Show ell Happ i 4 c t 4 By EDWARD VARD EMERINE El Features f r fIT rT IT T WAS a hot day the la late te summer of H 1073 1673 73 when Father Marquette and Louis Joliet with their party alter after a futile journey down the Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mis Mis- came back up a stream later known as the Illinois river to claim the land for the glory of France and to convert the heathen for tor the glory clory of God That event Introduced Illinois to modern history history his his- tory books but long long before that A great Inland sea lay layover over all of Illinois with huge sharks and armored fishes swimming In it Ages Aces later the sea levels were lowered lowered low low- ered and there were vast coastal marshes with forests of tall fern trees Decaying vegetation fell Into black water to be compressed and hardened and later to become coaL Eventually the sea dried up and out of the north came carne the cold wind to change the tropical climate of Illinois Growing glaciers moved southward southward southward south south- ward crunching and grinding until there was a sheet of Ice covering all but a small ip tip of the state Birds and animals retreated before It or died And then came carne a day when Illinois Illi IDi- nois lay In hi the sun again wet and muddy and smooth Plants reap reap- Grass grew luxuriantly new kinds of trees sprang up p. p Lakes were changed to marshes and marshes transformed into prairies By and by men came to live along the rivers and bury their dead In mounds Known as mound dwellers they were followed by others whom we know as Indians In those days herds of bison roamed the lush prairies and drank from the mud holes In 1671 La Salle crossed the portage portage port port- portage age from the Chicago to the Illinois river probably the first white manto man manto manto to visit Illinois He later fortified a camp near the present site of I Peoria which he called Fort Creve- Creve coeur About 1700 two settlements were formed by Indians wandering traders and missionaries one at Kaskaskia the other at Cahokia In 1717 these settlements were annexed annexed annexed an an- to the province of Louisiana Pt r a 1 S f Q QA A DWIGHT H. H GREEN Governor of Illinois as the district of Illinois The name Illinois was derived from hunt a confederation of l Indian dIan tribes In 1720 Fort Chartres and three new villages were established by the French and and the entire district was put under a military commandant By the treaty of Paris in 1763 Illinois Illinois Illi Illi- nois was ceded to the English but bu t they couldn't take possession until they made a treaty with Chief Pontiac Pontiac Pontiac Pon Pon- tiac two years later Then Illinois Illinoi s became a part of Quebec province In 1774 It was not until 1783 that tha t it was formally ceded to the United Unite d States and then largely because a an n expedition of Virginians under Gen George Rogers Clark resulted i In n virtual conquest of the region Virginia VIrginia Vir VIr- ginia Massachusetts and Connecticut cut all held claims to Illinois at on one e time but finally ceded their interests interests inter inter- interests ests to the United States and th the e region became a part of the Northwest Northwest Northwest North North- west Territory w u LAKa 1 1 d sr GM ww rr t i P r a j jaw ly aw 1 O c I 1 1 I y I 1 f 9 V 1 1 1 1 I N k kU 1 U I ast LA f r i LO J st r t. t Cr Z N ri n. n os Morro MOTTO P National Union and p 0 State Sovereignty From 1800 to 1809 1609 however the state state we know as Illinois was apart a apart apart part of Indiana territory It was then organized as the territory of Illinois the seat of government being being be be- ing inc at Kaskaskia The first territorial al legislature convened in 1812 and Illinois was admitted to the Union in 1818 Shadrach Bond was the first governor S Serious rious Indian troubles beset those who ventured early into Illi Ill nois The Sacs and Foxes were eventually moved across the Mississippi Mississippi l sippi river in in 1823 and Black Hawk was defeated In 1832 Settlement then proceeded rapidly Families Families' poured Into the state from the south from New England and from many foreign lands Chicago the states state's greatest city and second in size of all American cities was almost left out of Illinois Illi Illi- nois When Illinois became a full- full fledged state a strip of land 51 miles mUes wide was added to the northern northern northern north north- ern boundary of the original territorial territorial terri tern tonal limits Today this strip of land with its Lake Michigan shore shoreline shoreline shoreline line contains 55 per cent of the states state's population population and and Chicago A lot has happened in hi Illinois Joseph Smith the founder of the Mormon church was killed at Nauvoo in 1844 The Illinois and Michigan canal was built in 1848 and the Illinois Central railroad was constructed from 1850 to 1856 1850 In 1848 the state barred slavery and there followed the historic debates of Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. A Douglas Illinois sent soldiers soldiers sol sol- diers into the field during the Civil war In 1871 occurred the great Chicago Chisago Chicago Chi Chi- cago sago fire and the railroad and Haymarket Haymarket Hay Hay- Haymarket market riots took place soon after otter Chicago was host to the Worlds World's Columbian exposition in 1893 and to the Century of Progress exposition exposition exposi expos tion lion In 1933 And there was of course the gang warfare of prohibition prohibition prohibition tion days In Illinois John Deere gave to I the world the steel plow Wild Bill Hickok the western sheriff was born south of Mendota Ulysses S. S Grant was an Illinois cobbler when the Civil war broke out At Starved P. P Eack cl a c band of Indians starved to death rather than surrender to their enemies Headed by the Harpe Harp e brothers an outlaw gang use used d Cave In Rock on the Ohio river as a s headquarters One of the oldest settlements settlements settlements set set- in n the state Shawneetown Shawneetown Shawnee Shawnee- town was recently moved in its entirety to higher ground to escape flood waters Vandalla was once th the e capital of the state before Springfield Springfield Springfield Spring Spring- field was selected Indian mounds built basketful by basketful o of ot f earth carried by man may be see seen n at Cahokia The l list st grows long All AU happened In Illinois where Abraham Lincoln split rails kept a store and wooed d Ann Rutledge With an elevation of feet a at t Cairo and 1241 12 at Charles Mound Illinois Is covered for lor the most part par t with a deep layer of glacial drift but in the river bottoms are deposits depos depos- its of alluvial silt forming a ric rich richloam h loam of unusual fertility It island Is a aland aland land of ot corn and grain fat livestock k and fine homes In the south par part t of the state known as Egypt i Uan isan is U isan an extension of the Ozarks wi with th fruit orchards coal mines scenic grandeur Theres There's Jo Daviess Davies s county in the northwestern part par t with beautiful Apple River canyon Everywhere in Illinois are landmarks landmarks landmarks land land- marks hallowed by the name o of f Abraham Lincoln A lot of things things' have happened i m in s Illinois enough In fact to make It one of the great livestock dairying dairy dairy- ing f farming mining oil producing g and industrial states of the Union nor does it lack in the development of education science literature and an d art It Is truly a great state It Its s people made It that way fifa v I fT i m T i w r 4 I II I M rj i v v ga 7 c f J w Chicago Is Americas America's second largest city city- Above Is skyline from the lake front I |