About 1820, the State of Illinois was being rapidly settled by people from the eastern states. Prior to this time, very few white settlements had been made in the state. These early pioneers, drawn from the population of the eastern states, were composed of almost all nationalities. They pushed their way across the mountains of Pennsylvania and Virginia in crude wagons, drawn by oxen, bringing with them their household goods and a few milk cows. They came into Illinois, built new homes, and laid out new fields on the broad, unsettled prairies.[2] [Illustration] [Illustration] Beginning with the year of 1800, when there were only a few people in the state, the population has increased very rapidly, as is shown by the following statistics, taken from the United States Census Report (special supplement for the State of Illinois): Year Population 1790 1800 5,641 1810 24,520 1820 147,178 1830 343,031 1840 685,866 1850 851,470 1860 1,711,951 1870 2,539,891 1880 3,077,871 1890 3,826,352 1900 4,821,550 1910 5,638,591 _Cattle and Cattle Feeding_[3] When Illinois was first settled, almost the whole of the middle and the northern parts of the state were covered with a rank growth of native grasses, which furnished an ample supply and variety of forage of fair quality. "In the southern districts were heavy forests, but in the central and northern sections were but few groves or other timber growths to afford shelter to stock." The prairie grasses that grew in the central and northern districts were usually devastated by fire during the fall. However, the general fencing and cultivation of the land put a stop to the burning of these dead grasses of the prairies, and soon groves of oaks sprang up and covered many uncultivated spots. The leaves which stayed on these trees throughout the winter until spring, furnished valuable shelter to stock from the raw winter winds. At the beginning of the settlement of Illinois, very little attention was given to the cattle interest. The pioneer settlers, however, had brought a few milk cows with them from the eastern states, but these cows were kept for milk only, no thought being given to beef production. After a few years, a few pure bred cattle were brought in, at which time some attention was given to beef, as well as to milk production, not for the beef produced, however, but principally to give a ready market for their grain crops. The practice of raising beef cattle to market grain continued from then until near the end of the nineteenth century, when cattle feeding was no longer profitable as a grain market, and the question was: "How much beef can be produced from a bushel of corn?"[4]