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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;johnmilton, post: 7507174, member: 101855&quot;]Soon after Abraham Lincoln struck out on his own, he settled in a frontier town named New Salem, Illinois. Lincoln had helped to move a boat that gotten caught in the river next to the town, and he decided to stay. One of his early occupations was storekeeper. He went into business with another man who turned out to be drunk and the business failed.</p><p><br /></p><p>There is almost nothing left of the original New Salem. The town was built on the assumption that it would prosper from the river that flowed by it. Unfortunately the river was too narrow and shallow and could not support merchant shipping.</p><p><br /></p><p>Today, most of what there is came from a Depression era government project in which previously unemployed workmen rebuilt the town to make it look like was in Lincoln&#039;s time. They didn&#039;t get everything right. For example it is now believed that the Lincoln store was located 10 or 20 yards behind the location of this structure.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1297173[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Here are couple of pictures of the interior.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;[ATTACH=full]1297174[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1297176[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>It might have been fun to have gone through the cash drawer of the original store. All sorts of coins might have been it, including very few U.S. coins. In 1832, it was estimated that there more people living in the United States than U.S. coins in circulation.</p><p><br /></p><p>Given the condition of this 1832 dime, I dare say it did not spend much time in circulation or cash drawers, but it did exist at the time.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1297183[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Lincoln ran for a seat in the Illinois State Legislature in 1832. He finished 8th in a field of 13 candidates and did not win a seat. He did get 277 of 300 votes that were cast in New Salem. Lincoln was elected to the legislature in 1834 and quickly became one its leaders.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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