strings: Yet, however desirable an object the construction of a railroad through our country may be; however high our imaginations may be heated at thoughts of it,—there is always a heart-appalling shock accompanying the amount of its cost, which forces us to shrink from our pleasing anticipations. The probable cost of this contemplated railroad is estimated at $290,000 ; the bare statement of which, in my opinion, is suffcient to justify the belief that the improvement of the Sangamon River is an object much better suited to our infant resources.