AND WHEBE TO FIND ONE. 257 



acre, according to location. He may pay for it in 

 cash, if able to do so, and thus obtain a discount of 

 twenty per cent. ; or he may take land and be al 

 lowed four, five, six, and seven years in which to 

 pay for it, but paying the interest yearly in advance. 

 He may buy as small a tract as forty acres, or one 

 as much larger as his means will justify. 



The land grant to this Company was the first pub 

 lic gratuity in aid of railroads. When first made, 

 the central portion of Illinois was an unoccupied 

 prairie, as fertile as any soil in the world, but 

 wholly unavailable. It now swarms with popula 

 tion, that along the railroad having trebled within 

 ten years. Great towns have sprung up along its 

 track, and the annual growth of population and 

 wealth is enormous. Here the enterprising man 

 will be sure to find a farm, and the Railroad Com 

 pany will show him how to get it. Their road is 

 704 miles in length, and extends from Cairo, in the 

 extreme southern part of the State, to Dunleith, in 

 the northwest, with a branch from Centralia, in the 

 centre, to Chicago, on the shore of Lake Michigan. 

 For all the purposes of agriculture, these lands are 

 equal to any in the world, producing wheat, barley 

 and oats in the north ; corn and wheat in the cen 

 tre ; and wheat, tobacco and cotton in the south. 

 In all parts of the State vast numbers of live stock 

 are produced. A healthy climate, a rich soil, and 

 railroads to convey to market the fullness of the 

 earth all combine to place in the hands of the 

 working man the means of independence. Ko- 

 where can the farmer, the mechanic, the roanufac- 



