AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
97 
A TRIP TO THE WEST-Noi 3, 
( CONCLUDED .), 
THE STATE OF ILLINOIS—ITS AGRICULTURE. 
Illinois is one of the largest of the States 
which lie east of the Mississippi. From the 
north to the extreme south-western point it 
courses over 5h degrees of latitude, and is, 
on an average, nearly two hundred miles 
wide. It contains over twelve million acres, 
one half of which is in cultivated farms. It 
is universally prolific in the growth of Indian 
corn, the coarser cereal grains, and a large 
portion of the land yields wheat. The 
grasses grow everywhere, and the fruits 
of the climate produce well in most locali¬ 
ties. Without mountains or marshes to any 
considerable extent, the whole surface, in¬ 
deed, is capable of becoming productive in a 
high degree, and all of exceeding natural fer¬ 
tility. It has extensive beds of lead and 
iron; immeasurable mines of coal; vast 
forests of valuable timber; inexhaustible 
quarries of stone ; a great extent of water¬ 
power ; large commercial towns ; many nav¬ 
igable streams ; a canal a hundred miles in 
length ; and a surface over which railways 
may be laid with a facility and cheapness 
rarely equaled. Thousands of miles of 
these are already completed, running in all 
directions, and thousands of miles more in 
contemplation, which the demands of an 
increasing and active population will con¬ 
struct and use. With a mild and healthful 
climate, free labor, and a ready market, hu¬ 
man calculation can hardly estimate the 
productive wealth of this mighty State, al¬ 
ready counting 1,3.00,000 people — the fourth 
in the Union ! To say that its agriculture is 
in a high condition of excellence, would be 
to contradict that of all countries so new; 
but when we say that there is already muck 
really good agriculture in the State, and that 
it is, altogether, improving, is true in an em¬ 
inent degree. The extensive display of ag¬ 
ricultural implements at Chicago, which 
were constructed in almost every quarter of 
the State, and the show of superior grains, 
and domestic animals, settle the question — 
if question could be raised—that the farmers 
of Illinois are becoming awake to their in¬ 
terests in the improvement of their lands, 
the comparative diminution of manual labor 
m the cultivation of their crops, the enjoy¬ 
ment of domestic luxuries, and the stocking 
of their farms with better animals. The 
construction of railways have doubled the 
value of their improved farms, and trebled 
that of the unoccupied lands ; and although 
the railways themselves may, many of them, 
prove unremunerative , as independent prop¬ 
erty, to the stockholders, as unquestionably 
they must, they will continue to be made, 
regardless of such results, so long as the 
community shall require them for their con¬ 
venience. Millions of dollars worth of cat¬ 
tle, hogs, and grain, have this season been 
purchased of the farmers at their own doors, 
deliverable and paid for at the nearest rail¬ 
way station or boating town, which is sel¬ 
dom many miles distant, and at prices which 
five years ago they could scarcely dream of. 
Such is Illinois. 
CAIRO—THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI RIVERS. 
Had the site of Cairo been an elevated 
bottom, out of the reach of floods, instead of 
a low inundated fiat, it would, in all proba¬ 
bility, concurrent, with the settlements of 
St. Louis, Cincinnati, or Louisville, have su¬ 
perseded them all as the grand distributing 
point of the commerce of the Lower Missis¬ 
sippi, to the various points on the navigable 
waters above ; but lying on a low bottom, it 
was subject to frequent overflows, and al¬ 
though a settlement for commercial objects 
had been many times attempted, it was as 
often abandoned, until the great Central 
Railway was projected to reach from the 
extreme northern sections of the State to 
its southwest extremity at its most available 
commercial point. This decided the fact of 
Cairo as a future commercial city — and it 
will be built. The trade and travel of south¬ 
ern, central and northern Illinois demands it; 
the Central Railway terminates at it; there 
is sufficient of capital and enterprise com¬ 
bined to overcome its geographical deficien¬ 
cies, and the destiny of the future city is set¬ 
tled—not in extent, but as a practicable, 
available place. A glance at the map will 
show its capacity to accommodate extensive 
and indispensable routes of travel, while its 
convenience as an outlet for the surplus 
crops of Central Illinois, and a point at 
which to receive the products of the Lower 
Mississippi, must be obvious to any accurate 
observer. Now for the place — as it is. 
The latitude of Cairo is 37° North, in about 
the same parallel with Norfolk in Virginia, 
and 51 degrees south of the north line of Illi¬ 
nois. Aside from the temporary stagnant 
waters which the overflow of the rivers may 
leave around it, the place might be tolerably 
healthy. Liable to such occurrences, it will 
for many years be subject to occasional 
miasmatic diseases, which, however, may 
be greatly relieved by a retreat into the high, 
healthy back grounds in its immediate neigh¬ 
borhood. The Ohio, a few miles above, de¬ 
viating from its main southwardly course, 
makes a detour to the south-east, and comes 
sweeping down into the embraces of the 
Mississippi, in a curve of exceeding beauty 
and grandeur, washing the front of the town 
along a bank some fifteen feet in bight. It is 
here upwards of half a mile wide, with a gen¬ 
tle current of perhaps two and a half miles 
an hour, at a medium stage of water, as 
when we saw it. The opposite Kentucky 
shore is of about equal elevation, heavily 
wooded, as is that of Illinois just above the 
town, with no single sign of cultivation in 
view. Along the river bank a wide, strong 
levee above the reach of flood has been 
thrown up, extending from its mouth a mile 
or more up the stream, and then making 
into the land across the bottom connecting 
with the table-land two or three miles back. 
On this levee, perhaps forty feet wide at 
the top, runs the railway, with temporary 
freight and passenger offices in rear, while 
in front, heavily chained to the bank, floats 
a large warehouse in the stream at its foot. 
Along by the side of this warehouse lie 
steamboats, as they touch to discharge or 
take on passengers or freight which the rail¬ 
way brings to or takes away from the place. 
The surface back of this levee is sunk per¬ 
haps fifteen feet below it—a low, black, re¬ 
pulsive soil for building upon, laid out in 
blocks and streets, on which are scattered a 
few wood and brick houses occupied as 
dwellings and stores. One, and only one, 
of the dwelling-houses looked really comfort¬ 
able, while the foreground was occupied by 
a great, uncouth wooden “ hotel,” as dirty 
and comfortless a place, to well-conditioned 
people, as need be. If the proprietors of 
Cairo have the slightest wish to give the 
public a favorable impression of their future 
city, let them at once provide a decent, well- 
kept resting-place for the traveler and vis¬ 
itor, and we assure them it will add immeas¬ 
urably to their good opinion of the town. 
Important improvements are projected and 
commenced. Among these is an immense 
warehouse for the storage of grain, just be¬ 
hind the levee, -150 feet in length, and sev¬ 
eral stories high. A large flouring-mill of 
ten or twelve runs of stone is about to be 
built, as we were informed, together with 
other improvements which will give life and 
activity to its commerce, and become the 
nuclei of a successful business. A single 
steamboat from Louisville touched, the day 
we spent there, and discharged some freight 
and took on a few railway passengers for 
various places below. Several other steam¬ 
boats passed each way, a straggling “ flat ” 
now and then, and a few arks floated down 
the river. Large sums of money have been 
expended here in securing the levee, and 
erecting buildings, and many failures of the 
works occurred before the levee, which is 
the important feature of a successful result, 
was completed. That has now a firm and 
permanent appearance, and paved, as now’ 
commenced, will answer all purposes. We 
asked the price of lots. “ Two or three 
thousand dollars,” we were told must be 
paid for a front of fifty feet on the levee, by 
a hundred feet in depth. They may have 
cost that to the owners, no doubt, for the 
levee itself must have been very expensive, 
although the rear lots are equally benefitted 
by its construction. They may be worth it, 
possibly, to those who go there to establish 
a permanent business, and none others, we 
fancy, will contemplate a residence at such 
a spot. Hut necessity will build Cairo , and 
the greed of gain will furnish it a population 
as fast as the demands of business will re¬ 
quire them. On the west, or rather south¬ 
ern side of the town, the Mississippi comes 
whirling along its rapid, muddy, curdling 
flood, cutting into the banks of the thrifty 
young cottonwoods which stand bristling 
upon the unctuous clayey bottom. The ex¬ 
treme point of land at the confluence of the 
two rivers runs off into a low, oozy beach ; 
the current of the Mississippi was perhaps 
five miles an hour at the time, and nearly a 
mile in breadth. Above, half a mile, is a 
low spit of sand and gravel making into the 
stream, while opposite is a bushy island of 
some acres in extent; and on the Missouri 
side stretches off a considerable farm, with 
a tolerable house upon it — the only signs of 
life in that quarter. Below, the joining riv- 
