the Illinois and Michigan Canal was adopted, a strip of land along its route, five miles wide on either side, was granted by Congress to the State of Illinois for the purpose of raising the money needed. In 1830 the Canal Commission had a portion of this land surveyed and laid out in town lots (p. 34). This was the town of Chicago, and the sale of these lots brought the first income to the canal project. At that time there were only seven families residing in the vicinity outside of Fort Dearborn. In 1831 Cook County was organized, with far more than its present area, and Chicago was made the county seat. In 1833 Chicago was incorporated as a village, the population being 350. In 1837 a city charter was obtained, the population at the city census in July of that year being 4,170. The population by the census of 1890 was 1,099,850, and by the school census of 1898 was estimated at 1,851,588.

CHAPTER II

THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE

1. Boundaries of Illinois-The State of Illinois is nearly surrounded by water-the Mississippi River on the west, the Ohio River on the south, the Wabash River on the east, and Lake Michigan on the northeast.

2. Rivers The rivers which flow through the State have in most cases a southwesterly course, and empty into the Mississippi; the Rock, the Illinois, and the Kaskaskia being the principal ones. There are also some small affluents of Lake Michigan and of the Wabash and Ohio rivers. The Desplaines, one of the two streams which unite to form the Illinois, rises near Lake Michigan, and flows not far from the Chicago and Calumet rivers, affluents of the lake. The Indians and French explorers in the old days took advantage of this fact to carry their canoes over the short "portage," and in this way to pass easily from the waters of the lakes to the waters of the Mississippi. The divide between these two systems of water communication is so low that the State has pierced it with a waterway-the Illinois and Michigan Canal—and a great drainage channel has also been cut, the effect of which is expected to be that the Chicago River will flow from the lake and will empty its waters into the Desplaines.

3. Surface and Soil-The surface of the State is quite level, being for the most part prairie with rich black soil and with few trees. Two lines of hills are found, one in the north and one nearly in the extreme south. The prairie soil makes the best of farm lands, and the agricultural riches of Illinois are among the greatest in the Union.

4. Coal and Lead-Bituminous coal is found in many parts of the State, and lead mines in the northwestern part, near Galena.

5. Railroads and Manufactures Railroads reach in every direction, making travel and the transportation of merchandise easy and comparatively inexpensive. Manufacturing industries of many kinds have sprung up and flourish, affording employment to many thousands of people. Thriving cities are found in every section-Chicago, on Lake Michigan, being the second city of the United States in population.

6. Indians The earliest white settlers of Illinois, the French from Canada, found its prairies possessed by a number of Indian tribes. The most prominent were the Illinois Confederacy, from whom the river and the State have the name. This confederacy consisted of five tribes the Tamaroas, Michigamies, Kaskaskias, Cahokias, and Peorias and lived in the central and southern parts of the State. Besides these there were the Shawnees, near the Ohio; the Piankeshaws, in the southeast; the Sacs and Foxes, in the northwest, and the Kickapoos and Potawatamies, near Lake Michigan. These tribes have long since disappeared from the State, some few of their descendants being found in the Indian Territory and in reservations elsewhere.

7. French-The French settlements in Illinois were not very many or very large. They were merely a few villages of farmers and fur-traders scattered along the Illinois, the Kaskaskia, and the Mississippi rivers. Kaskaskia was the main settlement; Fort Chartres, on the Mississippi, was the chief stronghold. The total number of French inhabitants in 1765, when the British took possession, probably did not exceed 1,400, and that number was diminished rather than increased in later years. This did not include negro slaves, of whom there were several hundred.

8. Americans—-After Illinois became a part of the United States, American settlers began to find out the value of its rich prairies, and so to come in considerable numbers. The only route followed for many years was by way of the Ohio River, and the early American settlers came mostly from Southern States— Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and others. Their settlements were mainly in the southern part of the State. Later it became easier to travel by the great lakes, and immigrants came in that way from Northern and Eastern States.

9. European Immigrants-When the great tide of immigration from Europe to America set in, large numbers came to Illinois from almost every European country, Germany and the Scandinavian lands in particular. The railroads, too, brought a still greater population from Eastern States. The descendants of all these different classes of immigrants compose the people of Illinois to-day. But whatever their ancestry, they are all Americans now.

CHAPTER III

POLITICAL DIVISIONS OF THE STATE

1. Permanent and Temporary Divisions-For convenience of government the State is divided into a number of smaller areas. Some of these are relatively permanent-i.e., they may be changed, and in fact are changed more or less, but at the same time there is no provision for their periodical change. Other divisions of the State are relatively temporary-i.e., they are intended to be changed at rather frequent intervals.

A further difference between these two classes of subdivisions lies in the fact that in one of the permanent areas many functions of government are performed, while in one of the temporary areas there is generally but a single function.

PERMANENT DIVISIONS

2. Counties- First of all, the State is divided into counties. This is a division which the original English colonies introduced, copying it from England. It is now common to all the States. Louisiana calls the divisions parishes, it is true, but they are the same thing.

The first county established within the present limits of Illinois was St. Clair. This was organized by Gov