[150] As in the case of Columbus and Indianapolis, the legislature fixed upon a site in the wilderness for the seat of government. Vandalia, situated on the mail route between Vincennes and St. Louis, and about seventy miles from the latter city, was laid out in 1819 under the authority of the state. It remained the capital until 1840.—Ed.
[151] This was the extension of the National Road. In 1820, Congress appropriated $10,000 for laying out the road from Wheeling to a point on the Mississippi River between St. Louis and the mouth of the Illinois. Construction was begun in 1825, the road being completed to Columbus in 1833, and to the Indiana line in 1838. The last congressional appropriation was made in the last-mentioned year; when Indiana and Illinois received the road from the government it was not finished, although graded and bridged as far as Vandalia. In the former state it was completed by 1850, but was never completed in the latter.—Ed.
[152] Golconda is a small town on Lusk Creek, about eight miles above the mouth of the Ohio.
America, a few miles farther up the Ohio, was laid out (1818) by a land company. Its situation back from the river proved to be a disadvantage instead of an advantage. In 1821 the Ohio was unusually low and boats could not land near the settlement; this, together with an epidemic of cholera which occurred the same year, dealt a death blow to the prospects of the place.
For Edwardsville, see Flint's Letters, volume ix of our series, note 92.—Ed.
[153] Oxford seems to have passed out of existence. Carlyle was platted as a town site in 1818, and incorporated the following year. It was advantageously located, being on the Vincennes-St. Louis road and on the Vandalia-Shawneetown road. It is now the seat of justice for Clinton County.—Ed.
[154] This act was approved April 24, 1820. See Annals of Congress, 16th Congress, 1st session, p. 2578.—Ed.
[155] This must be a misprint. Woods probably means the treaty signed by the Kickapoo Indians at Edwardsville, July 20, 1819, and by the Vermilion Kickapoo at Fort Harrison, August 30, 1819. The Indians ceded all lands east of the Illinois River lying between the Kankakee River on the north and a line drawn across the state from the mouth of the Illinois on the south.—Ed.
Transcriber's note:
Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.