One mile west, on a most beautiful eminence, stands "Illinois College," founded under the auspices of the Presbyterian denomination, and bids fair to become a flourishing seat of learning.
I have not room to name, much less describe, the many growing towns and villages in this State, that excite and deserve the attention of emigrants. On the Illinois river are Ottawa, and several eligible sites in its vicinity, where towns have commenced; Beardstown, a short distance below the mouth of Sangamon river, Peoria, at the foot of Peoria lake, (a most beautiful site, and containing 1,000 inhabitants,) Meredosia, Naples, Pekin, Hennepin, &c. On the Mississippi, are Quincy, Warsaw, New Boston, and Stephenson, the seat of justice for Rock Island county. Interior, are Bloomington, Decatur, Tremont, Shelbyville, Hillsboro', Edwardsville, Carlyle, Belleville, Carrollton, and many others. Towards the Wabash, are Danville, Paris, Lawrenceville, Carmi, and Mount Carmel, the last of which has an importance from being connected with the grand rapids of the Wabash. Shawneetown is the commercial depot for the south-eastern part of the State. On the Military Tract are Rushville, Pittsfield, Griggsville, Carthage, Macomb, Monmouth, Knoxville, Lewistown, Canton, &c., all pleasant sites, and having a population from two or three hundred to one thousand inhabitants.
For a more particular description of each county, town, and settlement, with all other particulars of Illinois, the reader is referred to "A Gazetteer of Illinois," by the author of this Guide.
Projected Improvements.—The project of uniting the waters of lake Michigan and the Illinois, by a canal, was conceived soon after the commencement of the Grand canal of New York, and a Board of commissioners, with engineers, explored the route and estimated the cost, in 1823. Provision, by a grant of each alternate section of land within five miles of the route, having been granted by Congress, another Board of commissioners was appointed in 1829, a new survey was made, and the towns of Chicago and Ottawa laid off, and some lots sold in 1830. Various movements have since been made, but nothing effectually done, until the recent special session of the legislature, when an act was passed to authorize the Governor to borrow funds upon the faith of the State; a new Board of commissioners has been organized, and this great work is about to be prosecuted with vigor to its completion.
Funds, in part, have been provided, from the sales of certain saline lands belonging to the State, to improve the navigation of the Great Wabash, at the Grand Rapids, near the mouth of White river, in conjunction with the State of Indiana. From the same source, funds are to be applied to the clearing out of several navigable water-courses, and repairing roads, within the State.
Charters have been granted to several rail-road companies, some of which have been surveyed and the stock taken. One from Alton to Springfield was surveyed last year, and the stock subscribed in December. Another from St. Louis, by the coal mines of St. Clair county, to Belleville, 13 miles, is expected to be made immediately. The project of a central railway from the termination of the Illinois and Michigan canal, at the foot of the rapids, a few miles below Ottawa,—through Bloomington, Decatur, Shelbyville, Vandalia, and on to the mouth of the Ohio river, has been entered upon with spirit. Another charter contemplates the continuance of a route, already provided for in Indiana, and noticed under Ohio, from La Fayette, Ia. by Danville, Shelbyville and Hillsboro,' to Alton, the nearest point from the east to the Mississippi. A rail-road charter was granted at a previous session of the legislature from Meredosia to Jacksonville, and another from Vincennes to Chicago.
We have only room to mention the following charters, which have been recently granted, in addition to those already specified:
One from Pekin to Tremont, in Tazewell county, 9 miles.
One from the Wabash, by Peoria to Warsaw, in Hancock county.
The Wabash and Mississippi rail-road company.