It was years before the first railroad was built
in Illinois, and as all inland travelling was on horseback or in the
stage-coach, each year hundreds of miles of wagon road were opened
through woods and swamps and prairies. As the county of Sangamon was
large and eagerly sought by immigrants, the county surveyor in 1833,
one John Calhoun, needed deputies; but in a country so new it was no
easy matter to find men with the requisite capacity.
[Illustration: CONCORD CEMETERY.
From a photograph by C.S. McCullough, Petersburg, Illinois. Concord
cemetery lies seven miles northwest of the old town of New Salem, in a
secluded place, surrounded by woods and pastures, away from the world.
In this lonely spot Ann Rutledge was at first laid to rest. Thither
Lincoln is said to have often come alone, and "sat in silence for
hours at a time;" and it was to Ann Rutledge's grave here that he
pointed and said: "There my heart lies buried." The old cemetery
suffered the melancholy fate of New Salem. It became a neglected,
deserted spot. The graves were lost in weeds, and a heavy growth of
trees kept out the sun and filled the place with gloom.
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