Illinois

(il'le-noi,)a large river of the U. States, formed in Grundy co., Ill., by the confluence of the Kankakee and Des Plaines rivers, and, after a W. and S.W. course of 320 miles (of which 286 are navigable for steamers) empties into the Mi i ippi at Grafton, bet. Calhoun and Jersey cos. Il'lino is', a large and important N. central State of the Amer. Union, is b. N. by Wisconsin, N. E.by Lake Michigan, E. by Indiana, S. by Kentucky, and S.E. and W. by Mi ouri and Iowa; bet. N. Lat. 37°-42° 30′, and W. Lon. 87° 30'-91° 30′. Length, 380 m., mean width abt. 156 m. Area, 55,410 sq. m., or 35,462,400 acres. I., as regards its surface, constitutes a table-land at a varying elevation ranging bet. 350 and 800 feet above the level sea; composed of extensive and highly fertile prairies and plains. Much of the S.division of the State, especially the river-bottoms are thickly wooded. The prairies, too, have oasis-like clumps of trees scattered here and there at intervals. The chief rivers irrigating the State are the Mi i ippi,- dividing it from Iowa and Mi ouri,- the Ohio (forming its S. barrier), the Illinois, Wabash, Kaskaskia, and Sangamon, with their numerous affluents. The total extent of navigable streams is calculated at 4,000 m. Small lakes are scattered over various parts of the State. 1. is extremely prolific in minerals, chiefly coal, iron, copper, and zinc ores, sulphur and limestone. The coal-field alone is estimated to absorb a full third of the entire coal-deposit of N. America. Climate tolerably equable and healthy; the mean temp-standing at abt. 51° Fahr. As an agricultural region, 1. takes a competitive rank with neighboring States, the cereals, fruits, and root-crops yielding plentiful returns; in fact, as a grain-growing State, 1. may be deemed, in proportion to her size, to po e a greater area of lands suitable for its production than any other State in the Union. Stock-raising is also largely carried on, while her manufacturing interests in regard of woollen fabrics, ., are on a very extensive and yearly expanding scale. The lines of railroad intersecting the State embrace a superficies of 3,979 m. Inland water-carriage is facilitated by a canal connecting the Illinois River with Lake Michigan, and thence with the St. Lawrence and Atlantic. I. is divided into 102 cos.; the chief cities and towns being Chicago, Springfield (cap.), Alton, Quincy, Peoria,Galena, Blooming ton, Rock Island, Vandal i a, .-By the new Constitution established in 1870, the State legislature consists of 51 senators, elected for 4 years, and 153 representatives, for two years; which numbers were to be decennially increased thereafter to the number of 6 per every additional half-million of in hab. The executive is vested in a governor, lieut.-governor, and other officers, elected for a term of 4 years, excepting the treasurer, whose tenure of office is limited to two. The judiciary comprises a Supreme Court, Circuit Courts, County Courts, and justices of the peace: the judges of the first-named being elected for 9 years; the others for 7. Religious and educational institutions are largely diffused throughout, and are in a very flourishing condition. 1. has a State lunatic and a deaf and dumb asylum at Jacksonville; a State penitentiary at Joliet; and ahome for soldiers' orphans at Normal. On Nov. 30, 1870, the public debt of the State was returned at $4,870,937, with a balance of $1,808,833 unprovided for. At the same period the value of a e ed and equalized property presented the following totals: a e ed, $480,031,703; equalized, $480,664,058. The name ofI., through nearly the whole of the 18th cent., embraced most of the known regions N. and W. of Ohio. French colonists established themselves in 1673 at Cahobin and Kaskaskia, and the territory of which these settlements formed the nucleus was, in 1763, ceded to Great Britain in conjunction with Canada, and ultimately resigned to the U. States in 1787. 1. entered the Union as a State, Dec. 3, 1818; and now sends 16 representatives to Congre . Pop. 2,539,891. [s. 477]