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a long and expensive detour by way of Mackinaw, in travelling from east to west, and having proved of great convenience to the travelling and business public. This road was commenced by the State of Michigan, under whose auspices about 125 miles of the eastern portion of it were constructed. The State becoming embarrassed in consequence of the injudicious management of her affairs, the road was sold to a private company in the latter part of 1846, by whom the work of construction was immediately resumed, and prosecuted with great vigor to its termination, at Chicago. Since its completion it has proved very productive. Its importance as a great through-link, between the East and the West, will be greatly increased by the construction of the great Western railroad of Canada, which will be completed during the coming year. When that road shall be opened, a direct route, in connexion with the above roads, will be afforded to the travel from the eastern States to Chicago, the great central point of the northwestern trade and travel.

2. Michigan Southern railroad. Like the Central road, the Michigan Southern was formerly a State work, and as such, was opened to Adrian, 36 miles from Monroe, its eastern terminus. On the failure of the State, its farther progress was abandoned; but after a lapse of some years it was sold to a private company, by whom it has, in connexion with the Indiana Northern road, been recently extended to Chicago. The distance between the termini is 243 miles. It was originally intended to carry this road through the southern tier of counties to New Buffalo; but this plan was abandoned by the present company, and, after running about 130 miles in Michigan, the line was deflected into Indiana, and on this portion constructed under a charter granted by that State. This road is also connected with Toledo, on Lake Erie, and will be shortly connected with the railroads of Ohio; and it may be confidently expected, that by the first of January next a continuous line of railroad will exist from New York to Chicago, a distance of nearly 1,000 miles. The Michigan Southern and Indiana Northern may both be regarded as belonging to one interest, and as forming in fact one line. Though recently opened for business, its prospects are very favorable. In the hands of its present managers, it has been prosecuted with energy and success; and, as the general direction of its line coincides with the southern shores of Lakes Erie and Michigan, it is difficult to find a more important line of road. Its success since its opening fully justifies the sagacity and foresight of the parties by whom its extension was planned and executed.

The local trade both of the Central and Southern roads is supplied by an ample belt of fertile, well-settled and highly productive country, which alone would yield sufficient support, entirely independent of through-traffic. Both are intended to form important parts of independent through-routes from Boston and New York to Chicago-one on the north, the other on the south shore of Lake Erie-and must become intimately identified with important routes of commerce and travel.

A railroad from Green Bay to Lake Superior is an important project, and will prove of great convenience to the mining districts on the

southern shores of the latter, which for a considerable portion of the year are inaccessible. This work is indispensable to the proper development of the vast mineral resources of that great region. Its route is the best that could be adopted for immediate exigencies. The line of the road is under survey; and it is believed that its construction will be immediately commenced, an amount of business sufficient to furnish a considerable traffic being already developed on its northern terminus. A road is also proposed, and will undoubtedly in a few years be constructed, extending from Detroit to Toledo, with a view to enable the great Western railroad of Canada to form a connexion with the lines of the United States.

ILLINOIS.

Population in 1830, 157,445; in 1840, 476,183; in 1850, 851,470. Area in square miles, 55,405; inhabitants to square mile, 15.36.

There is a remarkable similarity between the histories of the States of Indiana and Illinois, so far as their respective systems of internal improvements are concerned. Both systems were commenced about the same period; both States became involved in similar financial embarrassments; and both abandoned the prosecution of their respective works-most of which have been either discontinued entirely, or have passed into private hands. While this parallel exists between the two, Illinois labored under the disadvantage of being a much newer State, possessing smaller means, and consequently requiring a longer time to recover from her embarrassments. As in her first efforts she imitated the examples of Ohio and Indiana, so she is again following closely in their footsteps, in the new career upon which she has just entered.

The Illinois and Michigan canal. This canal is almost the only improvement which Illinois has to show for the vast debt she has incurred for her public works. It has passed into the hands of her bond-holders, and has been completed by them in a manner very similar to its kindred work, the Wabash and Erie canal. It extends from Chicago to Peru, at the head of navigation on the Illinois river. It was commenced in 1836, and completed in 1848. It is 60 feet wide, and 6 feet deep. The locks have a capacity for boats of 150 tons. Its length is 100 miles, and its summit-level is 8 feet only above Lake Michigan. The original plan was to feed it directly from the lake; but as this involved a very large expenditure, it was abandoned.

The canal was opened in the fall of 1848, since which time it has done a successful business. Like the Wabash canal, its direction coincides with the usual route of commerce and travel. It is hardly possible to conceive a more favorable route for such a work. It connects the lakes with the navigable waters of the Mississippi at their nearest approach to each other. Between these great water-courses an immense trade must always exist. The former penetrates high northern regions, and the latter traverses a country abounding in many tropical productions. With the canal they constitute a natural route of commerce; and as the eastern are the great markets for the products of the western States, this work must form one of the leading channels of commerce between these two divisions of the country. All that was

wanting to secure a large portion of the products of the Northwest to the lake and Erie canal routes was an outlet for them. This the Illinois canal first supplied. The effect of its opening has been, in fact, to turn an immense tide of business from its old channel, by the Mississippi river, to the new one by the lakes.

The influence of this work is already seen in the impulse it has given to the growth and trade of Chicago; in the change it has effected in the direction of the products of Illinois, and other western States, to market, and of merchandise imported into the same sections of country.

Were its capacity equal to the business which will soon be thrown upon it, and were the Illinois and Mississippi navigable at all seasons of the year, there can be no doubt that the canal would be able to engross a large portion of the trade of the country west and southwest of Lake Michigan, and north of the Ohio and Missouri rivers. As it is, it is preparing the way for a great diversion of that trade to the lakes and the northern route. The railroads now in progress in Illinois will soon come to its aid, and supply the want of an uninterrupted navigation in the western rivers.

Railroads in Illinois.

The system of improvements first proposed by the State in eighteen hundred and thirty-six contemplated a very large number of railroads, traversing every portion of the State. The more important of these were the Illinois Central, the Edwardsville and Shawneetown, the Quincy and Danville, the Alton and Terre Haute, the Mount Carmel and Alton, and the Peoria and Warsaw roads. After the expenditure of large sums upon these lines they were all ultimately abandoned, and the improvements made have mostly fallen into the hands of private companies. No portion of any of the lines commenced has been opened, with the exception of the link in the Quincy and Danville railroad, extending from Springfield to the Illinois river. With a few exceptions, the work done upon the various proposed lines is of little value to the companies which have resumed their construction.

The recent railroad movement in Illinois dates only two or three years prior to the present time. It has the same general character as those already noted in Ohio and Indiana. The construction of roads in this State follows instead of anticipating the wants of the community, and proceeds in a legitimate and business-like manner, which promises the most satisfactory results.

The State of Illinois is one of the largest States of the confederation in area, and probably is unsurpassed by any in the extent of her resources. Over her whole surface she has a soil of inexhaustible fertility, a large portion of which covers vast beds of coal, in connexion with an abundant supply of iron ore. The richness of her lead mines is well known. Her commercial advantages are equal to those of any western State. Upon her western boundary is the Mississippi river; upon her southern, and a large portion of her eastern border, are the Ohio and Wabash. The northern part of the State is washed by Lake Michigan, which is accessible by ships of three hundred tons burden from the ocean. Her central portions are penetrated by the Illinois river, one of the most favorable in the West for the purposes of

navigation. All these water-courses afford convenient outlets for the products of her soil, and contribute incalculably to her prosperity. The city of Chicago has now become, and must always remain, the emporium of the State. It is the great pivot upon which the railroad system of the State turns. Most of the lines in progress are constructed with express reference to this point. All running in a northerly and southerly direction look to that city as the northern terminus. The same may be said of those traversing the northern portion of the State in an easterly and westerly direction. The principal exceptions to this rule are the Ohio and Mississippi railroad, running from Cincinnati to St. Louis, the Terre Haute and Alton railroad, and the proposed roads from Peoria and Springfield to Lafayette, in Indiana. There will undoubtedly be other roads constructed in different portions of the State, having no direct reference to Chicago; but such only are referred to as are already in progress.

The great line, traversing the State from north to south, will be the Illinois Central railroad. This road was commenced by the State in 1837, but was soon abandoned, with all other projects of a similar character. It commences at Cairo, at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers; and, after running in nearly a direct northerly course for about 120 miles, divides into two branches, one branch running to the extreme northwest corner of the State, by way of Peru, on the Illinois river; and the other in a very direct course to Chicago. Its whole length will be 700 miles-a greater extent of line than any other chartered line in the United States. The construction of this road is secured by recent munificent grants of lands by the general government, which amount to 2,500,000 acres, most of which lie upon the immediate line of the road. The road will be completed in about four years from the present time; and, when constructed, will constitute a grand central avenue through the State, from north to south, which must in the end become the trunk of many connecting and dependent roads.

The progress made by the Central road, and the certainty of its early completion, has given a great impulse to the public sentiment of the State in favor of similar projects. Numerous lines are in progress or projected in every portion of it. The line itself will supply a vast amount of railroad accommodation to the people of Illinois. As a State work it is a magnificent project. It is equally conspicuous as a part of a great national line. In connexion with the Mobile and Ohio railroad it forms a direct and uniform line of railroad, extending north and south for a distance of more than 900 miles, traversing, in this distance, great varieties of climate and production. By taking the above route a traveller may pass from latitude 29° to 420 north in a little more than 24 hours. A road possessing such advantages cannot fail to command an immense traffic and travel, in addition to its local resources.

With the exception of the Central railroad, most of the great routes of travel and commerce through the State must run from east to west. The more important of these are the following:

Galena and Chicago. This is the longest line of railroad in operation in the State. It is now completed to Rockford, a distance of 95 miles. At Freeport, 124 miles from Chicago, it will form a junction

with the Illinois Central road, by which it will be carried forward to Galena, 180 miles from its eastern terminus. This road has been one of the most successful and productive works of the kind in the United States. It was not embraced in the original system marked out by the State; and affords a striking illustration of the wisdom of adapting railroad projects to the known wants of business, rather than of attempting to anticipate such wants by the construction of a system founded on doubtful contingencies.

The easterly portion of the above line forms the trunk of two other roads, one of which, the St. Charles branch, extends from its junction with the Galena and Chicago road, in a very direct course, to the Mississippi river, at Albany; and the other, the Aurora branch, which is under contract, to Galesburg, (the northerly point on the Peoria and Oquawka railroad,) a distance of about 125 miles. This road will be carried still further, in a southwesterly direction to Quincy, by means of the Central Military Tract and the Northern Cross roads, also in progress of construction. The distance from Quincy to Galesburg, by the above road, is about 120 miles, making the entire distance between Chicago and Quincy about 280 miles. It is understood that the Michigan Central railroad will extend efficient aid to the last named line.

The Galena and Chicago railroad has exerted a very decided influence in promoting the growth of the city of Chicago, which advanced in population from 4,470 to 40,000 from 1840 to 1852.

Rock Island and Chicago railroad. This road follows the valley of the Illinois and its branches, from Chicago to Peru, a distance of 100 miles; from which place it takes a more westerly direction, to Rock island, a distance of eighty miles, making the whole length of line 180 miles. The first division to Peru will be completed by the first of January next, and the whole in season for the winter business of 1853. It is, in many respects, an important line. It will connect Chicago with the head of navigation on the Illinois river, between which points an immense travel and trade must always exist. It has the great advantage of striking the Mississippi river upon the same parallel of latitude with the southern shores of Lakes Erie and Michigan, and at the best point for bridging that river below St. Anthony's Falls. island is very nearly in the same parallel with Council Bluffs, the proposed point for carrying a railroad across the Missouri, running westward toward the Rocky mountains. The grade and curves of this road are favorable, and it will undoubtedly become one of the most important avenues of trade and travel extending westward from Chicago. The means for its construction are furnished chiefly by eastern capitalists, who took up the project on account of the strength of its position.

Rock

Peoria and Oquawka railroad.-The next line of railroad traversing the State, from east to west, is the Peoria and Oquawka, commencing at the Mississippi river opposite Burlington, the largest and most commercial town in lowa, and running to Peoria, on the Illinois river. The distance between the two points is about 80 miles. From Peoria it is proposed to extend this road easterly, striking the Wabash valley at Lafayette, or at Logansport, or at both these places. The first division only of this great line, extending from the Mississippi to the

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