r
from St. Louis, by the coal mines of St. Clair county, to Belleville, 13
miles, is expected to be made immediately. The project of a central
railway from the termination of the Illinois and Michigan canal, at the
foot of the rapids, a few miles below Ottawa,--through Bloomington,
Decatur, Shelbyville, Vandalia, and on to the mouth of the Ohio river,
has been entered upon with spirit. Another charter contemplates the
continuance of a route, already provided for in Indiana, and noticed
under Ohio, from La Fayette, Ia. by Danville, Shelbyville and
Hillsboro,' to Alton, the nearest point from the east to the
Mississippi. A rail-road charter was granted at a previous session of
the legislature from Meredosia to Jacksonville, and another from
Vincennes to Chicago.

We have only room to mention the following charters, which have been
recently granted, in addition to those already specified:

One from Pekin to Tremont, in Tazewell county, 9 miles.

One from the Wabash, by Peoria to Warsaw, in Hancock county.

The Wabash and Mississippi rail-road company.

The Mount Carmel and Alton rail-road company.

The Rushville rail-road company.

The Winchester, Lynville, and Jacksonville rail-road company.

The Shawneetown and Alton rail-road company.

The Pekin, Bloomington, and Wabash rail-road company.

The Waverly and Grand Prairie rail-road company.

The Galena and Chicago Union rail-road company.

The Wabash and Mississippi Union rail-road company.

The Mississippi, Carrollton and Springfield rail-road company.

The _National Road_ is in progress through this State, and considerable
has been made on that portion which lies between Vandalia and the
boundary of Indiana. This road enters Illinois at the north-east corner
of Clark county, and passes diagonally through Coles and Effingham
counties in a south-westerly course to Vandalia, a distance of 90 miles.
The road is established 80 feet wide, the central part 30 feet wide,
raised above standing water, and not to exceed three degrees from a
level. The base of all the abutments of bridges must be equal in
thickness to one third of the height of the abutment.

The road is not yet placed in a travelling condition. The line of the
road is nearly direct, the loss in 90 miles being only the 88th part of
one per cent. Between Vandalia and Ewington, for 23 miles, it does not
deviate in the least from a direct line.

From Vandalia westward, the road is not yet located, bu