usual care that a New Englander bestows on his pigs, pork may be raised from the sow, fatted, and killed, and weigh from two hundred to two hundred and fifty, within twelve months; and this method of raising pork would be profitable.
Few families in the west and south put up their pork in salt pickle. Their method is tosalt it sufficiently to prepare it for smoking, and then make bacon of hams, shoulders, and middlings or broadsides. The price of bacon, taking the hog round, is about seven and eight cents. Good hams command eight and ten cents in the St. Louis market. Stock hogs, weighing from sixty to one hundred pounds, alive, usually sell from one to two dollars per head. Families consume much more meat in the West in proportion to numbers, than in the old States.
Sheepdo very well in this country, especially in the older settlements, where the grass has become short, and they are less molested by wolves.
Poultryis raised in great profusion,—and large numbers of fowls taken to market.
Ducks, geese, swans, and many other aquatic birds, visit our waters in the spring. The small lakes and sloughs are often literally covered with them. Ducks, and some of the rest, frequently stay through the summer and breed.
The prairie fowl is seen in great numbers on the prairies in the summer, and about the corn fields in the winter. This is the grouse of the New York market. They are easily taken in the winter.
Partridges, (the quail of New England,) are taken with nets, in the winter, by hundreds in a day, and furnish no trifling item in the luxuries of the city market.
Bees.These laborious and useful insectsare found in the trees of every forest. Many of the frontier people make it a prominent business, after the frost has killed the vegetation, to hunt them for the honey and wax, both of which find a ready market. Bees are profitable stock for the farmer, and are kept to a considerable extent.
Silk-wormsare raised by a few persons. They are capable of being produced to any extent, and fed on the common black mulberry of the country.
Manufactures.—In the infancy of a state, little can be expected in machinery and manufactures. And in a region so much deficient in water power as some parts of Illinois is, still less may be looked for. Yet Illinois is not entirely deficient in manufacturing enterprise.
Salt.The principal salines of this State have been mentioned under the head of minerals.
The principal works are at Gallatin, Big Muddy, and Vermillion salines.
Steam Millsfor flouring and sawing are becoming very common, and in general are profitable. Some are now in operation with four run of stones, and which manufacture one hundred barrels of flour in a day. Mills propelled by steam, water, and animal power, are constantly increasing. Steam mills will become numerous, particularly in the southern and middle portions of the State, and it is deserving remark that, while these portions are notwell supplied with durable water power, they contain, in the timber of the forest, and the inexhaustible bodies of bituminous coal, abundant supplies of fuel; while the northern portion, though deficient in fuel, has abundant water power.
A good steam saw-mill with two saws can be built for $1,500; and a steam flouring mill with two run of stones, elevators, and other apparatus complete, and of sufficient force to turn out forty or fifty barrels of flour per day, may be built for from $3,500 to $5,000.
Ox mills on an inclined plane, and horse mills by draught, are common through the country.
Castor Oil.Considerable quantities of this article have been manufactured in Illinois from the palma christi, or castor bean. One bushel of the beans will make nearly two gallons of the oil. There are five or six castor oil presses in the State, in Madison, Randolph, Edwards, and perhaps in other counties. Mr. Adams of Edwardsville, in 1825, made 500 gallons, which then sold at the rate of two dollars fifty cents per gallon. In 1826, he made 800 gallons; in 1827, 1000 gallons,—the price then, one dollar seventy-five cents: in 1828, 1800 gallons, price one dollar. In 1830, he started two presses and made upwards of 10,000 gallons, which sold for from seventy-five to eighty-seven cents per gallon: in 1831, about the same quantity. That and the following season being unfavorable for the production of the bean, there has been a fallingoff in the quantity. The amount manufactured in other parts of the State has probably exceeded that made by Mr. Adams.
Lead.In Jo Daviess county are eight or ten furnaces for smelting lead. The amount of this article made annually at the mines of the Upper Mississippi, has been given under the head of minerals.
Boat Buildingwill soon become a branch of business in this State. Some steamboats have been constructed already within this State, along the Mississippi. It is thought that Alton and Chicago are convenient sites for this business.
There is in this State, as in all the Western States, a large amount of domestic manufactures made by families. All the trades, needful to a new country, are in existence. Carpenters, wagon makers, cabinet makers, blacksmiths, tanneries, &c., may be found in every county and town, and thousands more are wanted.
There has been a considerable falling off in the manufacture of whiskey within a few years, and it is sincerely hoped by thousands of citizens, that this branch of business, so decidedly injurious to the morals and happiness of communities and individuals, will entirely decline.
Several companies for manufacturing purposes, have been incorporated by the legislature.
Civil Divisions.—There are 66 counties laid off in this State, 59 of which are organized for judicial purposes. The six last named in thefollowing table were laid off at the recent session of the legislature, Jan. 1836. The county ofWillwas formed from portions of Cook, Lasalle, and Iroquois, with the town of Juliet for its seat of justice, near the junction of the Kankakee and Des Plaines.
In this State, there are nocivildivisions into townships as in Ohio, Indiana, &c. The township tracts of six miles square, in the public surveys, relate exclusively to the land system. The State is divided intothreedistricts to elect representatives to Congress, and intosixcircuits for judicial purposes.