of the Chicago branch of the Illinois Central Railroad, as well as the Chicago market.

The Northern Coal Mining and Transportation Company, is the name of a new association, lately formed at La Salle; their coal beds are adjacent to the lands of the La Salle Coal Mining Company; they are about to commence operations by sinking a shaft on the line of the Central Railroad, about half a mile further north.

The mines in the vicinity of Morris, in Grundy County, are yielding a large amount of coal.

The Kingston Coal Mines are situated in Peoria County, and the lands of that region consist of about 1180 acres. The depth at which

the coal lies varies, the surface being very uneven.

Its greatest depth

is seventy-five feet, while in other places, even where it has been worked, it is no more than ten. It lies 108 feet above the river level. It is divided into two unequal parts by the intervention of a thin stratum of plastic clay.

There are also extensive and valuable mines on the line of the Illinois Central Railroad, in the southern part of the State. Those at Du Quoine, and De Soto, are yielding abundance of a good quality.

The valleys of the Sangamon and Spoon Rivers also contain beds of coal, and it is also found in Schuyler, and several other counties lying between the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers-that district usually called the "Military Tract."

Salt Springs are found in the southern counties. Several years since they were worked quite extensively, and as some of them yielded largely, they will doubtless again come into use, as soon as it shall be deemed practicable to invest more capital in the enterprise, and when labor becomes less expensive, so as to enable the owners to work them with profit.

With regard to this branch of industry, the reader may direct his attention to the Saline, Coal, and Manufacturing Company. This company has bought a portion of land, commencing at a point about two miles below the mouth of the Saline, on the Ohio River, (106 miles above the mouth of the latter,) in Gallatin County, Illinois, and extending two miles along the banks of the Ohio, from the mouth of the Saline.

The fact of the existence of salt here, was well known, even whilst

this spot was yet Indian territory, when millions of bushels were manufactured. When it was ceded to the United States, by a treaty made with the Indians, such portions of the tract as were known to contain a salt deposit, or other minerals, were reserved from sale by the government. However, it was subsequently donated to the State of Illinois. It is supposed that some 15,000 bushels of salt can be obtained, per annum, from these Salines. The company, however, have made the production of iron their principal business. The difficulties in carrying on the salt manufacture are by no means as great here, as in Missouri, on the iron mountains, or on Lake Superior-as in those places the facilities for conveyance are not fully established. The company, with their capital of three millions, have on hand a sufficiency of fuel, and have very excellent landing and shipping places, and considering the continued and constantly increasing demand for iron, they cannot be in want of custom. The annual call for bar iron amounts to 350,000 tons, of which 250,000 are imported. The land in this section is well timbered, and furnishes a first class building material; numerous salt springs water the land. The coal veins crossing the land at this place are of an average thickness of 32 feet, and the coal contained in these beds is estimated at about 180 millions of tons, while the quality of coal is said to be as good as any in the whole State of Illinois.

In the southern part of Illinois deposits of marble of different colors have been found. They will compare favorably with most of the imported marbles, used for ornamental purposes, and it closely resembles some varieties of Egyptian marble. Several pieces of black marble, remarkable for depth of color, and high polish, have lately come from that region. A light-colored, nearly white marble, from the vicinity of Thebes, appears to be among the best that has been met, for almost every purpose of in and out-door work.

A specimen of marble conglomerate from Pike County, is one of the most beautiful ornamental rocks that has ever been met with in the West. It much resembles the "Potomac marble," used in the pillars of the capital at Washington, and seems to be quite durable.

Argentiferous Lead Ore.-There is a quantity of lead now worked by the Linden Mining Company, near Chicago, which is highly argentiferous. Three specimens of the ore, assayed by a competent

assayer, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have yielded: 1840 ounces of silver to the ton of ore; another, 1200, and the third, 1600 ounces. The agent of the company, not satisfied with this test, has sent an average sample of the ore to Dr. Hays, of Boston, the State Assayer of Massachusetts. Should he pronounce it argentiferous, containing only the lowest estimate of the Philadelphia assayer, then there can be no doubt, judging from the quantity of ore already raised, the known extent of the mine, and the ease and cheapness with which it is worked, that it is far the most valuable mine of any description in the United States.

The two north-western counties of the State of Illinois, form a part of the richest and most extensive lead region known in the scientific world.

During the year 1854, there were received in Chicago, by the Galena Railroad, 4,051,346 pounds of lead; and it further appears, from authentic statements, that the products of these lead mines shipped during the last five years, from Galena, were as follows:

1851.-474,115 pigs, equal to 33,188,050 lbs., of the value of $1,534,062 44.

Nothing can better show the wealth and importance of the mining region of the Upper Mississippi, than the above statement. The consequence is, that the city of Galena and surrounding country have increased in wealth and population very rapidly, of late years.

Arrangements are now being made for the construction of whitelead works, at Galena, and there is no other spot in the United States, where a manufactory of this kind would be as profitable.

A short time ago, a discovery of a rich layer of iron ore was made, about two miles distant from the little town of Moline, in Rock Island County. This layer is supposed to extend over a space of 75 acres. The veins of ore appear two or three inches below the surface of the earth, and they are eight or ten inches thick.

The annexed geological map will explain to the reader the great geological riches of the State, more fully than it can be done by words.

COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES OF

CHICAGO.

IN comparing Chicago, as it was a few years since, with Chicago of to-day, we behold a change whose veritable existence we would be inclined to doubt, were it not a stern, indisputable fact. Rapid as is the customary development of places and things, in the United States, one will yet be forced to admit, that the growth of Chicago and her trade, stands without a parallel. Chicago, now hardly twenty years old, whose port in 1831 was frequented by four small vessels, two brigs, and two schooners, then fully adequate to satisfy the commercial wants of Northeastern Illinois and Northwestern Indiana, together, in 1855 witnessed, beating in her harbor, 6610 vessels, of 1,608,845 tons burden, and in the same year exported more grain than any other commercial emporium throughout the world; Chicago, which in 1823 was but a wretched village of ten frame huts, and sixty inhabitants, in 1855 numbered 83,509 inhabitants, and in the same year dealt more largely in timber than the markets hitherto the most considerable in the world can boast of.

Thus, as far as regards the grain and lumber trade, Chicago has surpassed all rivals, and as far as regards the money market, has also already evinced that independence, which alone can form the safe and substantial basis of a far-reaching commerce. In spite of an obstinate bank dispute, and the diminution by several millions, of the bank capital of Chicago, in consequence of the redemption, in part, of the Georgia bank notes, till then circulating in Chicago, the capital concentrated in that city proved, nevertheless, fully adequate to all wants created by the increase of business, and the immense importation of grain.

There are many reasons why the position Chicago will assume a few years hence, will be even much more important than that which