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Foreston. High, dry, and upland prairie, well timbered and well watered.

Freeport, Elleroy, Lena, Nora. Magnificent farming-country, well watered. The Galena and Chicago Union Railroad intersects at

Freeport.

Warren, Scales Mound, Council Hill, Galena, Dunleith. A rapidly growing country. Fine agricultural soil throughout the section. Galena is the centre of the lead region. Dunleith is the northern terminus of the road.

Through the above brief description, the reader may become somewhat acquainted with the general character of the country traversed by the Illinois Central Railroad, as well as with the peculiar qualities of the various sections of land brought into market by the Company. It remains still to be mentioned, as a striking proof of the extraordinary progress already made in the development and cultivation of these lands, that, in the year 1856, in the neighbourhood of Urbana alone, within a circuit of fifteen miles, about 20,000 acres were tilled and sown with wheat; which more than doubles the quantity of all the land together that had been previously broken up and cultivated in this region. It is further supposed, that, from the crop of 1856 alone, between 300,000 and 400,000 bushels of wheat will be sent only to the market at Urbana. From this we can form some idea of the rapid increase in the quantity of tilled lands throughout the whole of this rich and fertile country.

Lastly, the following table, which is constructed from data collected in January, 1856, shows the rapid growth and great strides towards municipal importance of the numerous towns and villages already founded in this bountiful territory, and which lie dotted along the line of the railroad and its branches, in the whole of the long distance between the beginning and the end. In fact, many of these places. have during the last year doubled the number of their inhabitants; and, therefore, although these data have been so lately and carefully collected, they will enable the close examiner to form merely a reasonable conjecture of what is the present state of things.

Table showing the number of inhabitants, houses, churches, &c., of the towns on the route of the Illinois Central Railroad, in 1850 and January, 1856..

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Table showing the number of inhabitants, houses, churches, &c., of the towns on the route of the Illinois Central Railroad, in 1850 and Jan., 1856. - Continued.

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BANKS.

THE banking system of Illinois is regulated by two acts of the Legislature, passed respectively on the 15th of February, 1851, and on the 10th of February, 1853.

The following are the principal enactments and provisions of these several laws:

No bank shall be organized with a less capital than $50,000; and stocks to be deposited to secure the circulation, &c. The amount of circulation shall in no case exceed the capital stock set forth in the certificate of incorporation; but the deposit of stock securities and the circulation may be increased from time to time, until they equal the maximum of the certified capital stock.

Bank charters shall not be granted for a longer period than twenty-five years.

All notes issued by the banks must be payable on demand, at the respective places where the banks are located, and be countersigned, numbered, and recorded by the register.

No bank shall be authorized to put into circulation a larger amount of notes than the amount of stocks deposited as security with the State auditor.

The stock thus deposited is intended, in the first place, for the redemption of the notes in circulation, provided the bank itself should fail to redeem them; and in the next place, they are made to subserve the purpose of liquidating all the liabilities of any bank thus failing. Each stockholder is also made individually liable in proportion to the full amount of capital stock owned by him.

If any bank shall refuse or neglect to redeem any one of its notes, and such fact be properly certified by an ordinary protest, drawn up and acknowleged by any notary public, it shall be the duty of the

auditor of the State, as soon as he shall be informed of the fact, to take immediate measures against such bank.

It is the duty of the commissioners of banks to examine into their condition once in every year.

Every bank shall, at the end of each quarter, make a full statement of its funds and business transactions to the State auditor.

In writing this book, we have been guided, as far as possible, by the principle of pointing out facts merely, and hence we have generally refrained from expressing our own bare opinions. However, although we do not now intend to go into a particular criticism of the banking laws of Illinois, we cannot forbear from remarking, that, in our opinion, a general alteration and amendment of them is necessary to preserve the people of the State from the great inconveniences which otherwise must sooner or later arise under the present law.

According to a statement published by the State auditor, on the 10th of January, 1856, (Congressional Documents, on Banks in 1855, pages 176 and 177,) there were, at that time, forty-five banks in the State of Illinois, having, altogether, stock securities deposited to the amount of $4,134,879.62, while their note circulation reached only $3.514,911 - showing an excess of $619,968.62, in deposits, over the amount of notes in circulation.

At the present time, (December, 1856,) there are fifty-two banks in the State, nine of which, however, are about to wind up their

business.

We here give the names, location, &c., of those fifty-two banks, together with their respective capitals, as shown in the statement above mentioned, the amount of capital stock actually paid in, and the amount of stock securities deposited, with the circulation based thereon; and, also, the maximum capital authorized by their several charters, as it is set down in the Banker's Almanac for the year 1856:

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