The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1863-06-25
ElaGsssIH

Mr. c. r. WILDER of Bloomington, ILL.,, Sec
rotary OF the State Natural History Society,
has just published a new and admirable Town
ship Map of Illinois, exhibiting its Geology as
well as its Geography and Topography. We
gather therefrom the following facts:
Illinois, though admitted to the Union SO
late as 8l8, is already the fourth in popula-
ton Of the States, and is rapidly increasing
Of its 5 900 square miles Of area, no less than
35 600 IRE underlaid with Bituminous Coal
covering all the central and eastern counties
The north end Of the State-al above line
drawn from Ottawa to short distance be-
yond Norris is coal bearing thence the line
Of the coal regions bears east by SOUTH then
due south and east by south again, so as to
exclude Kankakee and most Of Iroquois coun-
| ty On the west the coal measures extend
! to within ten to twenty miles Of the Missis
| sppi, up to point just above the mouth of
| the Iowa, whence the coal approaches within
| two or three miles of the river to APPOINT Just
above Rock Island and the mouth of Rock
River. The average thickness Of the several
coal strata is about fifteen feet. Fhe coal oc-
ours in the carbonifcrous formation, some 300
to 1000 feet below the surface. The rocks
below it are irregularly alternating sandstone
and limestone.
Illinois has no mountains, not many CON
| siderable hills, and scarcely an acre of waste
! land while most of her soil is prairie of I'M
surpassed fertility, interspersed with wood
land on the borders of her streams. and on
some Of the poorer upIands. Her wet prai-
ries, Or swamps, as yet defy ordinary cult
vation but will ultimately be drained at a
moderate cost. and prove equal in productive
ness to any other. Of her 35, 459 200 acres
only Is, 262, 600 have as yet been brought
under cultivation and it is probable her an
ual product is not One-folrth what it will be
When her immense and all but universal Gull
ture of Indian corn shall have been diyersili
ed by the extensive production of wool. flax.
sugar trom the sorghum and the beet to-
bacco, etc, etc, as well as by the manufac-
lures which her cheap food andinexhaustible
fuel strongly invite, her labor will be far bet
| ter rewarded than at present. Yet she had
in 1860 no less than l,7I1,75S inhabitants,
! (r&thcr more than one to every eight cuItva-
ted acres,) and her aggregate wealth is esti-
mated at no less than one thousand million of
| dollars Her average elevation is probably
less than 200 feet above the level Of Lake
Michigan, which is 5S7 feet above that of tire
ocean. Illinois had 12,2S2 inhabitants in
1910, 54.2ll. in 1920 1877, 435 in 1880. 1866
| 1872 III s 10, and IS5, 40 in 1850. Shewill
| propably have three millions in 1870, ranking
then as the third in numbers of the States
composing our Union Her lead region On
| tn, Northwest covers about 4.500 square
miles, and yields $4,000, 900 pounds Of the
mineral per annum.
Suppose she had been anted and reared as
q slave instead of a free State--who believes
that snch picture ofthrift and wealth would
have been present in the 18th year of distinct
eNistenco,-Nsss YORK TyibnBt, I0H.