ssing call
then made for information of these western states, but more especially
that of Illinois;--but many of its particulars, as to the character and
usages of the people, manners and customs, modes of erecting buildings,
general characteristics and qualities of soil, productions, &c. were
applicable to the West generally.

Since that period, brief as it has been, wide and rapid changes have
been made, population has rapidly augmented, beyond that of any former
period of the same extent;--millions of acres of the public domain, then
wild and hardly explored, have been brought into market; settlements and
counties have been formed, and populous towns have sprung up where, at
that time, the Indian and wild beast had possession; facilities for
intercommunication have been greatly extended, and distant places have
been brought comparatively near; the desire to emigrate to the west has
increased, and everybody in the Atlantic states has become interested
and inquires about the Great Valley. That respectable place, so much the
theme of declamation and inquiry abroad, "_The Far West_," has gone from
this region towards the setting sun. Its exact locality has not yet been
settled, but probably it may soon be found along the gulf of California,
or near Nootka Sound. And if distance is to be measured by time, and the
facility of intercourse, we are now several hundred miles nearer the
Atlantic coast than twenty years since. Ten years more, and the
facilities of railways and improved machinery will place the Mississippi
within seven day's travel of Boston,--six days of Washington city, and
five days of Charleston, S. C.

To give a brief, and yet correct account of a portion of this Great
Valley, its resources, the manners and customs of its inhabitants, its
political subdivisions, cities, commercial and other important towns,
colleges and other literary institutions, religious condition, public
lands, qualities of soil and general features of each state and
territory named in the title page, together with such information as may
form a kind of manual for the emigrant and man of business, or which may
aid him on his journey hither, and enable him to surmount successfully
the difficulties of a new country, is the object of this new work. In
accomplishing this task the author has aimed at _correctness_ and
_brevity_. To condense the particular kind of information called for by
the public mind in a small space, has been no easy t