Over thirty different varieties and species of hardwoods have been counted growing on the tract, including oaks, elms, maples, walnuts, butter nut, hickory, ash, cherry, sycamore, etc.
Wild flowers native to Illinois are found on every hand.
But the chief attraction is the White Pine Woods. Some eleven acres of these beautiful and magnificent trees remain undisturbed. Many of these trees are 2 to 21 feet in diameter and rear their heads 90 to 100 feet skyward. Their branches so closely interweave as almost to exclude the sunlight. In another section of the tract splendid red cedars are growing. Throughout the grounds occupied by the hardwood trees, young white pines are springing up on every hand, and need only protection from fire and stock to make splendid trees in a few years. Sufficient of these could be transplanted to acid many acres to the present pine woods.
The state should purchase and preserve this tract. This is valuable land which others stand ready to buy for the timber that is on it and for the value of the agricultural lands after the timber is cut off.
The White Pine Forest tract is easy of access from the cities of northern Illinois, and in case it is set apart as a State Park, the roads leading to the White Pines would be greatly improved. That these Pines should be preserved cannot be denied.
The purchase of this forested tract has been considered by several legislatures. The location of the white pines in a region easy of access from many cities, and near the Lincoln Highway with its throngs of transcontinental tourists, is ideal for a state park consisting of a native forest in the Prairie State.
Prairies of Illinois.—The explorers and early settlers marveled at the great stretches of prairies in central and northern Illinois. They had been accustomed to the con tinuous forest lands of more eastern states, and were surprised to find large areas of unwooded tracts covered with a rich growth of grass. The causes of the Illinois prairies are not fully understood. Illinois is the transition belt between the unbroken original forests to the east and south and the vast prairie regions farther westward. The following is a brief statement of the various theories concerning the origin of the Illinois prairies: The prairies of northern Illinois aroused the wonder of all early travelers. They were attributed to fires; to hurricanes which had blown down the timber, leaving it to be readily consumed by fire, when dry; to the former presence of lakes; and to other causes. The upland prairies are now gener
ally thought to be due to the undrained condition of the flattish inter stream areas, which practically prevented the growth of the species of trees adapted to the latitude. Occasional protracted droughts and fires, furthermore, doubtless served to kill any young trees that had succeeded in establishing themselves. Summer droughts were especially effective in killing seedlings on the sandy terraces of the Illinois valley, where they were probably a chief cause of the general absence of The original prairie, much more fully than the original forest, has disappeared from the Illinois landscape. While original forest areas of considerable size are still supporting native timber, no typical area of upland prairie remains for examination and study. it may be of interest to the reader, therefore, to see the prairies through descriptions written, published, and read more than SO years ago, at a time when these grasslands were in their natural state and the tide of immigration was just beginning to go beyond the edge of the well-known and long-tested forest areas into the unknown and uncertain prairie regions. The following extracts from Illinois in 1837 & 3S give an idea of the prairies as they were seen by writers of that date: Undoubtedly the most remarkable feature of the state of Illinois is its extensive prairies or unwooded tracts. In general, they are covered with a rich growth of grass forming excellent natural meadows, from which cir cumstance they take their name. Prairie is a French word, signifying meadow.
The Indians and hunters annually set fire to the prairies in order to dislodge the game. The fire spreads with tremendous rapidity, and pre scuts one of the grandest and most terrible spectacles in nature. The flames rush through the long grass with a noise like thunder; dense clouds of smoke arise; and the sky itself appears almost on fire, particularly during the night. Travellers then crossing the prairie are sometimes in serious danger which they can only escape by setting fire to the grass around, and taking shelter in the burnt part where the approaching flames must expire for want of fuel. Nothing can be more melancholy than the aspect of a burnt prairie, presenting a uniform black surface like a vast plain of charcoal.