g to show for it, except a few detached pieces
of railroad embankments and excavations, a half-finished canal, and a
railroad from the Illinois River to Springfield, which cost one million
of dollars, and when finished would not pay for operating it.

The State staggered on for some ten years under this load of debt,
which, as she could not pay the interest upon it, had increased in 1845
to some fourteen millions. The project of repudiating the debt was
frequently brought forward by unscrupulous politicians; but to the honor
of the people of Illinois be it remembered, that even in the darkest
times this dishonest scheme found but few friends.

In 1845, the holders of the canal bonds advanced the sum of $1,700,000
for the purpose of finishing the canal; and subsequently, William B.
Ogden and a few other citizens of Chicago, having obtained possession of
an old railroad-charter for a road from that city to Galena, got a few
thousand dollars of stock subscribed in those cities, and commenced the
work. The difficulties were very great, from the scarcity of money and
the want of confidence in the success of the enterprise. In most of the
villages along the proposed line there was a strong opposition to having
a railroad built at all, as the people thought it would be the ruin of
their towns. Even in Chicago, croakers were not wanting to predict that
the railroad would monopolize all the trade of the place.

In the face of all these obstacles, the road was built to the Des
Plaines River, twelve miles,--in a very cheap way, to be sure; as a
second-hand strap-rail was used, and half-worn cars were picked up from
Eastern roads.

These twelve miles of road between the Des Plaines and Chicago had
always been the terror of travellers. It was a low, wet prairie, without
drainage, and in the spring and autumn almost impassable. At such
seasons one might trace the road by the broken wagons and dead horses
that lay strewn along it.

To be able to have their loads of grain carried over this dreadful place
for three or four cents a bushel was to the farmers of the Rock River
and Fox River valleys--who, having hauled their wheat from forty to
eighty miles to this Slough of Despond, frequently could get it no
farther--a privilege which they soon began to appreciate. The road had
all it could do, at once. It was a success. There was now no difficulty
in getting the stock taken up, and before long it was finished to Fox
River. It paid f