254 HOW TO GET A FARM. 



ley s description of the State, given in 1861, is too 

 graphic to be omitted : 



&quot;In the very heart of the great valley, midway between 

 the Arctic and the Tropic, the Atlantic and the Rocky 

 Mountains, lies the State of Illinois, the young Hercules of 

 the West, touching Lake Michigan on the north, and the 

 lower Ohio on the south, with the majestic Mississippi 

 washing her entire western border, and the Wabash skirt 

 ing her for more than half its length on the east. Her 

 growth, during the last decade, has been really more rapid 

 and considerable than that of any other State, though some 

 of the newest have increased in population by a larger per 

 centage than hers. Her population has all but doubled 

 during the last decade, having risen from some 900,000 to 

 about 1,700,000. 



&quot; Other States have each some peculiarity in which it 

 may fairly claim a precedence. Michigan and Wisconsin 

 are both far better timbered, each having an abundance of 

 pine, whereas Illinois has not a stick. Pennsylvania, Vir 

 ginia, and Missouri, are richer in minerals; Iowa and 

 Kansas have more undulating surfaces, and are (we think) 

 better watered ; Ohio lies nearer to the seaboard ; New 

 England has her manufactures, and New York her foreign 

 commerce ; but in average depth and richness of soil in 

 capacity to produce, cheaply, grain and grass, meat and 

 vegetables, Illinois is probably the first among the States, 

 and surpassed by no equal area on the face of the globe. 



&quot; Originally, scarcity and imperfect distribution of timber, 

 with defective facilities for transportation and travel, were 

 her great drawbacks. Probably three-fourths of her sur 

 face were prairie when settlement commenced ; while her 

 timber was for the most part stunted and gnarly, by reason 

 of the high winds constantly wrenching, and the fierce fires 



