The location of Illinois with reference to longitude throws the state within the Great Central Plain of the United States with its fertile glacial soils, its abundant coal resources, and its continental climate, which gives cold winters, warm summers, and abundant rainfall.
Length of following table gives approxi mate lengths of the various sections of Illinois boundaries: Area.—Illinois contains 56,665 square miles, divided be tween land and water as follows: land area, 56,043 square miles (09 per cent); water area, 622 square miles (1 per cent). These figures are from the United States Census. The water area is composed of the small lakes of the state and the larger rivers. It does not include that part of Lake Michigan within the state boundaries. County areas are always given in terms of land area.
Illinois ranks twenty-third in area among the states of the Union; 22 states are larger and 25 are smaller. The average size of the 4S states is 62,000 square miles. Continental United States would make 53 states as large as Illinois. Although Illinois ranks twenty-third in area, it stands first among the states in total value of farms and of farm crops, second in mineral wealth, and third in population. These comparisons indicate that Illinois has exceptional natural advantages and that her people have been diligent in the development of the natural resources of the state.
Texas is four and three-fourths times as large as Illinois. Illinois is forty-five times as large as Rhode Island. McLean, the largest county of Illinois, has an area about the size of the state of Rhode Island. The reach of Illinois in latitude, if placed on the coasts of the United States, is shown on the accompanying map.
Europe, at the outbreak of the Great War, held 26 inde pendent countries in an area only one-fourth larger than Continental United States. Only one of these countries, Russia, is larger than Texas; 9 arc larger and 17 are smaller than Illinois. Eight of the smaller European countries could find room within the confines of Illinois with 201 square miles to spare, but their population is three and a half times that of Illinois. These rela tionships are graphically pre sented on the accompanying map.
Land surveys.—It is necessary to have land sur veyed so that small tracts may be located with absolute accuracy. In no other way can the landowner establish his right to his farm or the tax assessor and tax collector make proper record of their work.
The method of survey whereby Illinois lands are marked off was provided by Congress in 1785. The plan involves the establishment of "principal meridians" running north-south and "base lines" running east west. The first principal me ridian is the boundary line between Ohio and Indiana; the second is west of the center of Indiana, extending the entire length of the state; the third is in the center of Illinois, extending the entire length of the state; the fourth is in western Illinois and Wisconsin, extending from Beardstown north to the Mississippi River near Rock Island, and from the Mississippi River near Galena northward through Wisconsin. Illinois is surveyed from the second, third, and fourth principal meridians; much the larger part of the state from the third.
Base lines extend east-west along geographic parallels. The second and third principal meridians have the same base line extending across southern Indiana and southern Illinois in 3S° 27' N. lat. from the Ohio River to the Mississippi. The fourth principal meridian has two base lines, one extending westward from its southern extremity at Beardstown to the Mississippi River, and the other forming the Illinois-Wisconsin boundary line. Only the southern base line is used in the Illinois surveys.
From the principal meridian and the base line the region is laid off into townships six miles square, and the townships are numbered. The townships thus determined by survey are known as congressional townships. Each township is divided into thirty-six square miles, or sections, and numbered. Each section is divided into four equal squares, or quarter-sections. Tiers of townships are numbered north and south from the base line, and ranges of townships are numbered east and west from the principal meridian. Thus, Township 16 North, Range 5 West of the Third Principal Meridian, is the township in which Springfield, the state capital, is located.