VARIETIES OF CLIMATE.

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through the center of the state, is navigable over four hundred miles from its mouth, and it is connected with Lake Michigan by the Illinois and Michigan Canal, at Chicago. That canal is one hundred miles in length. The railroad lines from Chicago reach the Mississippi River at Galena, Rock Island, Quincy, Alton, and Cairo. The Illinois Central Railroad runs through the heart of the "Grand Prairie." A line stretches along the lake to Milwaukie, and other lines to Janesville, Madison, and Fond du Lac.

Illinois offers very great advantages to the settler; but, at the same time, it must be borne in mind that, as the state extends through five and one-half degrees of latitude, it possesses considerable variety of climate, and that the level surface, unsheltered by forests, exposes it alike to Isun and storm. The summers are hot and prolonged, and the winters everywhere severe. The prevailing winds are the south-west, which blow three-fourths of the year. The northerly and westerly winds prevail in winter. On the whole, the climate may be regarded as favorable to outdoor employments, the proportion of clear weather being two hundred and forty-five days, to one hundred and twenty of cloudy. The general salubrity of Illinois is well attested, and few suffer from endemic diseases, except those who have settled near swamps and wet bottom-lands.

The winter of 1855-56 has been one of uncommon severity throughout the West. On the prairies, the cold has been intense. Ice has been formed as far down as the Gulf of Mexico. The cold weather in Illinois continued, uninterrupted, for more than two months. Such periods of intense cold, however, recur at wide intervals. Some may be curious to know the seasons of the greatest cold which have occurred. In 1133, the river Po, in Italy,

was frozen from Cremona to the sea; wine burst the casks containing it, and the trees split with a loud report.

In 1234, the Mediterranean was frozen over, and merchandise was transported across it on the ice. The winter of 1681 was so severe that whole forests of oak were ruined, the trees being split with the cold.

In 1698, the wolves came into Vienna, and attacked men, women, and children, owing to the intense cold and hunger.

And in 1704, the most extraordinary storm of which there is any record, occurred in Scotland.

in a single night to the depth of ten feet.

The snow fell

The schools of Illinois are in a flourishing condition. The funds appropriated to their support amount to a million of dollars. The Illinois College is located at Jacksonville; the Shurtleff College, at Upper Alton; the McKendree College, at Lebanon; and the Knox College, at Galesburg. There are twenty-seven libraries in the state, containing about twenty thousand volumes. The Law Library contains four thousand volumes.

In Illinois, the necessary wearing apparel of every person is exempt from execution, and household furniture to the value of fifteen dollars, beside bedding and utensils for cooking. Also, one cow; two sheep for each member of the family; and sixty dollars' worth of property, to be selected by the debtor; provisions for three months; and, in case of fines, only one bed and bedding, one cow, and ten dollars' worth of household kitchenfurniture.

ORGANIZED AS A TERRITORY.

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CHAPTER XIV.

WISCONSIN.

Organized as a territory - First settlements - Rapid emigration Source of emigration - Admission as a state-Number of counties, dwellings, and families-Nature of the population-State laws, with regard to voters-Courts - Interesting provisions of the constitution - Length, breadth, and general surface of the state Southern Wisconsin Superior natural advantages-Prairies - Oak openings — Abundant pasturages — Inducements to settlers - Southern Wisconsin compared with other states - Increase of Agricultural wealth Lead mines Iron region - Limestone-White marble - Northern Wisconsin - Extensive pine regions Water-power- The Wisconsin pine Annual amount sawed Climate of Wisconsin Health Opinion of physicians Commerce Harbors Milwaukie brick - Railroads Educational institutions and laws - Exemption laws.

THE region of country west of Lake Michigan-formerly attached to the territorial jurisdiction of Michigan, and known as the "Huron District. -was erected into a separate territorial government, under the name of the Wisconsin Territory, upon the admission of the State of Michigan into the Union in 1837. Henry Dodge was appointed governor, and John S. Horner, secretary. The territory, at that time, comprised within its limits all the country from Lake Michigan to Lake Superior, extending westward to the Missouri River, including all the sources of the Upper Mississippi. Its southern limits were the northern boundaries of Illinois and Missouri, and its extent, from north to south, was five hundred and eighty miles, and from east to west, six hundred and fifty miles. Its settled portions consisted of a small tract near the shores of Lake Michigan, and the organized counties lay