Misc. Records
Where to Emigrate and Why - Frederick B. Goddard, Peoples Publ. Co., 1869
ILLINOIS.
THE great State of Illinois, second only in agricultural importance to New York State, presents a brilliant illustration of the wonderful progress and development of the prairie regions which occupy that division of our country lying west of the great lakes. In some respects Illinois possesses advantages promotive of rapid growth and prosperity enjoyed by no other Western State. A glance at the map will confirm this assertion. Her northeastern borders are washed by the waves of Lake Michigan, affording a water outlet to the Atlantic; her entire western and southwestern borders rest on the Mississippi River for more than five hundred miles, while the southern and parts of the eastern boundary are flanked by the Ohio and Wabash rivers—affording a river and lake communication with the sea unequaled by any other State of the Union. In round numbers, it may be staled that the internal and border river navigation of Illinois has an extent of over 1,200 miles.
Such superior facilities for floating to market the bountiful productions of a region of almost universal fertility, furnish easy explanation for the rapid growth and enduring prosperity which have combined to make Illinois a leading State of the Union.
Illinois occupies a geographical position peculiarly favorable to the cultivation of a great variety of agricultural products. The latitudinal extremes of the State are 374° and 42°, involving climatic differences rarely found in other States. The northern portions are well adapted to the cereals, producing bountiful yields of wheat, oats, corn, and esculent roots; the central favors a more prolific growth of the same varieties; while the southern portion, with its softened temperature, not only nourishes all these, but in some sections is well adapted to the cultivation of tobacco, cotton, and a variety of delicate fruits, which in higher latitudes are subject to earlier frosts and shorter growing seasons. The castor bean has been successfully cultivated in the southern counties, and sweet potatoes are a reliable crop. Tobacco is extensively grown, the crop of last year selling for $1,260,000, and cotton also constitutes an important product of the State.
Not alone in agricultural resources is Illinois specially favored. The northern part abounds in mineral products of great commercial value, and scattered through almost the entire State are inexhaustible deposits of coal, comprising a field six times as large as all the coal fields of Great Britain. The lead district of Illinois covers an extent of over 160,000 acres. The annual product of this mineral from the district mentioned is very great, but as the records of shipments from Galena include the yield from the mines of southwestern Wisconsin, no special figures for Illinois can be given. Iron is also found in considerable quantities in the southern portions of the State.
The timber supply of Illinois is greater than that of any other prairie State, but is not equally distributed. Some counties possess a superabundance, while others are almost destitute even of the limited requirements for fuel. The most abundant varieties of timber are the oaks, ash, hickory, elm, maple, locust, cottonwood, walnut, and linden. In some of the rich river bottoms the cottonwood and sycamore attain an enormous size.
While this State, in common with Indiana and Ohio, does not offer the young and vigorous emigrant farmer, whose principal possessions are his strong arms and willingness to work, equal advantages with newer and less thickly settled regions in respect, to cheap lands and growing opportunities, the chances are by no means all taken. Patient industry is sure to be rewarded by success and independence, and there are always openings in the enterprising towns and cities of
these States for the skilled artisan, the merchant, or the professional man, to which the cities of the old world can offer no comparison. The foreign population of Illinois already numbers several hundred thousands, who find on its broad prairies and extensive bottoms a more genial climate, a prolific soil, and more numerous opportunities for successful industry, than were afforded in their native lands; and better still, they here enjoy rights and privileges as citizens which are unattainable in the old world.
The rivers which rise within the limits of the State are Rock, Illinois, Kaskaskia, and Big Muddy, affluents of the Mississippi; the Embarras and Little Wabash, tributaries of the Wabash; and the Saline and Cash rivers, which empty into the Ohio. The Illinois is much the largest of these; it is formed by the union of the Kankakee and Des Plaines, and in its course of 500 miles toward the Mississippi receives Fox and Spoon rivers, Crooked Creek, and several other streams from the north, and the Vermilion, Mackinaw, Sangamon, and others from the south. The current of the Illinois is in general gentle, with a wide, deep bed—in some places opening into broad and lake-like expanses. Rock River rises in Wisconsin, and has a course of 300 miles; it is navigable for some distance, but in its upper course is impeded by several rapids. The Kaskaskia rises in the eastern part of the State, and pursues a direction nearly parallel to that of the Illinois and Rock rivers, and after a course of 300 miles reaches the Mississippi in latitude 38° north. The Big Muddy is also a considerable stream. The rivers flowing to the Ohio and Wabash are generally of less volume than the smaller class of rivers flowing toward the Mississippi, but several are navigable, and all contribute much to the wealth of the country by the abundance of water-power they supply for mechanical purposes.
"The soils of Illinois, though of such various character, are all highly fertile and productive. In the bottoms, or alluvial borders of the rivers, the soil is chiefly formed from the deposits of the waters during flood. In some cases the mold so formed is twenty-five feet and upward in depth, and of inexhaustible fertility. A tract called the "American Bottom," extending along the Mississippi for ninety miles, and about five miles in average width, is of this formation. About the French towns it has been cultivated, and produced Indian corn every year, without manuring, for a century and a half. The prairie lands, although not so productive, are yet not inferior for many agricultural purposes, and are preferred, where wood is to be had, on account of their superior salubrity. The barrens, or oak openings, have frequently a thin soil."
From the Monthly Report of the Department of Agriculture for June, 1868, we copy the following:―
PRICE OF UNIMPROVED LANDS.—The average increase in the value of farm lands in the several counties of Illinois, as compared with the estimates under the census of 1860, is various, ranging from as low as six per cent, up to one hundred per cent. Of wild or unimproved lands a number of counties report "little or none," except such as may be connected with cultivated farms, and not to be purchased separately. The prices for this description of lands vary greatly according to quality and location, ranging from $2 upward to the full value of improved lands. In Stephenson County these lands are held at from $10 to $15 per acre, much of them broken and. hilly, with small second growth timber, adapted to grazing. Winnebago, very little unimproved prairie land in the county; it is held at $30 per acre; unimproved timber land, with timber cut off, is worth $6 to $15; part of the latter has a rich, productive soil. McHenry and Lake have very little of such lands disconnected from cultivated farms. Kane, no wild lands except swamps owned by the county, held at $4 to $10 per acre. Cook, $35 per acre, mostly low bottom land, too wet for cultivation, yet capable of producing good pasturage and meadow. Will County, $20 per acre, quantity small. Grundy, $16, deep loam, with clay subsoil, capable of producing heavy crops of corn, grass, small grains, fruits, &c. Lee, $4 to $12; a portion will produce 30 bushels of corn, the balance fit for pasture. Bureau, average $15 per acre, mostly good prairie. Putnam, chiefly Illinois River bottom and bluff lands, the former rich and well adapted to the culture of corn and potatoes, the latter suited to fruit culture. Henry, average $18.50, quality about No. 2. Rock Island, $2 to $12 per acre, mostly low bottom lands. Mercer, $8 per acre; three-fourths broken or sharply rolling, bordering the streams, and generally covered with young timber; excellent for wheat and other small grains, and good for corn and grass; one-fourth is overflowed and not cultivable without leveeing, but furnishes subsistence to large herds of cattle. In Henderson nearly all cultivable land is now worked, and the timber land is being fenced for pasture. McDonough, a large amount of the best lands held by speculators, worth $25 per acre; secondary tracts and creek bluffs, from $3 to $20 per acre. Fulton, $5 to $10 per acre, mostly "barrens." Warren, $15 per acre, prairie and timber; the soil of the former a deep rich loam, 12 to 18 inches deep; the latter not generally good, the timber constituting the chief value, hilly and uneven. Brown, $7.50 per acre; some No. 1 soil, remainder very thin; timber, coal, and potters' clay, upon some portions. Knox, $10 to $25 per acre, chiefly brush lands, generally underlaid with coal; these lands mostly good for fruits, especially grapes. Stark, $20 per acre, rich soil. Woodford, raw prairie, $14 per acre; timber, when suitable for lumber, $100 to $200 per acre; barrens (clay land from which the timber has been cleared), $10 per acre. Livingston, $15 per acre, suited for all farming purposes. Iroquois, $7 per acre, quality inferior to good, light sand, black sandy loam, black clay loam, and muck; good for grazing and general farming. Ford, $12 per acre, rich prairie.. DeWitt, $8 to $25, chiefly belonging to Central Railroad Company, mostly low and flat, but equal to the best uplands when properly drained. Douglass, $15 per acre, mostly rich prairie. Edgar, $12 per acre, first-class land. Moultrie, $12.50, embracing about one-third of the county, held by speculators and the Central Railroad Company; quality excellent, claimed to be capable of producing corn, wheat, and hay for many years, without manure. Christian, $10; one‑third hard timber, remainder fair prairie. Macon, $8 to $15, generally held by speculators and Central Railroad Company; quality good, capable of high cultivation. Logan, $22.50, chiefly prairie of good quality. Sangamon, $24; mostly along watercourses, and belonging to farms; held for timber growing, and, where fenced, used as woods pastures. Adams, $5; timber land minus the timber. Macoupin, $10; good wheat and corn land. Jersey, $3 to $50, average about $12 per acre, mostly broken or kept for timber. Fayette, $10 per acre; good land. Effingham, prairie $15, timber $10 per acre; one-third of the county timber; soil, clay loam, adapted to grain, grass and fruit. Cumberland, prairie land $11, good timber $12, glade or brush $4 to $5 per acre. Crawford, $10 per acre, timber and prairie; adapted to grain, grass, tobacco, &c. Richland, $15 to $20 per acre for wild land free from timber, and $4 to $8 for timbered prairie land; the latter being lower, owing to the labor and time required to bring it under cultivation, the timber being thick but of poor quality. Wabash, $20 per acre; good for grass and for corn when drained. Marion, $18; prairie and timber, adapted to culture of grain and fruits, especially grapes. Clinton, $10 to $36; the uplands first-rate for wheat, and the bottoms for corn; the prairie adapted to general farming. Washington, $20 per acre, mostly timber or broken; quality inferior. Randolph, average $15 per acre; a portion very rich, covered with hickory and oak. Franklin, $5 per acre, principally timber; one-sixth bottom lands, the remainder average tillable land, some of the best quality. Union, $15 per acre. Alexander, $9 per acre; black sandy soil, broken and bottom lands, good for grain and grass. Pulaski, $10 per acre. Massac, $3 per acre; swampy, but the driest portions are fine for grass. Pope, $3.50; mostly broken or hilly, with any amount of sandstone on the surface. Hardin, $5 per acre; good ridge lands, suited to grain and potatoes. Williamson, $9 per acre; quality tolerably good for general farming. In 1860 the improved land numbered 13,096,374 acres against upward of 22,000,000 acres (including water surfaces) unimproved, but at this date the proportions are greatly changed.
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The agricultural resources of Illinois constitute her chief source of wealth and material prosperity, the State now ranking, next to New York, the highest in the aggregate value of, agricultural products, reaching over $160,000,000 in 1866, and $184,000,000 in 1867. The character of the soil of the State is too well known to require detailed mention here.
Wheat, Indian corn, oats, hay, and potatoes, are the leading crops of the State, being extensively grown in all sections, but the first two named are the great staples, the crop of Indian corn of 1866 aggregating nearly 156,000,000 bushels, or more than one-sixth of the entire crop of the country; and of wheat about 28,500,000 bushels, and about the same proportion of the total yield. As in all the Northern States, a mixed husbandry prevails throughout the State, the full list of products suited to the latitude being grown to a greater or less extent in each county. The money values of the several prominent crops during the past year, foot up, in round numbers, as follows: Indian corn, $74,000,000; wheat, $60,000,000; hay, $25,000,000; oats, $15,000,000; potatoes, $4,400,000; tobacco, $1,260,000; barley, $1,270,000; rye, $760,000; buckwheat, $273,000. The wheat is the chief money crop, however, a large portion of the corn, and grass crops being fed out upon the farm to cattle and hogs.
The General Land Office Report for 1867, furnishes the following interesting statistics:―
In 1850, Illinois had 76,208 farms, valued at $96,133,290; in 1860, 144,338, valued at $408,944,033. The quantity of land in farms increased about 77 per cent during the decade, the improved land 165 per cent, the cash value of farms about 325, and the value of farming implements and machinery nearly 200 per cent.
The value of live stock in 1850 was $24,209,258; in 1860, $72,501,225; and in 1865, according to the State returns, it had advanced to $123,770,554, showing an increase, during the ten years following 1850, of 200 per cent, or 20 per cent per annum, and 70 per cent for the five years following 1860, or 14 per cent. per annum.
New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, are the only States making larger quantities of butter; and, in the value of slaughtered animals, Illinois is exceeded only by New York.
In 1860, Illinois produced 23,837,023 bushels of wheat, and 115,174,777 bushels of Indian corn, being 14 bushels of wheat and 67 bushels of Indian corn to every man, woman, and child.
The State surpassed all others in wheat and corn products, there having been cultivated upon its soil nearly one-seventh of the entire wheat and corn crop of the United States. In 1865, 177,095,852 bushels of Indian corn were produced, and 25,266,745 bushels of wheat. The entire grain crop in 1865, including Indian corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley, and buckwheat, amounted to 232,620,173 bushels. The crop of potatoes was 5,864,408 bushels, tobacco, 18,867,722 pounds, and hay, 2,600,000 tons, the whole amounting in value to $116,274,322. Besides this, there were produced in 1865, 5,000,000 pounds of cotton, a branch of industry
just beginning to receive attention, yet already pronounced one of the most profitable crops in the southern part of the State; also large quantities of grass-seeds, maple and sorghum-sugar and molasses, flax, flaxseed, hemp, hops, silk cocoons, beeswax, honey, wine, butter and cheese, peas and beans. The wool clip in 1865, was over 6,000,000 pounds; orchard products of the value of $2,000,000, and market $500,000
The year 1865 was unfavorable for wheat in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, the yield in each being less than either 1862, 1863, or 1864. Illinois then produced 32,213,500 bushels.
In every year since 1860, the State has maintained a position as the leading wheat and corn-growing region, while the product of other staples is annually increasing.
Although one of the richest agricultural States, a large part is mineral, the coal fields being estimated at 44,000 square miles, and the lead mines as among the most valuable in the world.
The Illinois coal-field stretches from the Mississippi, near Rock Island, eastward toward Fox River, thence southeast through Indiana, and southward into Kentucky, occupying the greater part of Illinois, the southwestern portion of Indiana, and the northwestern part of Kentucky, measuring 375 miles in length from northwest to southeast, and 200 in width from St. Louis eastward—estimated to contain 1,277,500,000,000 tons of coal, sufficient to furnish an annual supply of 13,000,000 tons for nearly a hundred thousand years, being more than six times as large as all the coal fields of Great Britain, and embracing ore-third of all the coal measures of North America.
The present annual product of the State is 1,500,000 tons, the amount increasing every year, and, as the coal is of good quality and easily mined, it is destined to become one of the most prominent interests of the State.
The great lead district of the Mississippi River occupies a portion of northwestern Illinois, southwestern Wisconsin, and northeastern Iowa, covering an area of about 1,000,000 acres, one-sixth of which lies in Illinois, in Jo Daviess County, which has furnished the entire lead product of the country for twenty years. A few mines in Wisconsin and Illinois have supplied and smelted 15,000,000 pounds a year.
Iron ore has been mined in Hardin County, on the Ohio, several furnaces being in operation. Valuable beds of the ore are reported between the Kaskaskia and the Mississippi; also in Union County, and in the northern part of the State. Copper has been found in several counties; also marble, crystallized gypsum, quartz crystal, and silex for glass manufacture; salt also existing in the southern counties, while small quantities of gold and silver have been obtained in the lead district in the northwest corner of the State. Petroleum is found in the northeast part, zinc ore in the lead district in Jo Daviess, sulphur and chalybeate springs in Jefferson and other localities.
Although the leading interest of Illinois continues to be agriculture, its manufactures have been steadily advancing.
In 1850, it had 3,162 establishments, with a capital invested of $6,217,765, producing an annual product of $16,534,272.
In 1860, it had 4,268 establishments, with a capital invested of $27,548,563, producing an annual product of $57,580,887, being an increase in value during the decade of 248 per cent.
While Illinois was fifteenth among the States in general industry in 1850, its advance was so rapid during the decade that, in 1860, it stood seventh; and while its population increased during the ten years at the rate of 101 per cent, the increase in manufactures was still greater, equaling, as before stated, 248 per cent. A similar increase during the ten years following 1860 will make the value of this branch of industry $200,000,000 in 1870, and advance it in rank to be fifth.
According to the State census, the value of manufactured products for 1865, was $63,356,013. The value of real estate and personal property for 1850 is reported in the United States census at $156,265,006, and for 1860, at $871,860,282, being an increase in the ten years of $715,595,276, or 458 per cent. In 1866, the Governor estimated the real wealth of the State at not less than $1,200,000,000.
The population in 1850 was 851,470, in 1860, 1,711,981, and in 1867, 2,151,007. A density of population equal to that of Massachusetts would give Illinois a population of 8,754,780 ; a density equal to that of the French empire would increase it to 9,641,340.
The Illinois coal-field covers an area of 44,000 square miles, or three-fourths of the whole surface, and if its soil were cultivated with the laborious care bestowed upon the Belgian fields, scarcely an acre could be designated as waste land.
The railroad system is on a scale commensurate with its advantageous position in respect to agriculture and internal commerce; 3,160 miles are completed and now in operation, 812 miles more are in course of construction, making in the aggregate 3,979 miles, or one mile of railroad to 14 square miles of territory.
Eight lines cross the eastern boundary of the State, and the Mississippi River is approached within the State by thirteen, connecting with the east and west through routes across the States of Missouri and Iowa, and northern routes through Wisconsin and Minnesota, westward to the Pacific, and eastward to the great trade marts of the Atlantic coast.
In addition to the facilities thus afforded to commerce, a canal has been constructed from Lake Michigan, at Chicago, to La Salle, on the Illinois River, 100 miles in length, affording communication by water between the lake and the Mississippi. The canal is now being enlarged by deepening its channel to accommodate large class vessels, so that the waters of Lake Michigan will flow through to the Illinois River, the bed of which is improved so as to establish uninterrupted steam navigation at all seasons from the Mississippi, by way of the lakes and the St. Lawrence, to the Atlantic.
The leading city in the State is Chicago, on the west shore and near the southern extremity of Lake Michigan. In 1837 its population was 4,170; in 1850, 29,963; in 1860, 110,973; its population being now over 200,000.
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.