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Document 7 –

Report on Canal Lands Sold
 

January 29, 1833
 


Document 7
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Transcription

                                  Auditors Office Vandalia
                                              29th January 1833~
Sir

           In obedience to a Resolution of the House of
Representatives calling on the Auditor to report the
number of Town lots and quantity of Canal Lands sold
on the canal route and the amount for which the same
were sold, I have the honor to submit the following
statement viz –
              The number of lots which have been sold
in the town of Chicago are 124 and were sold for the
sum of –––––"––––––  .     .     .     .     .  $4357.00
The number of lots which have been sold
in the town of Ottowa are 7. and were
sold for the sum of  .      .      .     .      .     . 162.00
The quantity of Canal land which has
been sold is 10.746 acres and was sold
for the sum of__ _ .     .     .     .     .     .  14.405.83
All of which is respectfully submitted

                                    James T.B. Stapp Auditor

To the Hon
         Speaker of the House of
                                          Representatives
                                                                Ill.

Explanation

The board of canal commissioners had been formed by the General Assembly in 1829 to oversee the establishment of a canal route, the selection of federal lands adjacent to it as provided by the U.S. Congress, and the construction of the canal itself. The commissioners had in 1829 found a route and selected those adjacent lands to which the state was entitled. It held the first sales of selected lands in 1830 at Springfield and then Chicago (see document 3 and document 5). Receipts totaled $13,704.64. Sales held in 1831 brought only $500.23 and ones held in 1832 raised $4,594.00, so at the end of 1832 total land sale revenue amounted to $18,789.87. (The figures provided in document 7 are not entirely correct.) Unfortunately the canal commissioners’ expenses for this period totaled $15,973.07, leaving a net balance of only $2,825.80.

By this time it was being debated in public forums whether or not a railroad might be a more efficient means of linking Lake Michigan to the Illinois River. The General Assembly abolished the canal commissioners with an act approved February 15, 1831 and the project for a time was left in limbo. When Chicago was incorporated as a town in 1833 its population numbered approximately 350.

Points To Consider

Why was the state legislature inquiring as to the amount of canal lands sold and the price they had brought?

Why had a town been laid out at Ottawa and why were its lots not selling as well as those at Chicago?

What was the total sum raised from the sale of canal town lots and rural acres? Was $18,924.83 a sufficient sum with which to construct a canal connecting Lake Michigan to the Illinois River in 1833?

Why had more revenue been raised from selling rural acreage than by selling town lots?

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