By: James D. Walker, Pub. 1840, 666 pages, Index, soft cover, ISBN #978-1-63914-00-9. Illinois has had quite the interesting history to statehood in 1818. French Canadian explorers starting arriving in the late 1600's via the Mississippi River. They established missions and forts along various rivers before retreating back into what is now Missouri. This allowed the British to take rule over these lands from the French. After the Revolutionary...