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3 From Chicago through Illinois and Northward to Minnesota May–June 1866 Tuesday 29 May 1866 Toured Chicago in a nice buggy with one of the clerks of the Illinois Central . Stockyards (cattle market) enormous, clean, and well-­ equipped, but dirt and dung everywhere on the streets. (Trollope) Visited with Mrs. McLane née Scharff in the afternoon; she was out but came home later after some waiting. She received us most friendly and we had tea with her. I liked Captain McLane very much, a robust, rotund seaman with a lot of common sense and a most engaging natural pleasantness.1 Wednesday 30 May 1866 Spent the morning with packing, shopping, and writing letters, and at 3 pm we were only just ready to begin our trip over the Illinois Central. At the depot we found a special train, which we boarded together with Osborn, Douglas, the present president, Hughitt, general superintendent, Joseph F. Tucker, general freight agent, and Remmer, secretary to the president. The purpose of the trip was the annual inspection of the road by the directors, and thanks to Osborn’s kindness we were allowed to participate in this most interesting journey. The 30th we rode as far as Champaign, the 31st from there to Cairo and back to Centralia; on the first of June to Chatsworth on the Peoria & Oquawka RR, where we saw Osborn’s farm on June 3rd; departed from there on June 4th, and arrived back in Chicago that same evening. Made a tour in the rain with Frank Osborn to Onarga.2 As is well known, Illinois is the delta between the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and consists completely of alluvial soil of the most fertile kind, just like the area between the great rivers in the Netherlands. Originally this delta, like most of the rest of the continent, was heavily wooded, but in the course of many centuries most 38 A Young Dutchman Views Post–Civil War America of these forests have been destroyed by fires, sometimes caused by lightning but also deliberately set by the Indians. Only the parts protected by some river against the prevailing southwesterly winds have been preserved. Fires can jump the vast stretches of rivers only under the most favorable circumstances, and because the forests have such remarkable powers of recovery and start growing again after every disaster, only repeated fires are able to destroy a forest forever. Being in the lee of a river has been enough to protect against fires in such cases.The southern part from Cairo to Centralia is still wholly covered in woods, hardly accessible because of the marshy soil. North from Centralia the forests give way to prairie land, and the farther north one goes the more prevalent the prairies become. Only along the Mississippi River some forests have been spared. South of Chicago, between that city and Mattoon, the prairies extend for hours on end, with only here and there small copses. This is the great advantage of Illinois, with a soil without par in the world. Formed by many thousands of generations of plants, trees at first, grasses later, a layer of the most fertile black soil, 1.5 to 2 feet thick, stretches into the vast distance.This layer is just plain leaf mold, and needs only to be plowed up to produce the most excellent crops. Since 1854 this region now has been opened up from north to south by the Illinois Central. Only a railroad could make these lands accessible and suitable for the influx of immigrants.That the visions of the early railroad planners have become realities is proven by the fact that since 1854 the population of Illinois has grown from 800,000 to 2,500,000. The wealth created here is plainly visible everywhere in the flourishing little villages and towns along the lines of the Illinois Central.3 Working the soil cannot be simpler. The first year only the top soil is plowed and corn sowed, yielding what is called the ‘sod crop,’ a lesser sort of crop. However the next year, after deeper plowing, the harvests are excellent and rich. If the top soil will ever be exhausted, ‘sub soiling’ can be resorted to with success. At present the soil is still so rich that most farmers do not use fertilizer, and in Chicago people have to pay for the removal of manure there. The chief crop is corn, 120,000,000 bushels annually, wheat only 30,000,000...

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