Illinois in 1837 & 8: With a Map.

The second edition of Mitchell’s volume promoting the state of Illinois and westward expansion.

The idealized “frontier” has deep roots in American history, but the concept shifted throughout the course of the 18th-20th centuries. In the early decades of the 1800s, the midwestern states of Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky represented the opportunity, adventure, and wilderness that many associate with the frontier.

Samuel August Mitchell was looking to capitalize on that familiar interest with this publication; issued in 1838 in Philadelphia. In the preface, Mitchell references the allure of the west and provides a flowery description of Illinois climate, soil, and industrial opportunity. The following 143 pages provide overviews of the state’s history, minerals, rivers, political organization, and geography. County summaries, a list of principal towns, tables of statistics, and numerous letters of praise are also included.

Tipped into the book is a scarce map of Illinois, also published by Mitchell. The preface states “the accompanying Map of Illinois is, for its scale, probably the most complete yet published; it contains, it is believed, all the United States surveys available at this time; the whole of the counties, seventy in number, organized in the state; and will be found, on examination, to correspond with the descriptive part of the book, – a desideratum not always found in publications of this kind.”

Apart from relating directly to the text, the map also shows the latest transportation routes and internal improvements, though it predates Chicago’s first railroads. Canal Port is home to many of the workers on the Illinois and Michigan Canal, though construction was halted the year prior from the Panic of 1837.