miles there is but one place where the expenditure for grading would be considerable. This is the crossing of Macoupin creek. Here a considerable embankment with a bridge and cutting through the bluffs is required. The whole grade from Alton to New Berlin, could easily be contracted for a sum less than three thousand dollars per mile, and the whole sixty-five miles could be fully completed with a T rail, at a cost not exceeding ten thousand dollars per mile, or an aggregate cost of $650,000. (Locomotives, cars, engines-houses, depots and all other fixtures, together with the right of way, would not probably exceed the sum of $150,000---making the total cost of the work $800,000.)
The road proposed would either pass through or drain the products from the counties of Madison, Macoupin, Sangamon, Logan, Macon, DeWitt, Christian and Morgan. As Madison is situated on the Mississippi river, and will probably do the greater portion of its business independent of the rail road, it is entirely left out of the following calculations, though very much of the business of the parts remote from the river must be done on the road. One-third of Morgan county is also deducted from the estimates, it being presumed that at least one-third of its business will be done independent of the road in the direction of the Illinois river.
The population of the eight counties, Madison, Macoupin, Sangamon, Logan, Macon, DeWitt, Christian and Morgan, in 1840, was 69,019, and in 1845, was 75,609. By the same ratio of increase, the population of these counties is estimated in 1850 at 96,526. Deducting the estimated population of Madison and one-third of Morgan, leaves the estimated population of the counties, whose business will all be done on the rail road, in 1850, at 67,073.
The productions of the above counties, except Madison, in 1840, were as follows:
Horse and Mules, ..... 23,383
Neat Cattle, ..... 69,086
Swine, ..... 196,679
Bushels of Wheat, ..... 245,890
do of Indian Corn, ..... 3,582,659
Estimating the increase of production from 1840 to '45, and from 1845 to '50, in the proportion to the increase of population, we have the production of 1845 as follows:
Horses and Mules, ..... 26,866
Neat Cattle, ..... 80,150
Swine, ..... 237,777
Bushels of Wheat, ..... 284,334
do of Indian Corn, ..... 4,231,455