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Caption: Booklet - Engineering Experiment Station and Industry (1909)
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1 THE ENGINEERING EXPERIMENT STATION AND ITS RELATION TO ILLINOIS INDUSTRIES. L. P . .BRECKENRIDGE, M . W . S . E . Presented May 5, ipop. The State of Illinois is most advantageously situated in relation to the continually increasing industrial activities of the Middle West. The wonderful fertility of its soil has made it for many years foremost in the wealth of agricultural products. The climate and rainfall have favored the production of immense crops of corn, wheat and oats, and fully 75 per cent of its great area (56,650 sq. mi.) has been prepared for cultivation. Its fuel supplies are enormous, its yearly product is next to Pennsylvania in amount and it probably has within its borders today more bituminous coal of usable grades than has any other state. It is not strange that to these fertile fields came many settlers. It is not strange that on the edge of its Great Lake was planted its now great city. After people come, transportation is provided, then manufacturers follow to supply the needs of the people. Then more people come to distribute the products of farm and factory, wealth accumulates, and still more factories are built to supply luxuries as well as needs. State and municipal institutions spring up and multiply. Provision is made for the penal, charitable and educational needs of state and city. What seemed large provision soon becomes inadequate and the work of a few years ago must be torn down and in its place must be put up again a new and larger and more modern structure. The stores and bank and the library are all soon too small and must be built anew. So it has been with Illinois, so it is now with Illinois. A great agricultural, a great mining, a great manufacturing, a great commercial, and a great transportation State, teeming with a vigorous, wide awake, progressive population surpassed in numbers only by New York and Pennsylvania and surpassed in opportunities and energy by none. The story of the growth and development of the industries of Illinois is most interesting. The growth has been rapid and natural. It has not been held back by any natural barriers and progress has been easy compared with that of some of the states earlier settled. There are a few significant facts which should be continually before the citizens of Illinois. These facts should make them feel the possibility of accomplishing great undertakings, and should impress upon them the responsibilities which their wealth, their position and their opportunities impose. To some of these interesting facts your attention is directed under the heading of 1 f
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