THE COMING OF THE WHITE MAN Indian and white man.—It seems certain that the fertile and productive Illinois country of 56,000 square miles never supported an Indian population having a density as great as 1 person per square mile, and that at times the population did not exceed 1 person to 3 or 4 square miles. In 1673 Joliet and Marquette, the first white men known to the Indians of Illinois, crossed the state along the valleys of the Illinois, Des Plaines, and Chicago rivers. By 1833, 160 years after this first visit, the white man had induced the Indian to relinquish his claim to the last square mile of Illinois and to remove to more western lands. The United States census of 1830 showed that 157,445 white people, or 3 per square mile, had already made their homes in the state; by 1910 this number had increased to 5,638,591, or 100 persons per square mile.
The procession of the white man into the Illinois country was continuous and rapid. Various stages marked the process of taking possession of the land. The explorer was followed by the fur-trader; then came the "hunter pioneer," who competed directly with the Indian for occupation of the land. He was followed by the "first settler," who depended somewhat more on agriculture than did the hunter pioneer. The "permanent settler" then came to improve the land and to establish a home for his own and succeeding generations.
The explorers.—A land of such bountiful natural resources as Illinois, adapted to the support of a numerous and prosper-. ous population, could not remain unknown to civilization after the fact of its existence had been established. The routes of the early explorers were determined by geographic conditions. With waterways as the ready-made roads of travel, it was but natural that early expeditions for discovery and exploration should carry Joliet and Marquette along the Illinois country down the Mississippi, and across the level plains of the state up the easily navigated Illinois River, along the Des Plaines, the Chicago portage, and the Chicago River to Lake Michigan. It was the shores of Lake Michigan and the courses of the St. Joseph and Kankakee rivers that directed the route of La Salle, late in 1670, across Michigan and Indiana into the Illinois country. During the next few years La Salle and his men made numerous trips across Illinois, hut always along the most easily traveled route—the Illinois Valley and easy portages to Lake Michigan. As long as the white man was only an explorer, he changed the Indian's mode of life hut little.
The fur the explorer became a fur-trader, as did Ia. Salle and his companions, the white man's influence on the daily life of the Indian became distinctly noticeable.
The trade kettle soon displaced the crude Indian pottery. The trade blanket and trade cloth were substituted for much of the fur clothing. Glass beads were eagerly sought as orna ments. The white man's gun and ammunition took the place of bow and arrow. Whiskey was eagerly sought and used with deadly effect. All articles of commerce were to be paid for in peltry. The introduction of firearms and the steady demand for furs led to greater destruction of animal life than was possible under the natural conditions prior to the coming of the fur-trader. The balance which had been developed and maintained in previous generations was being unsettled by the fur-trader; it was further disturbed by the hunter pioneer, and entirely overthrown by the coming of the permanent settler. The principal regions of fur-trading activity were the valleys of the Mississippi, Illinois, and Wabash rivers.
With increased knowledge of the Illinois country as a fur producing region, fur-traders multiplied in numbers until the state was well supplied with trading posts.
It is difficult for the present inhabitants to realize the extent to which wild game once abounded in the state, and the enormous quantities of peltry which were annually exported. The valley of the Illinois River was, at the close of the territorial period, one of the important fur bearing areas of the northwest. In 1SIG, the furs sent out from the various posts upon the Illinois River included 10,000 deer; 300. bear; 10,000 raccoons; 35.000 muskrat; 400 otter; 300 pounds of beaver; 500 cat and fox; and 100 mink. The total value of this peltry was estimated at S23,700. The merchandise imported into the region during the same year was estimated to be worth more than 518.000. In considering the Illinois fur trade, it should he remembered that it constituted only one part of an industry of enormous proportions, covering the Great Lakes region, and extending westward far beyond the Mississippi, an industry which at one time or another has made its influence felt in almost every part of the North American continent.' Illinois lands opened to settlement.—Had the era of the fur-trader been continuous, Illinois would have remained clothed with its native vegetation, inhabited by its native animals and its native peoples, and the chief articles of export would still be furs instead of corn and live stock. But no region of the earth as favorably situated as Illinois can remain in a state of nature, supporting a mere handful of people. The inhabitants of more densely populated regions inevitably move into such lands, introduce agriculture, and obtain a good living for a population many times the number of the original occu pants.