by the Indians, upwards of 16,000,000 of acres, on the eastern extremity of Pioria lake, north of the Illinois river. The lands which still belong to the aboriginal proprietors are situated between the Wabash and Illinois rivers, and north of the source of the Kaskaskia.*

Commerce.-Numbers of cattle are raised in the fertile soil called "the Great American Bottom," between the Kaskaskia and Illinois river, for the markets of Baltimore and Philadelphia. Horses of the Spanish breed are also raised for sale.

The manufactures, in 1810, according to the marshall's return, were as follows:

Dollars.

Spinning-wheels,

value,

630

Looms, 460, cloth produced, 90,039 yards,

54,028

The population has nearly doubled since that period, and the manufactures have advanced in a corresponding ratio. ‡

*Western Gazetteer, p. 38.

+ Prices at English Prairie in November 1817.—Wheat 3s. 4d. Sterling per bushel; beef and pork, 2d. per pound; horses, 60 to 100 dollars; cows, 10 to 20; a sow, 3 to 5. Mechanics' wages, 1 to 1 dollar. A waggon, 35 or 40 dollars, exclusive of tier to the wheels; a strong waggon for the road, complete, 160; bricks are laid at 8 dollars by the thousand, including lime.(Letters from Illinois, p. 13, 14.)

Western Gazetteer, p. 32.

Roads. By an act of 29th April 1816, a road is to extend from Shawneetown, on the Ohio river, to the. United States' Saline, and to Kaskaskias in the Illinois: territory; 8000 dollars have been granted for this purpose; three commissioners have been appointed, who are to receive three dollars each, and their assistants one and a half, per day, for exploring, surveying, and marking. There are two roads leading through the Ohio to Kaskaskias, one from Robin's ferry, seventeen miles below the Saline, to Kaskaskias, 135 miles; the other from Lusks's ferry, fifteen miles above the mouth of Cumberland river; the last is the shorter, by fifteen or twenty miles. There is a post route from Vincennes to Kaskaskias, distant 150 miles; but travellers are obliged to encamp two or three nights. There is a tolerably good road from the mouth of La Vase to Wood river, passing through Kaskaskias, Prairie du Rocher, St Philippe, and Kahokia. These roads are gradually improved by the profits of lands leased by the government, at different places, in the line of their direction.

Forts.-Fort Chartres, built by the French, four miles above the Prairie du Rocher, and a quarter of a mile from the bank of the Mississippi, has been nearly undermined by its current. It is said to have cost 100,000 dollars. Fort Massac, built also by the French, forty-five miles above the mouth of the Ohio, has been dismantled since the period of the American Revolution.

History. The first settlements were made by the French at Kaskaskias, Kahokia, Fort Massac, and

other places, which are still inhabited by their descendants, though the country was under the dominion of the British from the year 1756 to the treaty of peace with the United States. The Indians then inhabiting and claiming this territory were the Kaskaskias, the Sacks, and Foxes, and the Piankashaws. In 1803, the first tribe ceded to the United States a tract of 12,000 square miles from the mouth of the Ohio to that of the Illinois, and eighty miles in breadth from the Mississippi. In 1804, the Sacks and Foxes ceded another tract, extending from the Illinois to the Ouisconsin river, in the north-western territory, 240 miles, and east, to the mouth of Fox river, about the same distance: In 1805, another tract, situated between the Great and Little Wabash, and containing a surface of 100 miles in length, and thirty in breadth, was ceded by the Piankashaws. The Sacks and Foxes inhabit the northern parts and banks of the Mississippi river, above the forty-first degree of latitude. In December 1816, the Ottawas, Chippawas, and Pattowatamies, ceded to the United States certain lands lying within a line running from a point on the left bank of Fox river, ten miles above its confluence with the Illinois, through the space between Chicago creek and the river Plein, to a point on Lake Michigan, ten miles north of the mouth of Chicago creek; and for this they were to receive a considerable quantity of goods at the time, and an annual allowance of goods, to the amount of 1000 dollars, (first cost,) for twelve years.

Government. The government of this territory was established by acts of Congress, dated 3d February

1809. A General Assembly was authorized to be called as soon as satisfactory evidence should be produced to the governor, that such was the desire of a majority of the freeholders; though the number of free white male inhabitants, of twenty-one years, did not amount to 5000. The representatives to the General Assembly to be not less than seven, nor more than nine, to be chosen for four years, and to be apportioned by the governor in the several counties, according to the number of free white males. By an act of 27th February 1809, delegates to congress were to be chosen by the citizens at the time of electing their representatives to the General Assembly, and to have the same powers as heretofore granted to the delegates from the other territories. Congress passed an act, on the 18th of February 1818, authorizing the inhabitants of this territory to form a constitution and state government, and to be admitted into the union, on an equal footing with the original states. The convention to be chosen for this purpose, were to meet on the first Monday of August 1818. Slavery is abolished by law, and by act of 5th February 1813. Books and Documents relating to this Territory. Lettre du Pere Vivier, Missionnaire aux Illinois.

Lettres édifiantes écrites des Missions Etrangères.

Hutchins's Topographical Description of Virginia, &c. comprehending the river Illinois, and Villages in the Illinois Country. London, 1778.

Brown's Western Gazetteer. Article Illinois.

Birkbeck's Letters from Illinois, 1818.

Maps.-There is a Map of this state compiled from surveys by Samuel Williams; and a Map of the Bounty Lands by John Gardiner.

CHAPTER ΧΧΧ.

MICHIGAN TERRITORY.

MICHIGAN, formerly Wayne county, was erected int☛ a territory with a separate government in 1805, with the following limits: north, by the straits of Michillimackinac; west, by Lake Michigan; south, by a line running from east to west, which separates it from the states of Ohio and Indiana; east, by Lakes Huron and St Clair, to Lake Erie. The southern line has not yet been accurately fixed. It is situated between 41° 50′, and 45° 20′ of north latitude, and 5° 12′, and 9° west longitude from Washington. It includes a surface of 34,820 square miles, or 22,284,000 acres. Its length from south to north is 250 miles, its breadth from east to west 160 miles. This territory forms a peninsula bounded on the north, east, and west sides by the great Lakes Michigan and Huron.

Soil. The surface has a gentle elevation from the western and northern borders towards the middle, which is generally level, and without hills or mounExtensive meadow lands stretch from the banks of the St Joseph's to Lake St Clair, some of which, called "high prairies," are equal in quality to

tains.