Indiana and Illinois

Hello, from the St. Louis, the Gateway to the West. Today we will stop at the Arch and the Museum of Western Expansion. Although we have not yet seen the Arch, we know we are in St. Louis because we saw Josey Wales.

Yesterday we traveled across southern Ohio, southern Indiana and southern Illinois. Some of the richest farmland in the world was still lying fallow after the harvesting of winter wheat and soybeans and before the planting of summer crops. In Indiana, the crossroads of America, there was in fact a cross at a crossroads shown in the picture.

In Illinois, about thirty miles northeast of Effingham, we took our first unscheduled detour to see the Lincoln Log Cabin state historical site. This is the site of Abraham Lincoln's father, Thomas Lincoln, last residence. A small family farm. The site also contains the Stewart farm, a neighbor of Thomas Lincoln who in 1845 ran his farm as part of the new market based economy in the United States. The site contrasts the operation of the two farms in 1845, Lincolns run to support his family (up to seventeen people at one time) with a small amount of crops used for barter at the local store while Stewart ran his farm for profit in a market based economy. During the “interpretive season” which is a little later in the year, volunteers play local characters from Illinois in 1845 and actually work both farms. Tools and the products that they produced are on display there including some beautiful quilt work. It was well worth the hour that we spent there.

Next: Arriving at my sister's. The Gateway to the West.