EXTINGUISHMENT OF INDIAN TITLES 199 CHAPTER XIII. ILLINOIS. Great Extinguishment of the Indian titles - Admission as a state earthquake of 1811-Effect on the Mississippi — Effect on the Indians First steamboat on the Mississippi-Keel-boat navigation - Keel-boatmen - Nature of the population-Length and breadth of the state- Number of counties - Lands improved and unimproved - Number of farms - Value of farming implements – Annual products · The soil-The "American Bottom"-Prairie lands — Grand Prairie― Coal regions-Yankee fences in Illinois Mode of forming settlements on the prairie - Plowing the prairie- The timber region- Minerals Lead region - Chicago – Rivers, canals, and railroads -Varieties of climate The winter of 1855-56 Seasons of the greatest cold Schools, colleges, and libraries Exemption laws. WHEN, in 1809, Congress, by the Act of February 3d, had restricted the limits of Indiana, and had authorized a territorial legislature, the region to the westward of the Wabash was erected into a territorial government of the first grade, and designated as the Illinois Territory. Ninian Edwards was appointed governor. Congress had already taken measures for the extinguishment of the Indian title. By the treaty of Fort Wayne, which was ratified at Vincennes, on the seventh day of August, 1803, by the Eel River Indians, the Wyandots, the Kaskaskias, and the Kickapoos, over three hundred and thirty-six thousand acres had been ceded to the United States. By a subsequent treaty, made only six days later, with the Kaskaskias alone, that tribe had ceded eight and one-half million acres. On the third day of November, 1804, the Sacs and Foxes, by treaty, had relinquished fourteen million acres, principally situated in Illinois. At Vincennes, December 30th, 1805, the Piankeshas had ceded their claim to about three million acres. So that, with the spring following, one-third part of Illinois was open for settlement. The balance of the territory still remained in the possession of the Indians, and they continued lingering around the old familiar hunting-grounds which they had ceded away, although they had received the stipulated price, and had consented to retire. For several years. the settlements of Illinois increased in number but very slowly. The country was so remote, so much exposed to Indian depredations, and so destitute of the comforts of civilized life, that it did not attract many emigrants, while other lands, equally good and far more easily accessible, were to be had. But, notwithstanding the distance and the danger, the inhabitants began to come in slowly around the older villages of the French, and along the west bank of the Wabash, and upon the lower tributaries of the Illinois, and the east bank of the Mississippi, until about the close of 1817, when it was ascertained that the population had become equal to the population of Ohio at the time of its admission into the Union. The territorial legislature, at the next session, made application to Congress for authority to establish a state government. A constitution, adopted in August, 1818, had been approved in December following, and Illinois was admitted within about two years after the admission of Indiana. The census of 1820 gave the entire population at the number of fifty-five thousand two hundred and ten souls. During the five years next succeeding, the increase was about seventeen thousand. Many persons had been deterred from going to Illinois by the erroneous supposition that the country was subject to volcanic action. This GREAT EARTHQUAKE. 201 had originated from the great earthquake of 1811, by which the valley of the Mississippi had been greatly shaken, the shocks having continued for nearly three months. The country just below the mouth of the Ohio River would seem to have been near the center of the agitation. For miles, the land had been seamed with yawning chasms and deep holes, the remains of which are still visible. The bluff on which New Madrid had been built had sunk to the level of the river, and had become, soon afterward, totally submerged. The commotion in the Mississippi had been very great: the banks had caved in, islands had dissolved, and the channel had become changed. At every shock, the surface of the river had risen and fallen like the waves of the sea. An eye-witness, who was coming down on a flat-boat, says: "After escaping many dangers, my boat suddenly swung round in the conflicting currents, and rapidly shot up the river. Looking ahead, I beheld the mighty Mississippi cut in twain, and pouring down a vast opening into the bowels of the earth. A moment more and the chasm filled; but the strong sides of the flat-boat were crumbled to pieces in the convulsive efforts of the flood to obtain its wonted level." The Indians had been utterly bewildered by the earthquake, and could account for the physical tumult only upon the supposition that things generally had been getting drunk. It is said of one of them, who had given himself up for lost, that, upon being questioned as to what the matter was, he had replied, while at the same time pointing fearfully to the heavens, "Great Spirit-whisky too much!” It was not until after the commencement of steam navigation that Illinois received its great accessions of population. The first steamboat that ever plowed the Mississippi was built at Pittsburg in 1812, and made the voyage to New Orleans the next season. The Enterprise, 9* in December, 1814, was the first to make the entire trip up the river, from New Orleans to Pittsburg. That is said to have been considered a great triumph, "for it was doubted whether this new power could displace the strong arms of the keel-boatmen in stemming the powerful tide." Several years more had elapsed before steam vessels were introduced upon the lakes. The first that was built upon Lake Erie was in 1818; and from that time until 1825, when the Erie Canal had become completed, the shipping upon the lakes was principally employed in carrying westward supplies and trinkets for the Indian trade, and returning with cargoes of furs and peltries. The influence of the canal was immediately felt throughout the entire West, in facilitating emigration; and Illinois began rapidly to fill up with an enterprising population. Previous to the era of steam navigation upon the western waters, the transportation of emigrants, and merchandise, and produce, was effected by means of keel-boats, that would drift down well enough with the current, but had to be forced up stream with setting-poles. "The keelboat was long and narrow, sharp at the bow and stern, and of light draft. From fifteen to twenty hands were required to propel it along. The crew, divided equally on each side, took their places upon the running boards, extending along the whole length of the craft; and each man, setting one end of a long pole in the bottom of the river, brought the other to the shoulder, and bending down upon it, his face nearly to the plank, exerted all his force against the boat, treading it from under him." While those on one side were thus passing down in line to the stern, those on the other, having faced about, were passing up toward the bow, drawing their poles floating on the water. One man always stood leisurely steering, astraddle of the oar; and generally, some one of the men |