Illinois Central Railroad River Walk

Illinois Central Railroad River Walk. . , (these are seven different markers in which the history of the Illinois Central Railroad is told. They are all spread out from each other.) , .In 1819, Congress donated land to the new state of Illinois for a capitol city. Five commissioners were named to choose the actual location. Traveling up the Kaskaskia River in May 1819, they choose a wooded area known as Reeve's Bluff, located on the river's west bank about 90 miles northeast of Kaskaskia., .The railroad line was to be built from Cairo, where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers converge, to the northern cities of Galena and Chicago., .British and Dutch investors supplied much of the capital required for construction. As many as 10,000 workers at a time engaged in the 4 year project., .In 1851 the Illinois Central Railroad became the first land grant railroad in the United States when the State of Illinois gave 2.6 million acres of federal land to the railroad., .Abraham Lincoln was a lobbyist and an attorney for the railroad for a decade. Lincoln successfully defended the railroad company against the efforts to tax its property and received the largest fee of his career, $5,000., .At the time of the lines completion in 1856 it was the longest railroad in the world at 700 miles in length and cost $25 million., .Coal and Civil War troops, along with numerous other supplies, were transported on this railroad.