Saline County, Illinois

Saline County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the population was 26,733. Its is. Saline County is home to the smallest and the largest  in America. There are three major towns in Saline County connected by, and the now abandoned Cairo & Vincennes/New York Central railroad, from north to south, Eldorado, Harrisburg, and Carrier Mills.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,002 (387 ). 993 km² (383 sq mi) of it is land and 10 km² (4 sq mi) of it (0.95%) is water.

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History
Saline County was formed from Gallatin County in 1847. It is named for the and the springs from which salt was produced in the early history of Gallatin County.

Saline County was nearly named "Moredock County", in honor of John Moredock, "Indian slayer". Moredock was an early settler of Illinois who, as a young boy, witnessed the massacre of his family, and spent much of the rest of his life ambushing and murdering Native Americans. Although many early settlers regarded this as wrongful, Moredock was never charged with any crimes.

The creation of Saline County was extremely controversial. Illinois originally had a small number of very large counties. As settlement proceeded, new counties were formed out of the original counties as a routine matter. Gallatin County was an early county that was formed in 1812, and quickly split into around fifteen counties, with Gallatin County remaining with what is now Saline County. This persisted for several decades after the era of rapid formation of counties.

was the original county seat of Gallatin County. At that time Old Shawneetown was the largest city and commercial center of Illinois. It was, however, located on the eastern edge of the County. In 1826 the County seat was moved to the new village of, near the center of what was then Gallatin County. Old Shawneetown opposed this move, and sought redress by splitting off Saline County, with the aim of moving the County seat of what remained back to Old Shawneetown. Thus the impetus for the formation of Saline County came not from settlers at the fringe of the County, but from the core of the original County.

Saline County was created by a voice vote in the General Assembly in 1847. Completion of the formation of the County, however, involved three acts of the General Assembly, four decisions of the Illinois Supreme Court and two referendums. The controversy came to involve the leading attorneys of Illinois, including.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 26,733 people, 10,992 households, and 7,232 families residing in the county. The was 27/km² (70/sq mi). There were 12,360 housing units at an average density of 12/km² (32/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 94.14%, 4.06% or , 0.29% , 0.20% , 0.01% , 0.34% from , and 0.95% from two or more races. 0.97% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 10,992 households out of which 28.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.90% were living together, 10.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.20% were non-families. 31.30% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.90.

In the county the population was spread out with 24.00% under the age of 18, 8.20% from 18 to 24, 25.10% from 25 to 44, 23.70% from 45 to 64, and 19.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 92.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.50 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $28,768, and the median income for a family was $37,295. Males had a median income of $31,131 versus $19,276 for females. The for the county was $15,590. About 10.40% of families and 14.20% of the population were below the, including 18.80% of those under age 18 and 11.60% of those age 65 or over.

Employment and Public Services
Coal mining makes up the largest percentage of industrial employment in Saline County. The county is home to the Galatia Mine, which by industry standards is the largest underground coal mine in Illinois and currently employs close to 500 workers. The mining and exploration industry feeds other sources of employment such as coal and materials hauling and excavation. Construction fields and services also benefit from Saline County's mining industry.

Other employment in the county is generally made up by the medical, social and state services. Harrisburg is home to the Harrisburg Illinois Youth Center which is operated by Illinois Department of Corrections and holds male juvenile offenders.

The county is served by Southeastern Illinois College, a two-year community college located 13 miles east of Harrisburg.

Hospitals serving the county are Harrisburg Medical Center and Ferrell Hospital in Eldorado. Public health services are administered by Egyptian Health Department.

Public transportation is provided by the Rides Mass Transit District.

Cities and towns

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