In 1832 the southern advance along the Illinois Valley was checked, and, save at Peoria, the settlers were driven south and east of the river by Black Hawk's War. Before the southern frontier had recovered from this blow, a great northern stream of immigration from New York and New England swept into the unoccupied portions of the valley, occupying first the woodland, and later the prairie.
In the decade 1820-30, an expansion started up actively from New England that was destined to become a movement of great proportions later. Before the opening of the Erie Canal, the journey from New England to the West had been slow, difficult, and expensive. The Erie Canal promptly became the most important route to Lake Erie in 1825. There were still, however, few vessels upon the lower lakes, and none regularly upon the upper, so that various courses were followed from Lake Erie to the Illinois Valley. Navigation was late in developing upon Lake Michigan, and not until 1834 could emigrants count with certainty upon transportation to Chicago.
A flood of settlers now poured into the Illinois Valley and the northern part of the state generally. In 1845 the steamboats alone landed 20,244 passengers at Chicago. Chicago was the gateway to the Illinois Valley. From a "little mushroom town" in 1833, and a "dirty village of twenty hamlets" in 1834 it grew to a population of 4,479 in 1840, and 28,269 in 1850. The value of its imports rose 523 per cent in the ten years following 1830.
One of the greatest problems facing the pioneer was the transportation of his produce to a market. The Illinois River was the only connection with the outside world until the appearance of the railroad, unless the journey was made by wagon to Chicago. In general. therefore, the earlier settlers located near the Illinois or one of its navigable tributaries.
The prairies of Illinois aroused the wonder of all early travelers. They were generally shunned by the first corners for several reasons : (1) Absence of trees was thought to mean that they were infertile. (2) Timber was imperatively needed for buildings, fences, and fuel. (3) They did not afford running water for stock or mills, while lack of fuel left steam mills out of the question. (4) There was no protection from the bitter winds of winter, which, above all else, made that season disagreeable. Men and cattle had even been known to perish in storms on the open prairie. (5) To the farmer, the prairies with their tough sod and matted roots constituted a new and altogether unknown problem.
With the growth of population all the woodland was presently occupied, and new corners were crowded out upon the prairie. The small prairies were presently encircled by a belt of farms. Later, another ring was established inside of the first, and farther out on the prairie, and by a con tinuation of the process the entire prairie was finally occupied.
Saw mills and grist mills constituted a pressing need of the settlers, and were among the first improvements made. It was a great inconvenience and hardship to be forced to pound grain on a hominy block, or to grind it in hand mills. The first grist mill in Bureau County was built on East Bureau Creek, in 1830; the machinery was largely of wood, and the mill stories were dressed from glacial bowlders taken from the neighboring bluffs. The following year the first saw mill of the country was erected on Big Bureau Creek.
A new and powerful factor in the economic life of the Illinois Valley appeared in 1848 in the form of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. The canal opened new markets, brought the valley into closer relations with Chicago and the Great Lakes, and modified its life in important ways. Lumber was the most important article brought into the Illinois Valley through the canal. The cost of lumber was immediately reduced one-half at Peoria, and further reductions soon followed.
The year 1855 has been taken as marking the close of the period of steamboat supremacy in the trade of the Illinois Valley. This decline in water traffic was brought about primarily by the competition of the rail roads. The great prairies still remained largely unoccupied in 1850. The problems of transportation and of markets still prevented their occupation. During the decade 1850 to 1860, however, their conquest was rapidly accomplished, and in the latter year the Grand Prairie had everywhere a population of over 6 to the square mile, and the great prairie to the north of the Illinois River more than 18 per square mile. The population of the state as a whole increased over IOU per cent in the ten years.
The first white man saw the Illinois country in 1673. In 1818, 145 years later, there was a population of 40,000 in the state; 15 years after this date, in 1S33, the white man's govern ment had obtained ownership, by treaties with the Indians, to every square mile of Illinois lands; during the short space of another 27 years the frontier line of settlement was swept out of the state, and the year 1860 finds the lands of Illinois occupied by an industrious and prosperous population of 1,711,951.
The foregoing maps indicate the density of population at each decennial census from 1S20 to 1S60. They show the early influences of the streams and forests on population; the impetus to settlement given by the Illinois and Michigan Canal; and the rapid completion of the pioneer period during the first decade of extensive railroad development.
The accompanying table shows the rapid growth in popu lation of the state as recorded by the United States Census reports.