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284
HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
railway Franchise Law of the previous session, the provisions of which, empowering City Coun- cils to grant street-railway franchises extending over a period of fifty years, had been severely criticised by a portion of the press and excited intense hostility, especially in some of the larger cities of the State. Althoughi in force nearly two years, not a single corporation had succeeded in obtaining a franchise under it.
A RETROSPECT AND A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE. - The liistory of Illinois has been traced concisely and in outline from the earliest period to the present time. Previous to the visit of Joliet and Marquette, in 1673, as unknown as Central Africa, for a century it continued the hunting ground of savages and the liome of wild animals common to the plains and forests of the Mississippi Valley. Tho region brought under the influence of civili- zation, such as then existed, comprised a small area, scarcely larger than two ordinarily sized counties of the present day. Thirteen years of nominal British control (1765-78) saw little change, except the exodus of a part of the old French population, who preferred Spanish to British rule.
The period of development began with the occupation of Illinois by Clark in 1778. That saw the "Illinois County," created for the gov- ernment of the settlements northwest of the Ohio, expanded into five States, with an area of 250,000 square miles and a population, in 1890, of 13,500,000. In 1880 the population of the State equaled that of the Thirteen Colonies at tlie close of the Revolution. The eleventh State in the Union in this respect in 1850, in 1890 it had advanced to third rank. With its unsurpassed fertility of soil, its inexhaustible supplies of fuel for manufacturing purposes, its system of rail- roads, surpassing in extent that of any other State, there is little risk in predicting that the next forty years will see it advanced to second, if not first rank, in both wealth and population.
But if the development of Illinois on material lines has been marvelous, its contributions to the Nation in philanthropists and educators, soldiers and statesmen, have rendered it conspicuous. A long list of these might be mentioned, but two names from the ranks of Illinoisans have been, by common consent, assigned a higher place than all others, and have left a deeper impress upon the history of the Nation than any others since tlie days of Washington. These are, Ulysses S. Grant, the Organizer of Victory for the Union arms and Conqueror of the Rebellion, and Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, the Preserver of the Republic, and its Martyred President.
CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD.
Important Events in Illinois History.
1673 .- Joliet and Marquette reach Illinois from Green Bay by way of the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers.
1674-5 .- Marquette makes a second visit to Illinois and spends the winter on the present site of Chicago.
1680. La Salle and Tonty descend the Illinois to Peoria Lake. '1681 .- Tonty begins the erection of Fort St. Louis on " Starved Rock " in La Salle County.
1682 .- La Salle and Tonty descend the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers to the mouth of the latter, and take possession ( April 9, 1682) in the name of the King of France.
1700 .- First permanent French settlement in Illinois and Mis- sion of St. Sulpice established at Cahokia.
1700 .- Kaskaskia Indians remove from the Upper Illinois and locate near the mouth of the Kaskaskia River. French settlement established here the same year becomes the town of Kaskaskia and future capital of lilinois.
1718 .- The first Fort Chartres. erected near Kaskaskia.
1718 .- Fort St. Louis, on the Upper Illinois, burned by Iudians.
1751 .- Fort Chartres rebuilt and strengthened.
1765 .- The Illinois country surrendered by the French to the British under the treaty of 1763.
1778 .- ( July 4) Col. George Rogers Clark, at the head of an expe- dition organized under authority of Gov. Patrick Henry of Virginia, arrives at Kaskaskia. The occupation of Illinois by the American troops follows.
1778 .- Illinois County created by Act of the Virginia House of Delegates, for the government of the settlements north- west of the Ohio River.
1787 .- Congress adopts the Ordinance of 1787, organizing the Northwest Territory. embracing the present States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin.
1788 .- General Arthur St. Clair appointed Governor of North- west Territory.
1790 .- St Clair County organized.
1795 .- Randolph County organized.
1800 .- Northwest Territory divided into Ohio and Indiana Ter- ritories, Illinois being embraced in the latter.
1809 .- Illinois Territory set off from Indiana, and Ninian Edwards appointed Governor.
1818 .- ( Dec. 3) Illinois admitted as a State.
1820. - State capital removed from Kaskaskia to Vandalia.
1822-24 .- Unsuccessful attempt to make Illinois a slave State.
1825 .- ( April 30) General La Fayette visits Kaskaskia. 1832 .- Black Hawk War.
1839 .- (July 4) Springfield becomes the third capital of the State under an Act of the Legislature passed in 1837.
1848 .- The second Constitution adopted.
1860 .- Abraham Lincoln is elected President.
1861 .- War of the Rebellion begins.
1863 .- (Jan. 1) Lincoln issues his final Proclamation of Eman- cipation.
1864 .- Lincoln's second election to the Presidency.
1865 .- (April 14) Abraham Lincoln assassinated in Washington.
1865 .- ( May 4) President Lincoln's funeral in Springfield.
1865 .- The War of the Rebellion ends.
1868 .- Gen. U. S. Grant elected to the Presidency.
1870 .- The third State Constitution adopted.
POPULATION OF ILLINOIS
At Each Decennial Census from 1810 to 1900.
1810 (23)
12,282
1860 (4). 1,711,951
1820 (24)
55,162
1870 (4).
2.539,891
1830 (20)
157,445
1880 (4).
3.077,871
1840 (14).
476,183
1890 (3).
3 826,351
1850 (11)
851,470
1900 (3). 1,821,550 .4
NOTE .- Figures in parenthesis indicate the rank of the State in order of population.
ILLINOIS CITIES
Having a Population of 10,000 and Over (1900).
Name.
Population.
Name.
Population.
Chicago
1,698,755
Galesburg
18,607
Peoria.
56,100
Belleville.
17,484
Quincy.
36,252
Moline
17,248
Springfield
34,159
Dauville ..
16,354
Rockford
31,051
Jacksonville
15.078
Joliet
29,353
Alton ..
14.210
East St Louis
29,655
Streator
14,079
Aurora
24,147
Kankakee
13,595
Bloomington
23,286
Freeport ..
13.258
Elgin
22,433
Cairo ...
12,566
Decatur
20,754
Ottawa.
10.588
Rock Island
19,498
La Salle
10,446
Evanston.
19,259
285
HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
INDEX.
This Index relates exclusively to matter embraced In the article under the title "Illinois." Subjects of general State history will be found treated at length, under topical heads, iu the body of the Encyclopedia.
Admission of Illinois as a State, 258.
Altgeld, John P., administration as Gov- eruor, 279-80; defeated for re-election, 281. Anderson, Stinson H., 264.
Anti-Nebraska Editorial Convention. 256. Anti-slavery contest of 1822-24; defeat of a convention scheme. 260.
Baker, Col. E. D., 263; orator at laying the corner-stone of State capitol, 264.
Bateman, Newton, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, 270. 274, 275.
Beveridge, John L., Congressman and Lieutenant-Governor; becomes Governor by resignation of Governor Oglesby, 276. Birkbeck, Morris, 260.
Bissell, William H., Colonel In Mexican War. 265; Governor, 269; death, 270. Black Hawk War. 262.
Blodgett, Henry W., Free Soil member of the Legislature. 268.
Bloomington Convention (1856), 269.
Boisbriant, first French Commandant, 249. Bond, Shadrach, 255; Delegate iu Cougress, 257; first Governor, 258.
Breese, Sidney, 259
Browne, Thomas C., 260.
Browning. Orville H., In Bloomington Convention, 269; U. S. Senator, 273. Cahokla, first French settlemeut at, 252. Camp Douglas conspiracy, 273. Canal Scrip Fraud, 270.
Carlin, Thomas, elected Governor, 263.
Casey, Zadoc, elected to Congress; re- signs the Lieutenant-Governorship, 262. Charlevoix visits Illinois, 247
Chicago and Calumet Rivers, importance of in estimation of early explorers, 247. Chicago election frauds, 278. Chicago, fire of 1871, 276.
Chicagou, Indian Chief for whom Chicago was named, 248.
Clark, Col. George Rogers, expedition to Illinois; capture or Kaskaskia. 251.
Coles, Edward, emancipates his slaves; candidate for Governor, 259; his election, 260; persecuted by his enemies, 261. Constitutional Convention of 1818, 258. Constitutional Convention of 1847, 266. Constitutional Convention of 1862, 272. Constitutional Convention of 1870, 275. Cook, Daniel P .. 255: Attorney-General, 258; elected to Congress, 260-61.
Craig, Capt. Thomas. expedition against Indians at Peoria. 257.
Cullom, Shelby M., Speaker of General As- sembly, 270; elected Governor, 276; fea- tures of his administration: re-elected, 277; elected to U. S. Senate, 278.
Davis, David, United States Senator, 277. Douglas, Stephen A., 263: Justice Supreme Court, 264, U. S. Senator, 266; debates with Lincoln. 268-70: re-elected U. S. Sen- ator, 270: death, 272.
Duncan, Joseph, Governor; character of hls administratiou, 262-63.
Early towns, 258.
Earthquake of 1811.256.
Edwards. Ninlan, Governor Illinois Terrl- tory, 255, elected U. S. Senator, 259; elected Governor; administratiou aud death, 261.
Ewing, William L. D., becomes acting Governor; occupant of many offices, 262. Explorers, early Frencli, 244-5. Farwell, Charles B., 279
Field-McClernand contest, 264.
Fifer, Joseph W., elected Governor, 279. Fisher, Dr. George. Speaker of Territorial House nf Representatives, 257.
Ford, Thomas, Governor: emharrassing questions of his administration, 264.
Fort Chartres, surrendered to British, 250. Fort Dearborn massacre, 256-57. Fort Gage burned, 251.
Fort Massac, starting point on the Ohio of Clark's expedition, 251.
Fort St. Louis, 246; raided and burned by Indians, 247.
Franklin, Benjamin, Indian Commissioner for Illinois in 1775, 251.
French, Augustns C., Governor, 265-7. French aud Indian War, 250.
French occupation; settlement about Kas- kaskia and Calıokia, 249. French villages, population of in 1765, 251. Gibault. Pierre, 252.
Grant, Ulysses S., arrival at Springfield; Colonel of Twenty-first Illinois Volun- teers, 271: elected President. 275.
Gresham, Walter Q., supported by Illinois Republicans for the Presidency, 279.
Hamilton, John M., Lieutenant-Governor, 277; succeeds Gov. Cullom, 278. Hansen-Shaw contest, 260.
Hardin, John J., 263; elected to Congress, 264; killed at Buena Vista, 265.
Harrison, William Henry. first Governor of Indiana Territory, 254.
Henry, Patrick, Indian Commissioner for Illinois Country; assists in planning Clark's expedition, 251; ex-officio Gov- ernor of territory northwest of the Ohio River
Illinois, its rank in order of admission into the Union, area and population. 241; In- dian origin of the name: boundaries and area; geographical location; navigable streams, 242; topography, fauna and flora, 243; soil and climate, 243-44; con- test for occupation, 244: part of Louisi- ana In 1721. 249; surrendered to the British in 1765, 251; under government of Virginia, 252 : part of Indiana Territory, 254; Territorial Government organized; Ninian Edwards appointed Goveruor, 255; admitted as a State. 258
Illinois & Michigan Canal, 261.
Illinois Central Railroad, 267-68.
"Illinois Country," boundaries defined by Captain Pittman, 241; Patrick Henry, first American Governor, 252.
Illinois County organized by Virginia House of Delegates, 252.
Illinois Territory organized; first Territo- rial officers. 255.
Indiana Territory organized. 254; first Territorial Legislature elected. 255.
Indian tribes; location in Illinois, 247. Internal improvement scheme, 263.
Joliet, Louis, accompanied by Marquette, visits Illinois in 1673, 245.
Kane, Elias Kent, 258.
Kansas-Nebraska contest, 268.
Kaskaskia Indians remove from Upper Illinois to mouth of Kaskaskia, 248.
Kenton, Simon, guide for Clark's expedi- tion against Kaskaskia, 251.
Labor disturbances, 270, 280, 283.
La Fayette, visit of, to Kaskaskia, 261.
La Salle, expedition to Illinois in 1679-80, 245; builds Fort Miami, near mouth of St. Joseph; disaster of Fort Creve-Cœur; erection of Fort St. Louis, 246.
Lincoln, Abraham, Representative in the General Assembly, 263; elected to Con- gress, 266; unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate; member of Bloomington Convention of 1856; " House-divided-against-itself" speech, 269; elected President, 270: departure for Washington, 271: elected for a second terin, 273; assassination and funeral, 274. Linenin-Douglas debates, 270.
Lockwood, Samuel D., Attorney-General; Secretary of State; opponent of pro- slavery convention scheme, 260.
Logan. Gen. John A., prominent Union soldier, 272; Congressman-at-large.274-75; elected United States Senator. 276; Re- publican nominee for Vice-President; tlrird election as Senator, 278.
" Long Nine."263.
Louisiana united with Illinois, 254.
Lovejoy, Elijah P., murdered at Alton, 263. Macalister and Stebbins honds. 270.
Marquette, Father Jacques (see Joliet); his mission among the Kaskaskias, 248. Mason, William E., U. S. Senator, 282.
McLean, John, Speaker: first Representa- tivein Congress : U.S Senator : death, 265. Menard, Pierre, 255: President of Terri- torial Council, 257; elected Lieutenaut- Governor, 258; auecdote or, 259.
Mexicau War, 265.
Morgan, Col. George, Indian Agent at Kas- kaskia In 1776, 251.
Mormon War, 264-65.
New Design Settlement, 255.
New France, 244, 249.
Nicolet. Jean, French explorer, 244-5.
Northwest Territory organized; Gen. Ar- thur St. Clair appointed Governor, 253; first Territorial Legislature; separated into Territories of Ohio and Indiana. 254.
Oglesby, Richard J., soldier in Civil War, 271; elected Governor, 274; second elec- tlon; chosen U. S. Senator, 276; third election to governorship, 278.
Ordinance of 1787, 253.
" Paincourt" (early name for St. Louis) settled by French from Illinois, 251.
Palmer, John M., member of Peace Con- ference of 1861, 271; elected Governor; prominent events of his administration, 275; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Governor; elected U. S. Senator, 279; candidate for President, 282.
Peace Conference of 1861, 271. Peace conventions of 1863, 273.
Perrot, Nicholas, explorer, 245.
Pittman, Capt. Philip, defines the bounda- ries of the "Illinois Country," 241.
Pope, Nathaniel, Secretary of Illinois Ter- ritory, 255; Delegate in Congress; serv- ice in fixing northern boundary, 258.
Prairies, origin of, 243. Randolph County organized, 254.
Renault, Philip F., first Importer of Afri- can slaves to Illinois, 249.
Republican State Convention of 1856, 269. Reynolds, John, elected Governor; resigns
to take seat in Congress, 262; Speaker of Illinois House of Representatives, 268. Richardson, William A., candidate for Governor, 270: U. S. Senator, 272.
Rocheblave, Chevalier de, last British Commandant In Illinois, 251; sent as & prisoner of war to Williamsburg, 252.
Shawneetown Bank, 257. Shawneetown flood, 283.
Shields, Gen. James, 263; elected U. S. Sen- ator, 267; defeated for re-election, 269. Southern Hospital for Insane burned, 280. Spanish-American War, 281.
Springfield, third State capital, 263; erec- tiou of new State capitol at, authorizeu, 275; State Bank, 259.
St. Clair, Arthur, first Governor of North- west Territory, 253; visits Illinois, 254. St. Clair County organized, 254. State debt reaches its maximum, 268. State Fair permanently located, 281.
Streams and navigation, 242.
Supreme Court revolutionized, 264.
Tanner, John R., State Treasurer, 278; elected Governor, 281-2.
Thomas, Jesse B., 255; President of Con- stitutional Convention of 1818, 258; elected United States Senator, 259.
Todd, Col. John. Couuty-Lieutenaut of Illi- nois County, 252.
Tonty, Henry de (see La Salle).
Treaty with Indians near Alton, 257.
Trumbull, Lyman, Secretary of State. 264; elected United States Senator. 269-70; Democratic candidate for Governor, 277. Vandalia, the second State capital, 259.
War of 1812, 256; expeditions to Peoria Lake, 257.
War of the Rebellion: some prominent Illinois actors; number of troops l'ur- nished by Illinois : iniportant hattles par- ticipated in, 271-72; some officers who fell :, Grierson raid. 272.
Warren, Hooper, editor Edwardsville Spectator, 260.
Wayne, Gen. Anthony, 254.
Whig mass-meeting at Springfield, 264.
Wilmot Proviso, action of Illinois Legisla- ture upon, 267.
Wood, John. Lieutenant-Governor, fills Bissell's unexpired term. 270.
Yates, Richard, at Bloomington Conven- tion of 1856. 269; Governor, 270; prorogues Legislature of 1863; elected United States Senator, 273.
286
HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
ILES, Elijah, pioneer merchant, was born in Kentucky, March 28, 1796; received the rudiments of an education in two winters' schooling, and began his business career by purchasing 100 head of yearling cattle upon which, after herding them three years in the valleys of Eastern Ken- tucky, he realized a profit of nearly $3,000. In 1818 he went to St. Louis, then a French village of 2,500 inhabitants, and, after spending three years as clerk in a frontier store at "Old Frank- lin," on the Missouri River, nearly opposite the present town of Boonville, in 1821 made a horse- back tour through Central Illinois, finally locating at Springfield, which had just been selected by a board of Commissioners as the temporary county-seat of Sangamon County. Here he soon brought a stock of goods by keel-boat from St. Louis and opened the first store in the new town. Two years later (1823), in conjunction with Pascal P. Enos, Daniel P. Cook and Thomas Cox, he entered a section of land comprised within the present area of the city of Springfield, which later became the permanent county-seat and finally the State capital. Mr. Iles became the first postmaster of Springfield, and, in 1826, was elected State Senator, served as Major in the Winnebago War (1827), enlisted as a private in the Black Hawk War (1831-32), but was soon advanced to the rank of Captain. In 1830 he sold his store to John Williams, who had been his clerk, and, in 1838-39, built the "American House," which afterwards became the temporary stopping-place of many of Illinois' most famous statesmen. He invested largely in valuable farming lands, and, at his death, left a large estate. Died, Sept. 4, 1883.
ILLINOIS ASYLUM FOR INCURABLE IN- SANE, an institution founded under an act of the General Assembly, passed at the session of 1895, making an appropriation of $65,000 for the pur- chase of a site and the erection of buildings with capacity for the accommodation of 200 patients. The institution was located by the Trustees at Bartonville, a suburb of the city of Peoria, and the erection of buildings begun in 1896. Later these were found to be located on ground which had been undermined in excavating for coal, and their removal to a different location was under- taken in 1898. The institution is intended to relieve the other hospitals for the Insane by the reception of patients deemed incurable.
ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN CANAL, a water- way connecting Lake Michigan with the Illinois River, and forming a connecting link in the water-route between the St. Lawrence and the
Gulf of Mexico. Its summit level is about 580 feet above tide water. Its point of beginning is at the South Branch of the Chicago River, about five miles from the lake. Thence it flows some eight miles to the valley of the Des Plaines, fol- lowing the valley to the mouth of the Kankakee (forty-two miles), thence to its southwestern terminus at La Salle, the head of navigation on the Illinois. Between these points the canal has four feeders-the Calumet, Des Plaines, Du Page and Kankakee. It passes through Lockport, Joliet, Morris, and Ottawa, receiving accessions from the waters of the Fox River at the latter point. The canal proper is 96 miles long, and it has five feeders whose aggregate length is twenty-five miles, forty feet wide and four feet deep, with four aqueducts and seven dams. The difference in level between Lake Michigan and the Illinois River at La Salle is one hundred and forty-five feet. To permit the ascent of vessels, there are seventeen locks, ranging from three and one half to twelve and one-half feet in lift, their dimensions being 110x18 feet, and admitting the passage of boats carrying 150 tons. At Lock- port, Joliet, Du Page, Ottawa and La Salle are large basins, three of which supply power to fac- tories. To increase the water supply, rendered necessary by the high summit level, pumping works were erected at Bridgeport, having two thirty-eight foot independent wheels, each capa- ble of delivering (through buckets of ten feet length or width) 15,000 cubic feet of water per minute. These pumping works were erected in 1848, at a cost of $15,000, and were in almost con- tinuous use until 1870. It was soon found that these machines might be utilized for the benefit of Chicago, by forcing the sewage of the Chicago River to the summit level of the canal, and allow- ing its place to be filled by pure water from the lake. This pumping, however, cost a large sum, and to obviate this expense $2,955,340 was ex- pended by Chicago in deepening the canal be- tween 1865 and 1871, so that the sewage of the south division of the city might be carried through the canal to the Des Plaines. This sum was returned to the City by the State after the great fire of 1871. (As to further measures for carry- ing off Chicago sewage, see Chicago Drainage Canal.)
In connection with the canal three locks and dams have been built on the Illinois River,-one at Henry, about twenty-eight miles below La Salle; one at the mouth of Copperas Creek, about sixty miles below Henry; and another at La Grange. The object of these works (the first
-
287
HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
two being practically an extension of the canal) is to furnish slack-water navigation through- out the year. The cost of that at Henry ($400,000) was defrayed by direct appropriation from the State treasury. Copperas Creek dam cost $410,831, of which amount the United States Government paid $62,360. The General Government also con- structed a dam at La Grange and appropriated funds for the building of another at Kampsville Landing, with a view to making the river thor- oughly navigable the year round. The beneficial results expected from these works have not been realized and their demolition is advocated.
HISTORY. - The early missionaries and fur- traders first directed attention to the nearness of the waters of Lake Michigan and the Illinois. The project of the construction of a canal was made the subject of a report by Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury in 1808, and, in 1811, a bill on the subject was introduced in Congress in connection with the Erie and other canal enter- prises. In 1822 Congress granted the right of way across the public lands "for the route of a canal connecting the Illinois River with the south bend of Lake Michigan," which was fol- lowed five years later by a grant of 300,000 acres of land to aid in its construction, which was to be undertaken by the State of Illinois. The earliest surveys contemplated a channel 100 miles long, and the original estimates of cost varied between $639,000 and $716,000. Later surveys and estimates (1833) placed the cost of a canal forty feet wide and four feet deep at $4,040,000. In 1836 another Board of Commissioners was created and surveys were made looking to the construction of a waterway sixty feet wide at the surface, thirty-six feet at bottom, and six feet in depth. Work was begun in June of that year; was suspended in 1841; and renewed in 1846, when a canal loan of $1,000,000 was negotiated. The channel was opened for navigation in April, 1848, by which time the total outlay had reached $6,170,226. By 1871, Illinois had liquidated its entire indebtedness on account of the canal and the latter reverted to the State. The total cost up to 1879-including amount refunded to Chi- cago-was $9,513,831, while the sum returned to the State from earnings, sale of canal lands, etc., amounted to $8,819,731. In 1882 an offer was made to cede the canal to the United States upon condition that it should be enlarged and ex- tended to the Mississippi, was repeated in 1887, but has been declined.
ILLINOIS AND MISSISSIPPI CANAL (gener- ally known as "Hennepin Canal"), a projected
navigable water-way in course of construction (1899) by the General Government, designed to connect the Upper Illinois with the Mississippi River. Its object is to furnish a continuous navigable water-channel from Lake Michigan, at or near Chicago, by way of the Illinois & Michi- gan Canal (or the Sanitary Drainage Canal) and the Illinois River, to the Mississippi at the mouth of Rock River, and finally to the Gulf of Mexico.
THE ROUTE. - The canal, at its eastern end, leaves the Illinois River one and three-fourths miles above the city of Hennepin, where the river makes the great bend to the south. Ascend- ing the Bureau Creek valley, the route passes over the dividing ridge between the Illinois River and the Mississippi to Rock River at the mouth of Green River; thence by slack-water down Rock River, and around the lower rapids in that stream at Milan, to the Mississippi. The esti- mated length of the main channel between its eastern and western termini is seventy-five miles -the distance having been reduced by changes in the route after the first survey. To this is to be added a "feeder" extending from the vicinity of Sheffield, on the summit-level (twenty-eight miles west of the starting point on the Illinois), north to Rock Falls on Rock River opposite the city of Sterling in Whiteside County, for the purpose of obtaining an adequate supply of water for the main canal on its highest level. The length of this feeder is twenty-nine miles and, as its dimensions are the same as those of the main channel, it will be navigable for vessels of the same class as the latter. A dam to be constructed at Sterling, to turn water into the feeder, will furnish slack-water navigation on Rock River to Dixon, practically lengthening the entire route to that extent.
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