nhabitants,)
Meredosia, Naples, Pekin, Hennepin, &c. On the Mississippi, are Quincy,
Warsaw, New Boston, and Stephenson, the seat of justice for Rock Island
county. Interior, are Bloomington, Decatur, Tremont, Shelbyville,
Hillsboro', Edwardsville, Carlyle, Belleville, Carrollton, and many
others. Towards the Wabash, are Danville, Paris, Lawrenceville, Carmi,
and Mount Carmel, the last of which has an importance from being
connected with the grand rapids of the Wabash. Shawneetown is the
commercial depot for the south-eastern part of the State. On the
Military Tract are Rushville, Pittsfield, Griggsville, Carthage, Macomb,
Monmouth, Knoxville, Lewistown, Canton, &c., all pleasant sites, and
having a population from two or three hundred to one thousand
inhabitants.

For a more particular description of each county, town, and settlement,
with all other particulars of Illinois, the reader is referred to "A
GAZETTEER OF ILLINOIS," by the author of this GUIDE.

_Projected Improvements._--The project of uniting the waters of lake
Michigan and the Illinois, by a canal, was conceived soon after the
commencement of the Grand canal of New York, and a Board of
commissioners, with engineers, explored the route and estimated the
cost, in 1823. Provision, by a grant of each alternate section of land
within five miles of the route, having been granted by Congress,
another Board of commissioners was appointed in 1829, a new survey was
made, and the towns of Chicago and Ottawa laid off, and some lots sold
in 1830. Various movements have since been made, but nothing effectually
done, until the recent special session of the legislature, when an act
was passed to authorize the Governor to borrow funds upon the faith of
the State; a new Board of commissioners has been organized, and this
great work is about to be prosecuted with vigor to its completion.

Funds, in part, have been provided, from the sales of certain saline
lands belonging to the State, to improve the navigation of the Great
Wabash, at the Grand Rapids, near the mouth of White river, in
conjunction with the State of Indiana. From the same source, funds are
to be applied to the clearing out of several navigable water-courses,
and repairing roads, within the State.

Charters have been granted to several rail-road companies, some of which
have been surveyed and the stock taken. One from Alton to Springfield
was surveyed last year, and the stock subscribed in December. Anothe