Part 19 (1/2)

Lbs. of lead made from 1821, to Sept. 1823, 335,130 do. for the year ending Sept. 30, 1824, 175,220 do. do. do. 1825, 664,530 do. do. do. 1826, 958,842 do. do. do. 1827, 5,182,180 do. do. do. 1828, 11,105,810 do. do. do. 1829, 13,344,150 do. do. do. 1830, 8,323,998 do. do. do. 1831, 6,381,900 do. do. do. 1832, 4,281,876 do. do. do. 1833, 7,941,792 do. do. do. 1834, 7,971,579 do. do. do. 1835, 3,754,290 ---------- Total, 70,420,357

The rent accruing to government for the same period, is a fraction short of six millions of pounds. The government formerly received 10 per cent.

in lead for rent. Now it is 6 per cent.

A part of the mineral land in the Wisconsin Territory has been surveyed and brought into market, which will add greatly to the stability and prosperity of the mining business.

_Coal._ Bituminous coal abounds in Illinois. It may be seen, frequently, in the ravines and gullies, and in the points of bluffs. Exhaustless beds of this article exist in the bluffs of St. Clair county, bordering on the American bottom, of which large quant.i.ties are transported to St.

Louis, for fuel. There is scarce a county in the State, but what can furnish coal, in reasonable quant.i.ties. Large beds are said to exist, near the Vermillion of the Illinois, and in the vicinity of the rapids of the latter.

_Agatized Wood._ A petrified tree, of black walnut, was found in the bed of the river Des Plaines, about forty rods above its junction with the Kankakee, imbedded in a horizontal position, in a stratum of sandstone.

There is fifty-one and a half feet of the trunk visible,--eighteen inches in diameter at its smallest end, and probably three feet at the other end.

_Muriate of Soda_, or common salt. This is found in various parts of the State, held in solution in the springs. The manufacture of salt by boiling and evaporation is carried on in Gallatin county, twelve miles west-north-west from Shawneetown; in Jackson county, near Brownsville; and in Vermillion county, near Danville. The springs and land are owned by the State, and the works leased.

A coa.r.s.e freestone, much used in building, is dug from quarries near Alton, on the Mississippi, where large bodies exist.

Scattered over the surface of our prairies, are large ma.s.ses of rock, of granitic formation, roundish in form, usually called by the people ”_lost rocks_.” They will weigh from one thousand to ten or twelve thousand pounds, and are entirely detached, and frequently are found several miles-distant from any quarry. Nor has there ever been a quarry of granite discovered in the State. These stones are denominated _bowlders_ in mineralogy. They usually lie on the surface, or are partially imbedded in the soil of our prairies, which is unquestionably of diluvial formation. How they came here is a question of difficult solution.

_Medicinal Waters_, are found in different parts of the State. These are chiefly sulphur springs and chalybeate waters. There is said to be one well in the southern part of the State strongly impregnated with the sulphate of magnesia, or Epsom salts, from which considerable quant.i.ties have been made for sale, by simply evaporating the water, in a kettle, over a common fire.

There are several sulphur springs in Jefferson county, to which persons resort for health.

_Vegetable Productions._ The princ.i.p.al trees and shrubs of Illinois have been noticed under the head of ”_Forest or timbered land_.” Of oaks there are several species, as overcup, burr oak, swamp or water oak, white oak, red or Spanish oak, post oak, and black oak of several varieties, with the black jack, a dwarfish, gnarled looking tree, excellent for fuel, but good for nothing else.

The black walnut is much used for building materials and cabinet work, and sustains a fine polish.

In most parts of the State, grape vines, indigenous to the country, are abundant, which yield grapes that might advantageously be made into excellent wine. Foreign vines are susceptible of easy cultivation. These are cultivated to a considerable extent at Vevay, Switzerland county, Indiana, and at New Harmony on the Wabash. The indigenous vines are prolific, and produce excellent fruit. They are found in every variety of soil; interwoven in every thicket in the prairies and barrens; and climbing to the tops of the very highest trees on the bottoms. The French in early times, made so much wine as to export some to France; upon which the proper authorities prohibited the introduction of wine from Illinois, lest it might injure the sale of that staple article of the kingdom. I think the act was pa.s.sed by the board of trade, in 1774.

The editor of the Illinois Magazine remarks, ”We know one gentleman who made twenty-seven barrels of wine in a single season, from the grapes gathered with but little labor, in his immediate neighborhood.”

The wild plum is found in every part of the State; but in most instances the fruit is too sour for use, unless for preserves. Crab apples are equally prolific, and make fine preserves with about double their bulk of sugar. Wild cherries are equally productive. The persimmon is a delicious fruit, after the frost has destroyed its astringent properties. The black mulberry grows in most parts, and is used for the feeding of silk-worms with success. They appear to thrive and spin as well as on the Italian mulberry. The gooseberry, strawberry, and blackberry, grow wild and in great profusion. Of our nuts, the hickory, black walnut, and pecan, deserve notice. The last is an oblong, thin sh.e.l.led, delicious nut, that grows on a large tree, a species of the hickory, (the _Carya olivae formis_ of Nuttall.) The pawpaw grows in the bottoms, and rich, timbered uplands, and produces a large, pulpy, and luscious fruit. Of domestic fruits, the apple and peach are chiefly cultivated. Pears are tolerably plenty in the French settlements, and quinces are cultivated with success by some Americans. Apples are easily cultivated, and are very productive. They can be made to bear fruit to considerable advantage in seven years from the seed. Many varieties are of fine flavor, and grow to a large size. I have measured apples, the growth of St. Clair county, that exceeded thirteen inches in circ.u.mference. Some of the early American settlers provided orchards.

They now reap the advantages. But a large proportion of the population of the frontiers are content without this indispensable article in the comforts of a Yankee farmer. Cider is made in small quant.i.ties in the old settlements. In a few years, a supply of this beverage can be had in most parts of Illinois.

Peach trees grow with great rapidity, and decay proportionably soon.

From ten to fifteen years may be considered the life of this tree. Our peaches are delicious, but they sometimes fail by being destroyed in the germ by winter frosts. The bud swells prematurely.

_Garden Vegetables_ can be produced here in vast profusion, and of excellent quality.

That we have few of the elegant and well dressed gardens of gentlemen in the old states, is admitted; which is not owing to climate, or soil, but to the want of leisure and means.

Our Irish potatoes, pumpkins and squashes are inferior, but not our cabbages, peas, beets, or onions.

A cabbage head, two or three feet in diameter including the leaves, is no wonder on this soil. Beets often exceed twelve inches in circ.u.mference. Parsnips will penetrate our light, porous soil, to the depth of two or three feet.

The _cultivated vegetable productions in the field_, are maize or Indian corn, wheat, oats, barley, buckwheat, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, rye for horse feed and distilleries, tobacco, cotton, hemp, flax, the castor bean, and every other production common to the Middle States.

_Maize_ is a staple production. No farmer can live without it, and hundreds raise little else. This is chiefly owing to the ease with which it is cultivated. Its average produce is fifty bushels to the acre. I have oftentimes seen it produce seventy-five bushels to the acre, and in a few instances, exceed one hundred.