Illinois

With its multitudes of railroads, airlines, highways, not to mention 2 important rivers and an outlet on Lake Michigan, Illinois is the transit hub of the nation. Chicago, its biggest city, has been described by Carl Sandburg as “Tool-Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler”. Because of its central location and its proximity to the Rust Belt and Grain Belt, Illinois is a national crossroads for air, auto, rail, and truck traffic.

As a growing meat-packing and grain center, Illinois early on began to construct transportation arteries for the shipment of its products. One of the first major links to the eastern markets was a canal built to connect the Illinois River and the southern half of the state to the Great Lakes, and through the Erie Canal, to New York City. This was followed in the 1850’s by the thundering arrival of the railroads, which-by bringing together raw materials, labor and market facilities-permitted heavy industry to thrive.

It was in Illinois that the extraordinary sea of grass called the Big Prairie was first encountered by white settlers. Accustomed to a thickly forested countryside, the pioneers of the early 1800’s hesitated to farm a land that seemed able to support only endless waves of six-foot-high grass. But beneath the tough sod their plows uncovered a deep treasure of mineral-laden soil left by the deposits of four continental ice sheets. The rolling prairies, stretching to the horizon with few obstructing outcrops of rock, were ideally suited to the use of harrows, cultivators and reapers, which eventually revolutionized food production.

In Illinois, the 20th Century exodus from the fields to the city has been dramatic. Only a small percentage of Illinoisans now live on farms. Nevertheless, with modern mechanized farming techniques, the land still yields enough to make the state one of the highest ranking states in the U.S. for farm income and food production.