In 1873 the number of school corporations in the county was 42, increased to 87 in 1909. The number of ungraded schools in the former year was 178, and 166 in the latter year. The average number of months the schools were in session has increased from 6.6 in 1873 to 8.9 in 1909, and the average compensation from $39.78 to $73.50 for males, and from $26.33 to $50.85 for females. The number of female teachers employed in 1873 was 244, and in 1909, 503. The number of male teachers was 90 and 40 respectively. In the matter of attendance there has been a vast betterment. In 1873 there were 460 boys and 544 girls between the ages of seven and fourteen not in school. In 1909 these numbers were 29 and 17. The value of school property in 1873 was $240,105; in 1909, $814,300. The value of school apparatus was $2,309.50 in 1873, and in 1909, $20,035.25. There were in 1873 in the school libraries 482 volumes, which was increased to 17,079 in 1909. There are now between twenty-five and thirty fine school buildings in the country districts. They are modern in all respects, being supplied with slate blackboards, hardwood floors, ventilators, cloak rooms, bookcases and cupboards. Several have furnaces and cloak rooms in the basements. Some of the buildings are supplied with telephones, making it possible for the county superintendent and patrons to communicate direct with the school. The plans and specifications for these buildings are owned by the county, and are furnished gratis to the school districts wishing to build. All of these school-houses except two or three are not only provided with libraries, cloak rooms, etc., but are also provided with a good organ. This year there is being installed a hot air ventilating system which keeps the warm air pure, the cold air being taken directly from the outside and passed through the hot air radiators before being allowed to enter the school room. [Illustration: CORNELL COLLEGE IN 1865] CHAPTER XXIII _Historical Sketch of Cornell College_ BY WILLIAM HARMON NORTON, ALUMNI PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY, CORNELL COLLEGE Linn county may well take pride in the history of her oldest school of higher education, founded in 1853, when the county held but 6,000 people. But the beginnings of Cornell College are of more than local interest; they are thoroughly typical of America and of the West. Cornell was founded in much the same way as were hundreds of American colleges along the ever advancing frontier of civilization from Massachusetts to California--a way which the world had never seen before and will never see again. THE FOUNDATION AND THE FOUNDER