;T;; n^* ifi*u i ^r K -?J?S5SEffl'iWr^:S,*J^K 

 
 LIBRARY OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 
 STEWART S. HOWE 
 
 JOURNALISM CLASS OF 1928 
 
 STEWART S. HOWE FOUNDATION 
 
 977.31 
 At54s
 
 THE STORY OF 
 CHICAGO 
 
 AND 
 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 
 
 1534-1910. 
 
 BY 
 
 ELEANOR ATKINSON. 
 EDITED AND EXTENDED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE LITTLE CHRONICLE COMPANY. 
 
 THE LITTLE CHRONICLE COMPANY, 
 
 PUBLISHERS, 
 
 358 DEARBORN STREET, 
 
 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.
 
 COPYEIGHT, 1903, BY THE LITTLE 
 CHRONICLE PUBLISHING CO. 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY THE LITTLE 
 CHRONICLE COMPANY.
 
 
 PEEFACE. 
 
 This little book has been prepared by several hands as a text to be used by educators in 
 teaching the things of the middle West, particularly Chicago. Mrs. Atkinson, the author 
 )f the original, produced a charming story for boys and girls and won many friends in 
 their ranks as well as among educators all over the United States. We have had many 
 requests for the story in book form. In response to repeated requests we ran the story a 
 second time in our magazine, THE WORLD'S CHRONICLE. Now we meet the further de- 
 mands and present it in book form. 
 
 The editors of THE WORLD'S CHRONICLE have worked over most of the details in an 
 attempt to bring the story down to date. The whirl of events in the city are such that 
 ink hardly dries on an article on Chicago before the writing becomes out of date because of 
 the march of events. 
 
 We have almost despaired of giving figures for anything in this book because the fig- 
 ures of good things grow so rapidly over night. Yet we have persisted in giving them, 
 trusting to our ability to revise as time goes on, and believing the schools need the figures 
 of this year now and that orders will come for revised editions every year. We plan to sell 
 out our editions fast enough to keep the story ever new and true. 
 
 Special thanks are due to The Chicago Association of Commerce for data supplied, to the 
 city archivist, to the librarian of the Chicago Historical Society, and to many individuals 
 Avho have assisted us in making the work as accurate and interesting as it now is. Sugges- 
 tions from educators using the work will be gladly received and thankfully, for we know such 
 suggestions will come in time for an early revision. When a city grows 10,000 a month 
 no set of writers can keep pace with all its progress. So we invite the help of our friends. 
 
 A statement of the main fact regarding the present state of the city is being carried 
 forward from week to week in the Illinois Teachers' Edition of THE WORLD'S CHRONICLE 
 with a view to issuing a second book or of adding pages to the original in its next edi- 
 tion. The city government, city hall, fire department, police department, health depart- 
 ment, the county government, that of the state, the parks, water supply, sewers, care oi 
 streets, transportation, gas and electric lighting, tunnels, and plans for improvement of the 
 city, are all proper subjects for more complete treatment than could be given in the pre.s- 
 L'lit limits of the work. 
 
 The industries of the city, such as the Stock Yards, the rolling mills, the grain trade, 
 the manufacture of agricultural implements, the lumber trade, machinery, electrical sup- 
 plies, furniture, books, musical instruments, boots, shoes and clothing, are all to be given 
 close attention as a supplement to the present work for the use of teachers and pupils who 
 desire to know them minutely and accurately. 
 
 Chicago is a great subject. We trust we have laid enough of it before our readers to 
 give them a better appreciation of its greatness.
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Chapter I. The Pathfinders 1 
 
 Chapter II. The Gateway to the Mississippi 8 
 
 Chapter III. The French in the Mississippi Bottom 17 
 
 Chapter IV. Under Three Flags 24 
 
 Chapter V. Fort Dearborn, the Beginning of Modern Chicago 33 
 
 Chapter VI. On the Frontier 42 
 
 Chapter VII. The Town of Chicago 50 
 
 Chapter VIII. Development of Transportation 58 
 
 Chapter IX. Twenty Years' Progress 66 
 
 Chapter X. Chicago in War Days 73 
 
 Chapter XI. Chicago Before the Great Fire 78 
 
 Chapter XII. The Great Chicago Fire 83 
 
 Chapter XIII. The Ruined City 88 
 
 Chapter XIV. The Phoanix City 92 
 
 Chapter XV. The World's Fair 96 
 
 Chapter XVI. Labor and Right 100 
 
 Chapter XVII. The Government Supreme 102 
 
 Chapter XVIII. Looking It Over 104 
 
 Chapter XIX. Education, Philanthropy, Religion Ill 
 
 Chapter XX. Chicago Becoming Esthetic : 116 
 
 VI
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO 
 
 AND 
 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 
 
 BY ELEANOR ATKINSON. 
 
 Edited, Enlarged and Continued by the Editorial Corps of 
 THE LITTLE CHRONICLE COMPANY. 
 
 Note. It Is suggested that all schools at points 
 to'iohec 1 <n th' work make a study of local history. 
 State and county history have preserved much of 
 whirh far too little Is brought into the schoolroom. 
 There Is scarcely a town from Nova Scotia to Saint 
 Anthony's Palls and down to New Orleans along the 
 waterways followed by the French, from which a his- 
 torical exc-xrsion could not easily be conducted. 
 
 Mrs. Mary Hartwell Catherwood's "The Story of 
 Tcnty" may be read with much pleasure and profit as 
 it makes the friend of La Salle, "the man with iron 
 band," a living personage and invests Starved Rock 
 and other historic portions of Illinois with lively 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 The Pathfinders. 
 
 (1534-1673.) 
 
 The Strange Adventures of 
 Jean Nicolet. In the spring of 
 the year 1634, a number of birch- 
 bark canoes manned by Huron 
 Indians, turned south after pass- 
 ing the Strait of Michilimackinac 
 and into the "Lake of the Illi- 
 nois," as Lake Michigan was 
 called by the tribes who lived on 
 its shore. Pausing only at night 
 to camp on some one of the 
 numerous green islands that dot 
 the reaches of blue water, the 
 Hurons pushed on to Green Bay. 
 They were on a peace mission 
 to the "Men of the Western 
 Sea," whose country they had 
 never seen, but whose warriors 
 often fell on the villages of the 
 Hurons which lay on Lake Nipis- 
 sing, six weeks distant, by canoe 
 journey, to the east. 
 
 When they reached Green Bay a crowd of 
 painted savages rushed down to the shore, bran- 
 dishing their bows and arrows and ignoring the 
 peace-pipes which the visitors displayed. The 
 Hurons were not men to show fear. They raced 
 their canoes through the surf and grounded them 
 high on the beach. From the foremost boat 
 sprang a white man who wore a magic robe of 
 green silk encrusted with a profusion of birds 
 
 images. Her "Romance of Bollard" is the story of 
 the heroes of the Long Sault : and her "White Island- 
 er" is the story of a French girl among the Indians 
 on the Island of Mackinac. 
 
 It would be a good idea for pupils to locate on an 
 outline map of North America the disposition of the 
 various tribes of Indians and the posts and missions 
 established by the French. It will be found that the 
 St. Lawrence was the dividing line between tribes 
 friendly and tribes hostile to them. This will help to 
 explain the struggle that was to take place in the 
 next century for the possession of North America 
 and the defeat of the French. 
 
 and beasts and flowers, in brilliant colors. The 
 savages fell back in amazement, and before 
 they could gather their wits again the white 
 man threw up first one hand and then the other, 
 and thunder and lightning roared and flashed 
 from the tips of his fingers. 
 
 Who was this white man who first startled the 
 woods and waters of Wisconsin with a pistol 
 shot? Where did he come from? How did he 
 reach Lake Michigan only fourteen years after 
 the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Eock? 
 And why was he dressed in the robe of a Chinese 
 mandarin? 
 
 His name was Jean Nicolet. He had come 
 from France. He wore a mandarin 'a robe 
 'because he thought the "Western Sea" might 
 wash the shore of China or India, and that such 
 a costume would win the confidence and respect 
 of the natives. 
 
 But we shall have to go back a century, to 
 account for Jean Nicolet, before we can dis- 
 cover what his venturesome voyage led to. 
 
 The Division of the New World. Exactly one 
 hundred years before, in 1534, Jacques Cartier 
 sailed into the St. Lawrence river and claimed 
 for France the country drained by it. In 1542 
 De Soto found a grave in the Mississippi, which 
 he explored from the south as far as the mouth 
 of the Arkansas. In 1565 Spain established a 
 military post at St. Augustine, Florida, and, in 
 1">84, Sir Walter Ealeigh discovered and claimed 
 Virginia for England. 
 
 Thus the fields of future colonization in North 
 America were roughly blocked out; but the
 
 THK STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Seventeenth Century was to open before any 
 serious attempts at settlements were to be 
 made by any European nation. Then, two years 
 after the founding of Jamestown, Virginia. 
 Samuel de Champlain arrived at Quebec. 
 
 LOUIS JOLIET. 
 
 The Conqueror, the Colonizer and the Adven- 
 turer. From the very first the English, French 
 and Spanish explorers differed in all their aims 
 and methods. The Spaniards were conquerors. 
 They had but one object: to enrich Spain. The 
 English came to found new homes. Their out- 
 posts were always in a hostile country, but they 
 held and peopled every foot of soil they gained. 
 The French, at first, came neither as home- 
 builders nor as exploiters, but as merchants, to 
 secure the monopoly of the fur trade of the 
 Canadian forests to France. 
 
 It is clear, from the geo- 
 graphical position occupied by 
 the three colonizing nations 
 of the Atlantic seaboard, that 
 the French were destined to 
 be the first to penetrate far 
 into the interior. The English 
 settlers had a wall of moun- 
 tains the Appalachian ranges 
 to bar their way; the Span- 
 iards had a limitless ocean 
 front and innumerable tropic 
 islands to engage all their 
 powers. But the French, with 
 no room to spread along the 
 coast, had the St. Lawrence 
 and the chain of lakes, form- 
 ing a matchless and inviting 
 highway into the wilderness. 
 
 In New France, as Canada was then called, 
 the trader and the explorer flourished, while the 
 ant tier was but indifferently developed. There 
 ^?a? no material out of which to make him. To 
 
 the Frenchman of that day the toil of the 
 pioneer was distasteful. He was romantic, and 
 gain appealed to him less than the heroic. 
 Today, in the colonial possession of France- 
 Algiers, Madagascar, French Congo and Ton- 
 quin, the Frenchman displays similar character- 
 istics. He pushes far into the interior, seeking 
 adventure and empire, but he does not, as a 
 rule, occupy the land except with military forces, 
 nor till the soil. 
 
 The French who actually did settle in Acadia 
 and all along the St. Lawrence and the Missis- 
 sippi were thrifty and domestic and their de- 
 scendants today make up a large percentage of 
 the population of these regions. They use the 
 French language and retain as far as practicable 
 many of the old world customs to this day. 
 Americans who visit such localities are struck 
 with the remarkable reserve of the American 
 French who still prefer to transact business in 
 the old language and carry on the operations of 
 their very productive farms as nearly in the 
 manner of their fathers as possible. They pre- 
 ferred throwing up dykes to reclaim lands from 
 the tide or from the streams to cutting down 
 forests. The spade was their favored instru- 
 ment rather than the ax when settlements were 
 laid out. 
 
 Their farms were usually narrow with one 
 . end touching the water or the highway so the 
 houses could be close together. This accounts 
 for the surprising array of fences so close 
 together and running back from the water 
 which we see on a trip down the St. Lawrence 
 or along the bayous of Louisiana. 
 
 But the French explorer was different from 
 the French settler. He was a romancer, a hero, 
 an adventurer, a soldier with his gaze fixed on 
 the distant hills. The whole French court was 
 surging in miniature ebb and flow in his heaving 
 
 JOLIET AND MARQUETTE STARTING ON VOYAGE TO THE MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 breast. 
 
 Here in the New World what the Frenchman 
 won in trade was spent lavishly in adventure. 
 La Salle threw away his personal inheritance,
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 his, rrant of the seigniory on Montreal Island, 
 ana all ne could beg from his relations and 
 ..luin the crown, to win an empire for France, 
 lie did only, but in a larger way, what every 
 man in New France, of as good birth and for- 
 tune, dreamed of doing. He was an excellent 
 representative 'of the spirit of New France. In 
 moral daring and self-sacrifice he was matched 
 by the early missionaries. 
 
 The French had many characteristics which 
 fitted them to take the highest advantage of 
 thei position in the New World. They had 
 urbanity and adaptability. The savage tribes 
 were picturesque rather than disgusting to them. 
 The hunters, fishers, sailors, traders, adventurers 
 
 PERE MARyUETTE. 
 
 From an oil painting discovered on a cart or 
 rubbish in Montreal, 1897; artist, R. Roos, 1669; 
 and labelled, "Marquette de la Confrerie d>3 
 Jesus. ' ' 
 
 who came to Quebec with Champlain, felt lor 
 the Indian neither the Spaniard 's scorn nor the 
 Englishman's moral and social superiority. Th3 
 brave was mon frere sauvage (my wild brother). 
 Without any sense of degradation they went at 
 once into the forest, lived with the natives, 
 adopted their dress, habits, and speech, and toox 
 squaws for wives. 
 
 It was Champlain, the "Father of New 
 France," as he is called by Parkman, who 
 shaped the destiny of France in America. It is 
 said by historians that he came to Quebec with 
 no other thought than to develop the fur trade 
 in Canada; but, as he stood on the forest- 
 crowned bluff, afterwards known as the Height? 
 of Abraham, three hundred miles from the 
 ocean, and watched the broad flood of the St. 
 Lawrence pour out of the wooded wildernes to 
 the southwest, he realized the colossal scale on 
 which this unknown continent had been planned, 
 I'.nd it fired his imagination. 
 
 "Whence came this mighty stream?" 1-e 
 
 asked himself. He thought it must rise in the 
 Sou^I\ u I that across some distant watershed 
 he might find the head waters of De Soto 's 
 ' ' Great river. ' ' Whoever could hold these two 
 rivers, he argued, would be masters of the con- 
 tinent they drained, and of the East Indian 
 trade. The vast extent of North America and 
 of the Pacific ocean had not been guessed. The 
 object of exploration in the New World was still 
 the discovery of a western route to the Orient. 
 
 In the year after he reached Quebec Cham- 
 plain made an expedition to the south by way 
 of what is now the Richelieu river. This brought 
 him to the lake between New York and Ver- 
 mont which bears his name. After .the dark 
 nines and spruces which give the predominating 
 force to the St. Lawrence, Champlain was en- 
 chanted by the autumnal colors of the woods 
 that clothed the Adirondacks. 
 
 How an Indian Skirmish' Turned the Course 
 of History. He rode and marched down Lake 
 Champlain and its shore very nearly to Lake 
 George, and must soon have come to the Hudson, 
 up which Henry Hudson had, the year before, 
 sailed in the Half-Moon. Somewhere near Ti- 
 conderoga, the French explorers and their Algon- 
 quin guides met a band of Iriquois Indians 
 probably the Mohawks. The Iroquois were 
 defeated, but Champlain gathered none of the 
 fruits of victory, for the Algonquins turned and 
 fled back to Canada. 
 
 The Iroquois tribes, who occupied the region 
 south of the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, in 
 the present state of New York, were the hered- 
 itary foes of the Algonquin tribes north of the 
 river. The news of this battle must soon run to 
 Lake Erie and start the Five Nations on the 
 warpath. As the Iroquois were the bravest, 
 brainiest, and most ferocious of the tribes of 
 eastern North America, the Algonquins consid- 
 ered discretion the better part of valor. 
 
 The French in New France were never to 
 forget or cease to regret that small engagement 
 which seemed so trivial at the time. Within 
 the next hundred years the Five or Six Nations, 
 as they were known after being joined by the 
 Tuscaroras of the Carolinas, were to sweep every 
 tribe from their path to the Mississippi. The 
 Dutch of New York and afterwards t'\e British 
 ised them to check the exploration of the 
 branch, furnishing them with fire-arms amo" up- 
 jilies, in return for skins and military setice. 
 Had the French allied themselves with the Cro- 
 quois, instead of with the Algonquius, whose 
 power was waning, the history of the American 
 continent, as we now know it, must havo been 
 radically different. 
 
 Down the St. Lawrence into the Wilderness. 
 The route to the south thus closed to French 
 explorers, they turned to the great water Hgh- 
 way to the west. Tn Hill Champl-ii" o;ir.~'l a 
 trading post nt Montreal. To this point the 
 H-.iron Indians an outcast band of Tr^o-io' who
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 had fled from the south and sought protection 
 and alliance with the Algonquins brought skins 
 and specimens of copper ores from the upper 
 lakes in their canoes over the Ottawa river. 
 Every Huron village on the Ottawa and Lake 
 Nipissing soon had its group of young French- 
 men, who were very much at home with their 
 red brothers of the forest. To the Hurons' Iro- 
 quois hatred was dealt out in double measure. 
 These they drove, at last, to the edge of the 
 Sioux country at the head of Lake Superior. 
 
 It was in this way that Jean 
 Nicolet came to live among the 
 Hurons on Lake Nipissing. The 
 Hurons were enjoying a respite 
 of persecution from the Iro- 
 quois, at this period, but they 
 had an annoying foe in a tribe 
 which they called the "Men of 
 the Western Sea." These were 
 the Winnebagoes of Green Bay. 
 Famous canoeists they must 
 have been, for they thought lit- 
 tle of taking a six weeks' voy- 
 age eastward, over wild and de- 
 vious waters, just to stir up the 
 Hurons. 
 
 It was in 1634 that Nicolet 
 conceived the idea of heading a 
 peace mission to these ' ' Men 
 of the Western Sea." The 
 priest of Montreal blessed him NICOLET AMONG 
 and absolved him of his sins, and Father Cham- 
 plain, who was to die before Nicolet returned, 
 gave him the mandarin's robe, for it might be 
 this young explorer's fortune to arrive on the 
 shore of China or India. In that case such a 
 robe would inspire respect. As a protection 
 Nicolet armed himself with a pair of the duel- 
 ling pistols that were used so skillfully by all 
 adventurous Frenchmen in the age of Louis le 
 Grand. 
 
 So the first French explorer to reach Lake 
 Michigan set his face westward and disappeared 
 in the wilderness of woods and waters. 
 
 It would now be but a few days' journey by 
 steamer, from Lake Nipissing, off Georgian Bay, 
 Lake Huron, to Green Bay, Wis. Pleasant towns 
 and lumber camps are to be seen on the shores,, 
 and there are glimpses of broad pasture lands 
 and golden wheat fields through the clearings. 
 The Canadian Pacific railway runs a branch 
 line along the north channel of Lake Huron to 
 the Sault Ste. Marie. 
 
 To Nicolet this journey was a six weeks' voy- 
 age by canoe through waters which, in all prob- 
 ability, had never before teen traversed by a 
 white man. Spruce and pine forests shut "in 
 the tortuous course of the French river like 
 prison walls, and marched with the shore of the 
 North Channel in dark rtuika. Everywhere Xico 
 let "topped at the nation of the Beavers on 
 L?k" FK v.'\ fi*, t?ia Ojibwa village at the Falls, 
 
 at the retreats of the Ottawas on the Manitou- 
 lins and of the Pottawatomies on the islands 
 outside of Green Bay he was warned of ven- 
 turing among the savage Winnebagoes. Along 
 his journey he had passed through only Algon- 
 quin tribes, and these allies of the French were 
 concerned for his safety. 
 
 His wonderful robe clothed him with mystery, 
 however, and his pistols invested him with su- 
 perhuman power. At Green Bay were soon col- 
 
 THE WINNEBAGOES. Drawn by Mr. Bridgeman 
 
 lected 5,000 red men and their families, made 
 up of Winnebagoes, Menominees, Foxes, Sacs 
 and Mascoutins. Nicolet seems to have made 
 friends with them all, and to have lived among 
 them on the most amicable terms for two years. 
 
 They told him, at last, of the Great river to 
 the west, that flowed southward through a land 
 of burning heat. No man knew where it reached 
 the sea. Nicolet very nearly had the honor of 
 discovering the Mississippi from the north. He 
 went down Fox river, made the portage across 
 the prairie to the Wisconsin and reached a point 
 within fifty miles of where Prairie du Chien 
 stands today. For what reason is not known, 
 he turned back. It was nearly forty years be- 
 fore Joliet and Marquette followed in the foot- 
 steps of this explorer, who reported in Montreal 
 that he had been near the Great river "whence, 
 in three days, one could journey to the South 
 sea." 
 
 Some one must soon have discovered the Mis- 
 sissippi but for the fact that the Iroquois In- 
 dians entered upon a thirty years' war against 
 the Hurons, the Algonquin tribes and their French 
 allies. They swarmed over Lake Ontario and 
 the St. Lawrence, drove the tribes far to the 
 north and west, and shut the French up in their 
 three- fortified settlements Quebec, Montreal 
 and Three Rivers. For at least a quarter of a 
 century the French scarcely dared venture out- 
 side their fortifications. Canada writhed for
 
 THE STOKV OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 twenty years, with little respite, under the 
 scourge of Iroquois war. 
 
 In 1660, when there were but 3,000 white peo- 
 ple in all New France, the three towns were in 
 danger of extermination. Eight hundred Iro- 
 quois were encamped below Montreal and 400 
 more on the Ottawa. This united force was to 
 lay siege to one stronghold after the other, until 
 all should be reduced by starvation, when the 
 forts were to bo destroyed by flames. 
 
 What Twenty-one Heroes Did. The comman- 
 dant in Montreal, at the time, was one Adam 
 Daulac, the Sieur des Ormeaus, better known as 
 "Dollard. " He conceived the idea of leading 
 a band of volunteers against the savage enemy. 
 Sixteen others joined him in the march up the 
 Ottawa. Before starting on that heroic expe- 
 dition they made their wills, confessed their sins 
 and received the last sacraments of the church. 
 They never expected to come back, for they had 
 sworn neither to give nor to ask quarter. They 
 hoped only to give the Iroquois such an example 
 of the bravery and the fighting qualities of 
 white men that should save the forts from at- 
 tack. 
 
 This little band reached the rapids of the Ot- 
 tawa (called the Long Sault or Soo) in May. 
 There they found a rough Iroquois fort built 
 of stakes and falling to ruin. This they repaired, 
 built an inner wall, and filled in the space with 
 earth, leaving loop holes for firing. They had 
 only pounded corn to eat and no water, although 
 the sparkling river laved the wall of their de- 
 fense. An Algonquin and four Hurons joined 
 them. 
 
 Day after day this heroic band held the little 
 fort in the woods against 700 Iroquois who 
 camped around it, and they picked off scores of 
 Indians through the loop holes. It ended in the 
 only way it could end the extermination of 
 the defenders. The sacrifice saved the colony 
 of New France. The Iroquois had had fighting 
 enough. They argued that if seventeen French- 
 men and four Indians, behind a picket fence, 
 could hold off 700 Iroquois so long and each 
 demand a score of lives for his own, what might 
 they not expect from hundreds of men fighting 
 from behind stone walls? 
 
 This story is told here to illustrate what sort 
 of men were to reach and explore the Mississippi 
 and the upper lake region and to give their 
 names suitable prominence in the history of Chi- 
 cago. 
 
 The Altars in the Wilderness. Daring and De- 
 votion of the Missionaries. The missionary 
 priests were no less daring and devoted. A 
 number of Jesuits came out to New France as 
 early as 1626 and scattered through the woods 
 around the river and the lower lakes. There- 
 after, priests of this order were with every har- 
 ried band of Hurons and Algonqnins. sleeping 
 on the ground, listening for the midnight alarm, 
 living on roots and berries and the results of 
 
 the chase; rearing their altars in the forests, 
 comforting dying warriors, taking squaws and 
 children to their scattered kindred and them- 
 selves dying strange obscure deaths in unhal- 
 lowed lands. 
 
 It is not a matter for wonder, therefore, to 
 find Pere Rene Menard on the south shore of 
 Lake Superior in 1661, with a band of fugitive 
 Hurons. He led his savage flock, who needed 
 all the consolation his religion could give them, 
 to Chequamegon Bay, that beautiful sheet of 
 water on which Ashland, Washburn and Bayfield, 
 Wis., now stand. A long, lovely, green-rimmed 
 arm of the ' ' big sea water ' ' fringed, on the 
 outer edge, by the Apostle islands, twenty-seven 
 in number, it is today a popular summer resort. 
 
 But gloomy enough it looked to that starving 
 band of Hurons, in the beginning of the winter 
 of 1661. The water was dark and stormy, the 
 islands masses of funereal evergreens. Father 
 Menard set up his altar near the city of Ash- 
 land. A stockade cut off the point, and canoes 
 for escape were moored on the shore. In the 
 spring a better fort was erected on Oak Point. 
 Pere Menard perished in the woods, in some ob- 
 scure way, like so many of the heroic brothers 
 of his order. 
 
 There was soon another to take his place, for 
 Father Claude Allouez arrived in 1665, and built 
 the mission of La Pointe du St. Esprit (the 
 point of the Holy Ghost) between the sites of 
 Ashland and Washburn on the shore of the bay. 
 The original La Pointe mission was thus on the 
 mainland, and not on Madeleine island, where 
 there is an Indian mission some seventy years 
 old. 
 
 This mission at La Pointe was among the Ot- 
 tawas, Ojibwas and Hurons. But Pottawatomies, 
 Miamis, Kickapoos, Sacs, Foxes, Sioux and Illi- 
 nois Indians all visited it, and marveled at the 
 altar fittings, the missionary 's vestments and 
 the tall wax candles and incense that gave such 
 splendor and mystery to the bark chapel. Father 
 Allouez remained at La Pointe four years. His 
 mission is notable only because of the stories 
 he brought back when he returned to Montreal, 
 in 1667, on a visit. He reported that, beyond 
 the country of the Sioux, lay the end of the 
 world, and that the Great river, which was called 
 the Messippi by the Indians, fell into the sea 
 by Virginia. 
 
 This news was sent to France. It was the 
 age of Louis XIV, and Count Frontenac was rul- 
 ing at Montreal as royally as was the grand 
 Monarque at Versailles. The word went forth 
 that New France must keep pace with the glory 
 of Old France. In 1669 Father Allouez was di- 
 rected to go to Green Bay to establish the mis- 
 sion of St. Francis Xavier, near the mouth of 
 Fox river, while Father James Marqtiette, a 
 priest known for his youth, his beauty of char- 
 ;ictcr :ind his xi'sil. \v;is sent from Sjmlt Ste. 
 M.-iric. where lie had helped Father Bnl.lon estab- 
 lish a mission, to La Pointe.
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 The French Claim. There were thus three mis- 
 sions on the upper lakes when, in the year 1671, 
 occurred at the Sault Ste. Marie, the stately 
 ceremony of proclamation of French sovereignty 
 over the Great Lakes. This ceremony took place 
 in the presence of several Algonquin tribes who, 
 harried from the east by the Iroquois and from 
 the west by the Sioux, were only too glad of 
 this promise of French protection. 
 
 The mission at La Pointe had to be abandoned. 
 The Hurons and Ottawas, not content with their 
 hard-earned peace, provoked the Sioux to war. 
 Father Marquettc led his unhappy Hurons back 
 to Michilimackinac, where he founded the mis- 
 sion of St. Ignace, while the Ottawas took refuge 
 on the Mauitoulius near the strait. How many 
 starving bands of AlgonquiQB were then living 
 precariously on the wooded islands and on the 
 defensible points of land amid the wild waters 
 of the upper lakes! 
 
 The Lake Superior region was closed to the 
 French by the Sioux. The mission of La Pointe 
 was not to be re-established for 170 years. Exit 
 was sought to the south over the Lake of. the 
 Illinois. This was helped forward by the fact 
 that the tribes of Wisconsin came peacefully 
 under the dominion of France. The moment had 
 come now for the men! 
 
 Where was Father Marquette's mission of St. 
 Ignace at Michilimackinac? The name belongs 
 to an island, a strait and, later, to a town on a 
 point extending into the strait from the south 
 shore. But on the northern shore of the strait, 
 in upper Michigan, was also an early mission 
 known as St. Iguace. Indeed, the northern point 
 is known today as Point St. Ignace. This has 
 brought about confusion. Both sides of the strait 
 claim the honor of Marquette's mission. 
 
 There does not seem to be any doubt, how- 
 ever, that it was on the south shore, at what 
 was afterwards known as Old Mackinac, that 
 Father Marquctte established his mission of St. 
 Ignace. It was there that all voyageurs and ex- 
 plorers stopped in their journeys over the upper 
 lakes, for there was anchorage for a fleet in 
 Mackinac Bay. The place seems thus early to 
 have been known to the French, for Marquctte 
 had no more than set up his cross, built a bark 
 chapel and gathered his Ottawas and Hurons 
 about him in a village on the sandy beach below 
 the cliffs, when a trader and explorer sought shel- 
 ter in the bay. 
 
 It was Louis Joliet, who was going back to 
 Montreal with copper ores which he had taken 
 from Indian mines at the head of Lake Su- 
 perior, and who paused for a blessing at Father 
 Marquette's mission. There, at Old Mackinac, 
 as they sat around the council fire and Joliet 
 smoked a peace-pipe with the chiefs, the frail 
 young priest with the luminous eyes told the 
 trader that, when at La Pointe, a band of 
 strange Indians, who called themselves Illini, 
 ia<3 come from the south, and begged him to 
 
 return with them to their village by the "Mes- 
 sippi" which lay thirty days' march djstant. 
 
 He had promised to go, but he must await 
 the permission of his superiors in Montreal. His 
 heart was filled with longing to carry the cross 
 to the tribes along the Great river. He told 
 his story and the desire of his heart to Louis 
 Joliet. With a last wave of the hand and a 
 benediction the two parted, never, perhaps, ex- 
 pecting to meet again. One was going through 
 a hostile country, where many adventurers per- 
 rished every year, to Montreal, and the other 
 was wearing out a fragile body by labor and 
 fasting in a land beset with danger and hard- 
 ships. 
 
 Not a word reached across those hundreds of 
 leagues of wilderness, on which to feed hope. 
 But in just two years Louis Joliet returned to 
 Michilimackinac with the joyful news that he 
 had been commissioned to find the Great river 
 and that Pere Marquette was to go with him 
 as a missionary. 
 
 To that saintly soul on his forest and wave- 
 girt rocky point, this news was like an answer 
 to two years' ceaseless prayers to the Virgin. 
 
 The Search for the Great River. The French 
 explorer and missionary who were to re-discover 
 
 Marquette's map of region traversed by him- 
 self and Joliet showing return through Chicago. 
 
 the Mississippi from the north, set out on their 
 voyage in May, 1673, in two birch-bark canoes. 
 They were accompanied by five Indians. For 
 supplies they had only some bags of corn and 
 dried meat. They carried the weapons of the 
 hunter to obtain food, but for their safety they 
 depended on the peace-pipe, and on the cross 
 which Father Marquette lifted to heaven in an 
 appeal for help whenever danger threatend. 
 They followed the route Nicolet had taken
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 nearly forty years before, going by way of 
 Green Bay, Lake Winnebago, the Fox and Wis- 
 consiu rivers. In just one month their canoes 
 glided past the bluff where Prairie du Chien 
 now stands, and rocked on the blue waters of 
 the Mississippi. 
 
 They had f.ound the Great river! 
 
 Parkman has told in his "Discovery of the 
 Great West," all that is known of that won- 
 derful voyage, and of the journey back by way 
 of the Illinois river. The year was young and 
 the landscape that unrolled before them, in 
 bluff, prairie and tender woods, enchanted them 
 so that Marquette 's journal reads today like 
 the setting of some classic romance. 
 
 On the way down the Mississippi they stopped 
 at an Illinois Indian village on the west bank 
 of the river, below the mouth of the Des Moines. 
 There the explorers were told of a shorter route 
 back to the Lake of the Illinois (Lake Michi- 
 gan). They were directed to go up the Illinois 
 river to the portage to the river now known 
 as the Chicago and which was occupied by 
 tribes of the Illinois Indians. This was a branch 
 of the great Algonquin family and would prove 
 friendly to the French. 
 
 It was thus that, in the Illinois Indian vil- 
 lage of Kaskaskia, which stood where Utica, La 
 Salle county, Illinois, stands today, that the ex- 
 plorer and missionary rested in as fair a wil- 
 derness as ever gladdened the eyes of white men. 
 
 With all that civilization has done to this 
 landscape it remains unchanged in many of its 
 aspects today. The plow has turned up the 
 prairie sod; the forests have been cut from the 
 bluffs, and grown again; towns and railroads 
 and farmsteads have been built, and cliffs blasted 
 for lime rock and sandstone. But remove that 
 modern town, the farm houses, quarries and rail- 
 roads, and people the meadow with red men; 
 sweep away the iron bridges and let the river 
 rock the fleets of bird-like canoes; let smoke 
 rise from lodges instead of factories 'and loco- 
 motives, and you will have restored to you the 
 very landscape on which Marquette and Joliet 
 gazed. 
 
 There is the valley of the Illinois, yellow with 
 corn as of old, when squaws planted; the ver- 
 dant line of hills, a cleft in the bluff for the 
 Big Vermilion to break through, and, on the 
 south bank of the river, an isolated cliff with 
 three precipitous sides, that is now known in his- 
 tory as La Salle 's "Eock of St. Louis," and to 
 the vanishing tribes of the Illini, of a century 
 or more later, as "Starved Eock. " 
 
 Through the Portage which Became Chicago. 
 When ready to depart, Joliet and Marquette 
 were furnished guides to the Lake of the Illinois. 
 
 No record of this passage through what was 
 afterward Chicago is now in existence, except 
 the mute testimony of Marquette 's map. Joliet 's 
 (naps and papers were lost by the capsizing of 
 his canoe in the La Chine rapids of the St. 
 Lawrence, when he was within sight of the fort 
 at Montreal. But that he gave an account of 
 the portage to La Salle there is proof which 
 will be presented in the course of this narrative. 
 
 Joliet could scarcely have arrived at Montreal 
 before Pere Marquette was retracing his foot- 
 steps. He had promised the Illinois Indians 
 that he would return and found a mission at 
 Kaskaskia. The Pottawatomie Indians, of the 
 islands and shore below Green bay, begged the 
 missionary to wait until spring, but his health 
 was failing so fast that he feared to delay. 
 
 It was late in October and the lake was stormy 
 when Marquette embarked for the return voyage. 
 Two French coureurs du bois, named Pierre and 
 Jacques, and a band of Pottawatomies accom- 
 panied him, and the party was guided by In- 
 
 THE ROCK OP ST. LOUIS (STARVED ROCK). 
 
 On the meadow below this cliff at Utica, 111., 
 was located the great Illinois Indian village of 
 Kaskaskia, numbering 2,500 at the time of 
 Joliet 's and Marquette 's visit. 
 
 dians from the Illinois village. There were ten 
 anoes in all. 
 
 Every night this company camped on shore, 
 and in some places they were detained for days 
 when storms raged on the lako. In this way 
 Marquette saw, and described in his journal, 
 every stream between Green Bay and Chicago. 
 It was the 14th of December when the exhausted 
 party arrived at "Portage river," as the French 
 translated the Indian term for our Chicago river 
 of today. It had no distinctive name, but was 
 simply the outlet to the portage or carrying- 
 place between the lake and the Illinois. 
 
 What sort of welcome do you think was ex- 
 tended here to this weary saint, who was so 
 soon to die, with his name linked forever to 
 the history of this region of marvels?
 
 The cities were the centers of Greek and Roman civilization and in our own time they dominate the 
 life, culture, and business enterprise of the world. Were they to disappear, our whole life, even in the 
 country, would necessarily undergo a profound change and tend to become primitive again like that of the 
 age of Charlemagne. Robinson : History of Western Europe. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The Gateway to the Mississippi. 
 
 (1674-1700.) 
 
 Summary. Of the three colonizing nations in 
 the New World in the Seventeenth century the" 
 French alone were so placed that they could 
 'each the great West at an early period; the 
 hostility of the Iroquois 
 compelled them to expand 
 in this direction rather than 
 Southward across New York 
 and Ohio. When they had 
 got as far as the Lake Su- 
 jr-c-nor region further prog- 
 ress westward \vas cut off by 
 the ferocious Sioux, and 
 they were forced to return 
 to the northern end of Lake 
 Michigan. Sailing south ou 
 the lake, they came to 
 Green Bay, proceeded by 
 water to the portage to the 
 (.Prom Lincoln Wisconsin river, sailed down 
 Park Statue.) this to the Mississippi, down 
 LA SALLE. the Mississippi to the mouth 
 "A man born to O f the Arkansas, and back 
 command. ' ' by the way of the Illinois to 
 the portage to the Chicago river, and so, through 
 what is now Chicago, into Lake Michigan. To 
 this point Marquette returned alone. 
 
 Marquette's Winter in the Trader's Hut. 
 The site of Chicago was inhospitable and dreary 
 to the last degree the day Marquette arrived at 
 the mouth of the Chicago river in December, 
 1674. For eight days high winds prevented the 
 canoes from rounding the sandbar that ob- 
 structed the mouth of the river. The only shel- 
 ter from the bitter winds and from the waves 
 that buffeted the low shore was among the 
 stunted trees and underbrush on the sand-dunes 
 north of the river. Of human habitation on the 
 lake shore there was no sign. The place was 
 used as a highway, and no Indian village was 
 ever located on the shore at this point. 
 
 For miles up and down the shore, and back 
 to the horizon, twelve miles to the west, where 
 a low ridge marked the ancient limits of Lake 
 
 Michigan and formed a part of the long water- 
 shed between the Mississippi and St. Lawrence 
 river systems, stretched one vast tract of half- 
 frozen marsh. Through this swamp the river 
 flowed so sluggishly that the lake had piled up 
 a long sandbar and forced the stream to run 
 parallel to the shore for a half mile before it 
 found an outlet. The Chicago river thus flowed 
 into Lake Michigan not where it does today 
 but five blocks south, at the foot of Madison 
 street, two blocks north of the spot now occu- 
 pied by the Art Institute. 
 
 Far to the south, beyond a grove of oaks 
 which began near Thirty-fifth street, Stony 
 Island, a hillock of disintegrated rock, and Blue 
 Island, a long mound of blue clay, both left by 
 the glacier that had receded ages before, rose 
 
 ROBERT CAVELIER. SIKUR DE LA SALLE. 
 (From the Margry Portrait.) 
 
 <; Look into his face and you may see why he 
 was to become the first great self-made man who 
 ever trod the streets of Chicago." 
 
 above the spongy flats. In their neighborhood 
 an intricate network of shallow streams con- 
 verged into Calumet Lake through territory now 
 occupied by several suburban towns. School 
 children of Chicago go to these "islands" today 
 
 8
 
 THE STORY OJ: CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 to study the effect of glacial action. 
 
 Marquette did not take note in his journal of 
 the forkings of the Chicago river, but otherwise 
 lie gave an accurate and minute description of 
 the region. The peculiar sandbar which ob- 
 structed the mouth would alone serve to identify 
 it. Francis Parkman, who lived for years in 
 the footsteps of the early French explorers, 
 states positively that the missionary spent the 
 winter of 1674-75 on the Chicago river. 
 
 Little did Marquette dream that two hundred 
 years after his mission on earth was finished a 
 city larger than any of Europe in his day was 
 to spring up on this dreary marsh, vanish in 
 flames, and again rise in greater beauty and 
 strength from the ashes. And little did the 
 Pottawatomie Indians who saw the Chicagou 
 portage for the first time dream that this land 
 was to become the scene of their council fires; 
 that they were to wage war to the death with 
 the Illinois Indians with whom they now vied 
 in attentions to Marquette; that when a cen- 
 tury and a third had passed their descendants 
 were to dance around the blazing fort of the 
 first white settlers in Chicago. 
 
 The Indians with Marquette 
 were concerned about getting 
 the missionary to some sort of 
 shelter, for it was clear that 
 he was too ill to complete the 
 journey to Kaskaskia, nearly 
 one hundred miles to the west. 
 When, on the 12th of Decem- 
 ber, the river had frozen over, 
 they improvised a sledge of 
 their canoes and dragged him 
 up the stream. How they <? 
 must have longed for the com- 
 fortable dome-shaped, rush- 
 matted, skin-lined lodges of Kaskaskia and 
 its stores of maize and pemmican! 
 
 Where Did the Hut Stand? Where, now, did 
 the missionary find a resting place? He says 
 himself that they proceeded "about two 
 leagues" up the river, where they found the 
 abandoned hut of two couriers du vois, who were 
 in the woods with the Indians. This hut had 
 doubtless been left by a trader. The trader long 
 preceded the explorer and missionary in the 
 great West, but he was usually too ignorant or 
 indifferent to leave any record of his wander- 
 ings. 
 
 But does this vague description help us very 
 much after the changes of so many years? The 
 river has been widened, deepened and straight- 
 ened, the very course of the water turned west- 
 ward into the Drainage canal. The old sandbar 
 is gone, and a deep harbor occupies the place 
 of shallow water. More than 250 square miles 
 of marsh have been drained, filled in, paved 
 and built over. All inequalities of surface and 
 ancient landmarks have disappeared. 
 
 A mile and a half back from its old mouth 
 
 at Madison street the river branched, as it does 
 today. There were portages into the Desplainea 
 from the North branch, the South branch and 
 the Calumet, all of which were used by the In- 
 dians. It is generally agreed that the South 
 branch was the one followed by Marquette, for 
 by both the other routes the measurements are 
 almost double those given by him. 
 
 But now comes confusion. The league has 
 varied in length in every country and century, 
 and so has the mile. The English land league 
 and the marine league used by seamen was three 
 miles long. France had leagues of 2.42, 2.764 
 and 3.52 miles in length. In the Seventeenth 
 century the posting league of 3.52 miles was 
 
 -MAP OF CHICAGOU PORTAGE AND LOCATION 
 
 OF MARQTTETTE'S CABIN. 
 
 "It is on this bit of ground on the 
 
 edge of the oak woods, that, the cabin has been 
 located by Mr. Dilg. ' ' 
 
 used by French explorers in the New World. 
 "About two leagues," then, would have meant 
 something less than seven miles. Before that 
 distance is reached on the Chicago river, how- 
 ever, the South branch forks again into the West 
 and South forks. Upon which of these was the 
 cabin located? 
 
 Had the party been going directly through to 
 the Desplaines the West fork would have been 
 followed, for this was the portage route. As- 
 suming that they intended going on, one histo- 
 rian at first located the cabin hear where Ash- 
 land avenue crosses the West fork. Upon fur- 
 ther investigation he placed it at the foot of 
 Center avenue, near Twenty-second street, where 
 the famous Lee's Place cabin afterward stood. 
 This point was only a league and a half from 
 the mouth of the river. Still later, however, 
 this same historian concluded that the cabin 
 must have been close to the stockyards on the 
 South fork. 
 
 The West fork is on the portage, while Mar- 
 quette says he was ' ' near the portage, on a 
 little hillock." The West fork was uniformly
 
 THE STOKY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 low and marshy. On the South fork there was 
 a bit of rising ground where is now the cast 
 end of the Thirty-fifth Street bridge, at the in- 
 tersection of Center avenue. This point was 
 six miles from the mouth of the river. 
 
 It is on this bit of ground that was elevated 
 above the marsh, and that stood on the edge of 
 the oak woods, thus being dry and somewhat 
 sheltered from the winds that swept the plain, 
 the cabin has been located by Mr. Carl Dilg, 
 an archaeologist of Chicago. By a dozen 
 years of tramping and digging in the ground 
 to find sepultured bones, chert arrow-heads, an. I 
 fragments of Indian pottery, he has succeeded 
 in mapping all the Indian villages and trails in 
 Cook county. His map covers forty miles of 
 lake shore and all the territory back to the 
 ridge at Eiverside. It is only a manuscript map 
 today and it is kept locked in the safe at the 
 Chicago Historical Library. 
 
 To the writer of this history Mr. Dilg has 
 given this valuable fragment of his map and 
 the data explaining it, showing the Chicagou 
 portage, by way of the South branch, into the 
 Desplaines, the land trails and water route and 
 the location of the Marquette cabin. Whether 
 he is right in all his conclusion? is not deter- 
 mined, but certainly no one else has gone so 
 exhaustively into this obscure field of inquiry 
 or presented his material so convincingly. 
 
 In our map, which is clear of the confusion of 
 streets which criss-cross maps of Chicago today, 
 you can see the entire region was one of natural 
 waterways. The forks of the Chicago and tiie 
 Desplaines almost inclose a tract called the 
 Mud Lake region. The entire tract was subject 
 to overflow, the lake expanding to the highest 
 banks of the streams in every spring freshet. 
 It is down the bed of old Mud Lake that the 
 Illinois and Michigan canal and the Drainage 
 canal have been led until, at the town of Sum- 
 mit, they are carried over the higher level, after 
 which they follow the valley of the Desplaines. 
 
 Marquette said that in dry weather the In- 
 dians had to carry their canoes across the prairie 
 nine miles, but when the prairie was flooded 
 there was only half a league one and three- 
 fourths miles to be made by land. These meas- 
 urements have been verified by modern surveys. 
 
 On the rise at Thirty-fifth street on the South 
 fork Mr. Dilg found all the evidences of an 
 Indian village. Marquette says that Indians 
 were camped around his cabin. At this point, 
 also, the Tyanockee trail branched, one branch 
 going down to the Calumet region and the other 
 crossing the South fork near the stockyards. 
 The missionary says that Illinois Indians passed 
 his door carrying their furs. He was thus on 
 dry ground, in the shelter of trees, in an Indian 
 village, and on a constantly traveled trail. In 
 such a situation he could best be cared for. 
 
 The winter could not have been other than 
 dreary. Wind and snow held high carnival on 
 the bleak wastes. -With the alternate thawing 
 and freezing of the slough and the watercourses 
 hunting must have been difficult. Few Indians 
 remained in the village over the winter, but 
 were off in the woods where game was more 
 plentiful. The two French voyageurs with Mar- 
 quette killed three buffaloes and four deer, and 
 other supplies were brought in by Mascoutins 
 the rude and boorish tribe which then occupied 
 the site of Chicago. Once a French voyageur 
 visited the sick missionary, coming a hundred 
 
 THE CHICAGO PLAIN. 
 
 "Back to the horizon, fifteen miles to the 
 west, where a low ridge marked the ancient 
 limits of Lake Michigan * stretched 
 
 one vast tract of half-frozen marsh. ' ' 
 
 miles, in all probability, for a blessing. 
 
 It was late in March when the ice broke up 
 in the Desplaines and flooded the prairie. Mar- 
 quette embarked from his cabin door in a canoe 
 and was rowed back to the portage and across to 
 the ridge. Both Eiverside and Summit claim the 
 honor of being at the west end of the Chicagou 
 portage, and Summit has erected a monument of 
 rock from the Drainage canal near the Alton 
 depot to mark the supposed spot where Mar- 
 quette left, his caiioe and crossed the ridge to 
 the Desplaines. 
 
 One historian takes the position that Mar- 
 quette crossed at Summit in the autumn of '73 
 when with Joliet, and at Riverside on the second 
 voyage in the spring of '75. Marquette, in his 
 famous journal, says: "Here we commenced 
 our portage eighteen months ago, ' ' which clear- 
 ly conveys the information that he used the 
 same route on both voyages. 
 
 10
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Suggestions for Teachers and Pupils. In con- 
 nection with this chapter there are opportunities 
 for schools to make special local studies at Niag- 
 ara, Detroit, Mackiiiac, St. Joseph, South Bend, 
 Chicago, LaSalle county, Illinois, and Peoria. 
 Fort Crevecceur is believed to have been on the 
 Tazewell county shore of Peoria Lake, about a 
 mile and a half from the outlet. 
 
 The Chicago Historical Library is full of ma- 
 terial for the student. Here may be seen bronze 
 bas-relief panels and portrait busts, fine oil 
 paintings of the explorers, and water colors 1 of 
 the Mud Lake region, Starved Eock and other 
 points here mentioned. Miss Caroline Mcllvaine, 
 the librarian, has requested us to inform teachers 
 and schools that when visiting the library they 
 should first apply to her in the office at the 
 rear of the entrance hall. One of the attend- 
 ants will always be assigned to show and ex- 
 plain the matter illustrating any particular time 
 or event. 
 
 How the Indians "Surveyed" the Burlington. 
 The Riverside-Lyons ford was the one used by 
 the Indians in wet weather and dry. The 
 French explorers and voyageurs were usually 
 guided by Indians, and always followed the 
 .Indian trails. In later days the white settler^ 
 around Fort Dearborn used this Indian trail. It 
 was also followed by the earliest stage-coach 
 lines to the west, by the first plank road to Au- 
 rora and later by the builders of the Burlington 
 railroad. 
 
 This route was the straightest and dryest one 
 to the ridge, being above, flood level. Roads 
 and railroad beds were thus more easily graded. 
 
 Below the ridge at Summit was a bottomless 
 morass, on the borders of Mud Lake. Traces of 
 this swamp exist today. For this reason it was 
 found easier to lead the two canals over the 
 Summit-Level. Nature had already done much 
 of the excavating necessary. We must assume, 
 then, that it was at Riverside, a little north of 
 the Burlington railway bridge, where the shelv- 
 ing banks furnished an easy slope for launching 
 canoes, and later for a wagon ford, that Mar- 
 quotte embarked on the beautiful Desplaines 
 "the river of the maples" where in the first 
 warm days of spring the trees were covered with 
 scarlet bloom. 
 
 Marquette arrived in the great Illinois Indian 
 village of Kaskaskia in April. He was received, 
 as he quaintly records in his journal, "like an 
 angel from heaven." He seems only to have set 
 up a cross and an altar on the meadow below 
 the lordly bluff, to have confessed and blessed 
 his new converts, and then to have departed, a 
 sorrowful procession of Illinois warriors ac- 
 companying him back to the shore of Lake 
 Michigan. 
 
 Death of Marquette. Late in the month of 
 May, 1675, at the age of thirty-seven, he died 
 on the bank of a little stream in Michigan, just 
 
 south of the promontory called Sleeping Bear 
 Point. The little town of Glenn Haven stands 
 today nearest this historic scene, on the point 
 which extends from the mainland opposite the 
 Manitou Islands. The next year the bones ot 
 the missionary were moved by a procession of 
 thirty canoes, manned by Pottawatomies, Ot- 
 tawas and Hurons, to some other point, but as 
 to where they were taken the historians are not 
 agreed. Some say to Point St. Ignace on the 
 north shore of the strait, where a monument has 
 been erected to mark his tomb. Others say to 
 Frankfort or Ludington, Mich., in a country 
 the Pottawatomies were beginning to occupy, 
 and still others to the St. Francis Xavier mis- 
 sion at Green Bav. Still others claim the honor 
 
 LA SALLE'S LIEUTENANT, HENKI DE TONTY. 
 Tonty lost a hand in Italian wars and wore a 
 gloved hand of jointed steel. This is shown on the 
 bronze panel. 
 
 for Old Mackinac, declaring that he was laid 
 there under the floor of his bark chapel, all 
 traces of which disappeared in the half century 
 that British and American troops occupied the 
 post. This seems the most reasonable theory, 
 for LaSalle a few years later put into the Bay 
 of Mackinac in his sailing vessel and prayed 
 at Marquette 's grave before proceeding on his 
 voyage. 
 
 From the great West Marquette vanished like 
 some dim figure of a medieval saint. Long was 
 his spirit invoked by the Algonquin tribes to 
 still the tempests on the Great Lakes. Joliet 
 never returned to the West, but found in domes- 
 tic life in Montreal consolation for the loss of 
 his papers. 
 
 An Empire Builder and His Dreams. And now 
 there loomed up a man of different stamp from 
 either of these; one of imperial enterprise and 
 resource, of practical energy and undaunted 
 
 11
 
 THE STORY OP CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 courage; one with the spirit of the Twentieth 
 rather than of the Seventeenth century. Park- 
 man has called hhn the ' ' undespairing Nor- 
 man." 
 
 This was Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle. 
 Like the names of other men who have filled 
 unique places in history, his has been shortened 
 to LaSalle. 
 
 We are glad that we have in Illinois a city 
 and county of LaSalle; and it is fitting that 
 the great building occupied by the Board of 
 Trade in Chicago, which rules the price of grain 
 for the world, should front LaSalle street. If 
 this explorer were with us today he would bo 
 reaching out for the empire of commerce. He 
 was destined to explore the Mississippi to its 
 mouth, claim ilj vast basin for the French 
 crown, and give it the name of Louisiana. 
 
 When he began his task he was penniless, 
 unknown, of middle-class birth a handicap in 
 those days of privilege for nobles and be was 
 
 that the Mississippi flows into the Gulf of Mex- 
 ico. He knew that it has great tributaries which 
 he was sure must drain a fertile, temperate basin 
 more than a thousand miles wide. With this 
 knowledge he went to France and secured from 
 the king a commission to explore, fortify, col- 
 onize and trade in the Mississippi Valley. 
 
 LaSalle Begins His Great Work. He sold his 
 estate at La Chine on Montreal Island, mort- 
 gaged Fort Frontenac, which was included in 
 his grant, and thus obtained money to build a 
 fort at Niagara and a sailing vessel, the ' ' Grif- 
 fin. " The first sails were unfurled on the Great 
 Lakes in 1679 the "floating fort" the Indians 
 called it when it swung into the snug cove at 
 Michilimackinae and dropped anchor in the 
 midst of a hundred bark canoes "like a triton 
 among minnows." Its cannon awoke the echoes 
 of the wooded cliffs. At Marquette 's tomb La- 
 Salle prayed in a mantle of scarlet edged with 
 gold. No humble petitioner this, but a eon- 
 
 KASKASKIA IN 1901. 
 
 "In that lovely green peninsula an island today the mis- 
 sion established by Marquette was continued." 
 
 a man of few words and a haughty spirit that 
 repelled comradeship. He had been educated in 
 the order of the Jesuits taught to obey when 
 he was born to command. All these difficulties 
 he overcame. Look in his face and you may 
 see why he was to become the first great self- 
 made man who ever trod the ground which now 
 lies a dozen feet under the uavements of Chi- 
 cago. 
 
 When Joliet returned to Montreal in 1674 
 LaSalle was in command at Fort Frontenac, the 
 French frontier post at the foot of Lake On- 
 tario. You may imagine how he gloated over 
 Joliet 's maps and journal of that first voyage 
 down the great river, as a miser gloats over 
 treasure. For years he had dreamed of the em- 
 pire in the great West to be won for France. 
 Now his dreams took shape. He knew positively 
 
 qnoror, whom only death could defeat. 
 
 From Green Bay the "Griffin" was sent back 
 to Montreal with a load of furs. Guided by 
 Pottawatomies, who then occupied the east shore 
 of Lake Michigan to the Grand river, LaSalle, 
 with his fourteen white men and his faithful 
 Mohegan, Nika, paddled to the St. Joseph river. 
 There, while waiting for his lieutenant, Henri 
 de Tonty, who had preceded him to the Illinois 
 country to prepare for his coming, he built Fort 
 Miami. The St. Joseph and Kankakee rivers, 
 through the portage at South Bend, Ind., ever 
 afterward formed LaSalle 's favorite route to the 
 Illinois. In the next year he erected Fort Creve- 
 cceur at Peoria, and began to build a vessel on 
 Peoria Lake for the voyage down the Mississippi. 
 
 Leaving Tonty to fortify the bluff (now 
 Starved Rock) at Kaskaikia, which contained
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 ut that time no less than 460 Illinois Indian 
 lodges, LuSalle went back to Montreal for sup- 
 plies, for the ' ' Griffin ' ' had been lost on the 
 return voyage. In this journey (March, 1680) 
 he passed through Chicagou portage, of which 
 lie had had an account from Joliet. Because of 
 the ice he hid his canoes on an island in the 
 Desplaines, near the present site of the city of 
 Joliet, and struck across the prairie toward 
 Lake Michigan. Joliet, when detained at Fort 
 Frontenac, had told LaSalle that "it would be 
 possible to go from Lake Erie to the Mississippi 
 in boats, and by very good navigation, if there 
 would be cut a canal through a half league of 
 prairie at the Chicagou portage. ' ' 
 
 LaSalle found here one vast tract of half- 
 frozen mud and snow. It was just before the 
 spring freshet, and Mud Lake was doubtless 
 shrunk to its smallest dimensions, for LaSalle 
 wrote to Count Frontenac, governor of New 
 France, disdainfully of Joliet 's ' ' proposed ditch 
 at the Portage du Chicagou. ' ' This is his de- 
 scription of the existing waterway: 
 
 At 41 50' north latitude, at the west of the 
 Lake of the Illinois, is a channel formed by the 
 junction of several rivulets or meadow ditches. 
 It is navigable for about two leagues, where is 
 a little lake divided by a causeway made by 
 beavers and is about a league and a half long, 
 from which, again, runs a stream which flows 
 into the Illinois (Desplaines). This little lake 
 is filled by spring freshets and discharges into 
 the Desplaines and also into the Lake of the Illi- 
 nois (Michigan), which is only seven feet lower 
 than the level of this prairie. The Illinois (Des- 
 plaines), in the spring, when its channel is over- 
 full, sends a part of its water by this little lake 
 into the Lake of the Illinois. 
 
 LaSalle did not consider a canal such as Joliet 
 proposed feasible, for the supply of water varied 
 so with the seasons. What would he say could 
 he see two canals connecting Lake Michigan 
 with the Illinois, one of them not for commerce, 
 but to secure the health of the 2,000,000 inhab- 
 itants of the Chicagou portage? 
 
 Six months later Tonty flod from the Iroquois 
 and Miamis over the marsh at Chicago. The 
 Illinois village of Kaskaskia had been destroyed, 
 the Indian allies of the French massacred, cap- 
 tured and scattered far down the Mississippi. 
 It was October (1680) when Tonty reached the 
 Chicagou portage, and the cold was bitter. Two 
 Franciscan priests, Father Riborde and Father 
 Boisrondet. and two other Frenchmen were with 
 him. Futlier ftiborde was wantonly murdered 
 by a wandering band of Kickapoos, and Father 
 Boisrondet was lost for some days on the marsh 
 
 while trying to find game for the starving fugi- 
 tives. Tonty himself was sick of a malaria 
 fever and may have lain in the same hut that 
 had sheltered Marquette fifteen years before. 
 The whole party was kept alive by wild onions 
 which they grubbed from the marsh. It was 
 the end of November before they reached Green 
 Bay. 
 
 The Lord of the Wilderness and His Bed Re- 
 tainers. The next year LaSalle and Tonty were 
 back at the ruined village of Kaskaskia, near 
 the present Utica, building Fort St. Louis on 
 the isolated cliff, and gathering about them a 
 great confederacy of Algonquin and other tribes 
 to defend the country and the Indians from the 
 conquering Iroquois. The Illinois, the Miamis, 
 who repented of their brief alliance with the 
 
 THE GRIFFIN. 
 
 "Its cannon awoke the echoes of the wooded 
 cliffs. ' ' 
 
 common enemy; Shawanoes, \Veas, Piankeshas, 
 Pepikakias, Kilaticas, Abenakis, Mohegans, and 
 many other tribes with names too barbarous to 
 be recorded, to the number of 4,000 warriors, 
 with their women and children, were gathered 
 about the Rock of St. Louis "like European 
 peasants of the Middle Ages about the castle 
 of a feudal lord. ' ' As yet there were no Potta- 
 watomies below the Grand river in Michigan. 
 
 This extraordinary confederacy, which La- 
 Salle was able to form to check the advance of 
 the Iroquois, needs explanation. 
 
 Rise and Fall of the Algonquin Empire. The 
 Algonquin nation had formerly been the largest 
 on the North American continent. It was com- 
 posed of a score of tribes, related in language 
 and customs and knit in close aggressive alli- 
 ance. These had spread from Labrador to the 
 Rockies and southward to North Carolina. The 
 Five Nations, who made up the Iroquois con- 
 federacy, were driven out of Canada into the 
 present state of New York. There they lived 
 precariously for a century or more, nursing their 
 grievances and biding their time.
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Origin of the Name "Chicago." There 
 are many theories as to the origin of the name 
 "Chicago." The one that has" geeii generally 
 accepted is that it is an Indian word, signifying 
 a bad smell. As applied to this region it is 
 supposed to have referred to the wild onions 
 which grew rankly all over the marshy plain. 
 By other authorities the name is said to have 
 been derived from an Indian word meaning 
 strong or mighty. The Indians are said to have 
 applied the name to the Mississippi, to thunder, 
 and to the voice of the Great Manitou. Father 
 llennepin used the name to designate the Illi- 
 nois river. On Franquelins' map (1684) it is 
 given to the Ohio river. Samson (1673), geog- 
 rapher to Louis XIV., applied it to the Missis- 
 sippi. LaSallc gave the name to the Desplaines 
 and also to the Calumet. Doubtless he applied 
 it to this whole region of connected waterways. 
 He speaks of the "Chicagou portage." The 
 name came at last to designate both the plain 
 and the river which bear it today, long before 
 Fort Dearborn came to be built. The fort at 
 Chicagou and the Miami village are referred t<^ 
 by St. Cosme, who was here in 1699. About 
 1735 the French commandant at Green Bay, in 
 a letter, speaks of the Indians who obstruct 
 passage through Chicagou and the Illinois. And 
 in 1778, during the Eevolution, the British com- 
 mander at Maekinac refers to the negro Jean 
 Baptiste Pointe de Saible as being at Chicagou 
 "very much in the interest of the French" 
 (then on the lower Mississippi). Under the 
 name of Chicago the tract was conveyed to the 
 United States in 1795 by the Indians. 
 
 When the French 
 reached Canada in 1609 
 the power of the Algon- 
 quins was waning. It 
 was disputed by the 
 fierce Sioux, far to the 
 west; by the swift- 
 moving Sacs and Foxes 
 :>f Wisconsin; by the 
 Tuscaroras in North 
 Carolina, who ultimate- 
 ly joined the Iroquois 
 nr.d thus formed the Six 
 Nations; and by the 
 Iroquois in New York. 
 N o w prosperity had 
 caused the Algonquins 
 to relax their vigilance, 
 and many breaks had 
 been in a d e in their 
 ranks. They had also 
 grown more civilized 
 and at the same time 
 more peacable. The 
 populous village, with WA-PA-KE-SEK. 
 
 its well-built lodges and Chief of Sac and Fox 
 fields of maize, w a s Tribe. 
 
 more attractive to them than the war-path. 
 They fell easily under the blandishments of the 
 French and became converts who delighted the 
 Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries. 
 
 You will remember that 
 after Nicolet's voyage to 
 Green Bay in 1634 the Iro- 
 quois swarmed over into 
 Canada and drove the Al- 
 gonquin tribes to the upper 
 lakes. From this blow, 
 after a generation, they re- 
 covered, and once more, but 
 in lessened number, occu- 
 pied the banks of the Ot- 
 tawa and the St. Lawrence 
 and afforded the French a 
 safe route to the Miss. 
 Now, with startling suddenness, the Iroquois 
 had swept across Ohio and Indiana and de- 
 stroyed a flourishing Illinois town of 500 lodges. 
 No tribe in the Middle West felt safe from this 
 relentless foe. It was with gratitude that 20,000 
 Indians accepted the promise of French protec- 
 tion from LaSalle and huddled below his mag 
 cannon on the Rock of St. Louis. The Chicagou 
 and St. Joseph portages were kept open by the 
 Miamis and Pottawatomies, so that communica- 
 tion with Montreal was safe and swift. 
 
 A Great Exploit, and How It Was Rewarded. 
 To complete this brilliant exploit LaHalle went 
 to the mouth of the Mississippi. He reached 
 the Gulf of Mexico on the 9th of April, 1682, 
 named the country Louisiana, and proclaimed 
 the sovereignty of France over it. He saw the 
 necessity for direct communication with Paris, 
 for the Iroquois might compel him to cut loose 
 from New France. In LaSalle 's plans Louisiana 
 was to become a separate colony. He really had 
 the beginnings of an empire a hundred miles 
 west of Chicago in the year 1682, a year before 
 Penn signed his famous treaty with the Indians 
 at Philadelphia. 
 
 "Did not Paris," I. imagine you asking, "go 
 wild with delight :.t this news? Did not Louis 
 XIV., who knew how to reward greatness, load 
 this amazing man with honors and wealth? Did 
 not the governor of New France send in sol- 
 diers, guns and supplies to hold that empire and 
 to sustain the red allies of France? Did not 
 colonists carpenters, smiths, shipwrights, farm- 
 ers, millers and traders swarm into that virgin 
 land to reap its riches?" 
 
 No. Strange as it seems, none of these things 
 happened. But little appreciation of these great 
 services of LaSallc was shown by any of his 
 contemporaries. 
 
 LaSalle had spent 40,000 crowns (the French 
 crown, before the Eighteenth century, varied in 
 value from $1.50 to $2.20) in his explorations. 
 This he had raised by the sale of his own 
 seigniory at La Chine on Montreal Island, bv 
 mortgaging Fort Frontenac, by begging and bor- 
 
 14
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 rowing of rich relatives in France who were 
 proud of him, and by persuading traders in 
 Montreal to invest in his speculative enterprise. 
 Large powers had been given him by the French 
 king, but no means of developing them. His 
 friend and patron, Count Frontenac, governor of 
 New France, was dead, and in his stead ruled 
 La Barre, the explorer's unscrupulous, envious 
 rival. 
 
 LaSalle had found, 
 claimed and opened up an 
 empire, built forts and or- 
 ganized an army of red 
 soldiers whose salvation 
 depended on their fealty 
 to the French crown and 
 the redemption of La- 
 Salle 's promises of pro- 
 tection. He was to arm 
 and drill them. In return 
 they were to bring him 
 their furs, reveal their 
 mines, and help him con- 
 quer the tribes of the 
 lower Mississippi. In his 
 large vision ho already 
 saw a French fleet trad- 
 ing on the Mississippi and 
 a chain of forts strung 
 along its banks. He had entered into negotia- 
 tions for the friendship of the Chickasaw and 
 Natchez Indians in Arkansas and Mississippi. 
 
 But now he was bankrupt of funds, and en- 
 emies in Montreal were undermining his work. 
 He was discredited in Paris. Doubts were even 
 expressed that he had reached the mouth of the 
 Mississippi, or that the ' ' Coloine du Sieur de Ja 
 Salle" about the Rock of St. Louis had. other 
 existence than in the 'disordered brain of a reck- 
 less adventurer. 
 
 Father Hennepiu, the Recollet friar whom 
 LaSalle had sent to explore the upper Missis- 
 sippi and who really reached the falls of St. 
 Anthony, had returned to France and out of 
 sheer vanity claimed the honor of having ex- 
 plored the mouth of the great river himself. He 
 was a facile and convincing writer and, from 
 his published book and maps, won more than a 
 brief glory. LaSalle 's claims were dismissed 
 without a hearing as a piece of effrontery, and 
 the man himself was considered a dangerous vis- 
 ionary gone mad. Word went forth that his 
 pretensions were to be checked lest he demoral- 
 ize the Indians and break up the fur trade of 
 New France. 
 
 Waiting there at the fort on the lordly bluff, 
 his proud heart bursting with high hope for the 
 glorious future of Louisiana, waiting for tin- 
 help and recognition due him. LaSalle suddenly 
 
 French Soldier In 
 
 Illinois. Early 
 
 Eighteenth. 
 
 Century. 
 
 saw his work crumble into dust. Supplies from 
 New France were cut off, and he was forbidden 
 to engage in the fur trade. 
 
 "The Undespairing Norman." This was bit- 
 ter defeat. Any other man would have given 
 up in despair; LaSalle returned to France to 
 face his enemies and to get the ear of the king. 
 It was in 1684 that he passed through the 
 Chicagou portage for the last time. He was 
 detained there for several days by a snowstorm. 
 Then he embarked on Lake Michigan. Watch 
 him as his frail bark canoe dances on the rip- 
 pling lake, that gallant figure with the clean-cut, 
 haughty face and undaunted eyes. Now the 
 canoe is a mere speck on the blue expanse; 
 then it vanishes. Chicagou is to see the "un- 
 despairing Norman" no more! 
 
 Does it not thrill you to think that the city 
 which rose on the shore he left behind him is 
 imbued with his own unconquerable spirit? 
 
 LaSalle was heard and believed. He complete- 
 ly won over king and court. He got all he asked 
 for ships, money, supplies, soldiers, colonists, 
 authority over Louisiana and he sailed back, 
 going by way of the Gulf of Mexico. He was 
 to be hindered no more by the petty tyrants at 
 Montreal. 
 
 Who Was Responsible for LaSalle 's Assassina- 
 tion? But jealousy, hatred and treachery dogged 
 his footsteps. Was LaSalle 's fleet commander, 
 Beaujeu, paid to bring his expedition to disas- 
 ter? In Louisiana LaSalle was to represent the 
 person and authority of King Louis, but on 
 shipboard he was under the fleet commander. 
 A murmur would have meant mutiny; mutiny 
 chains, disgrace and failure. Beaujeu did not 
 conceal his hostility, ignored LaSalle 's instruc- 
 tions, sailed past the mouth of the Mississippi, 
 and landed the explorer and his hapless colonists 
 400 miles to the west, on the shore of Texas. 
 This was in a territory occupied by Spain and 
 it was infested with unfriendly tribes of In- 
 dians. 
 
 There, after long wanderings to find the lost 
 river, after battle, famine and sickness had deci- 
 mated his followers, LaSalle was assassinated by 
 mutineers of his own party. While he undoubt- 
 edly had powerful enemies who w r ould stoop at 
 nothing to compass his death, yet his tragic 
 fate may in part have been due to certain traits 
 in the explorer's character. 
 
 When he chose to exercise them LaSalle was 
 a man of extraordinary social gifts. He charmed 
 Louis XIV., and he convinced everyone of his 
 brilliant powers. But he was naturally reserved 
 and haughty. To Count Frontenac and Henri 
 de Tonty he no doubt poured out all his cher- 
 ished dreams, and he won their lifelong devo- 
 tion. To no other did he seem to give his con- 
 fidence or affection. This bred resentment in 
 men of small imagination, then distrust, and 
 finally treachery. To feel themselves despised 
 by a man whom fortune had forgotten aroused
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 all the basest instincts in his followers. 
 
 LaSalle 's faithful lieutenant, Henri de Touty, 
 remained in the Illinois country, engaged in a 
 losing fight with the Iroquois, Sacs and Foxes. 
 Twice he went down the Mississippi to find 
 traces of his dead chief. And once, when hard- 
 pressed (1685), he went up to Mackinac for 
 help, and brought down Durantaye and Du Lhut 
 (Duluth), that prince of coureurs du bois, from 
 the country of the Sioux. Together they built 
 a fort at the Chicagou portage. 
 
 The Chicagou Post and the Lost Boy. There 
 was an Indian depot or post at Chicagou as early 
 as 1682. This seems to have been rebuilt or 
 strengthened in 1685, when Durantye occupied it 
 with sixty French soldiers. From that time to 
 the end of the century it seems to have been one 
 of the defenses of the country, for a Miami vil- 
 lage of 150 wigwams was clustered around it in 
 1699 when St. Cosme passed through the portage 
 and was detained "over a feast day among my 
 own people (French) at Chicagou" by the loss 
 of a young French boy in the tall grass on the 
 marshy plains. 
 
 This fort and Indian village, with a chapel and 
 priest 's house, were on the north side of the 
 river, probably where the Kinzie place after- 
 ward stood, as is shown in Popple 's map of 1733. 
 It was then called Fort Miamis. When, in 1795, 
 the government of the United States secured the 
 site of Chicago by the Treaty of Greenville, it 
 was described as a place "where a fort formerly 
 stood. ' ' 
 
 This fort of Durantye 's could in any case 
 have been nothing more than a stout stockade 
 of tree-trunks, inclosing rude barracks and a 
 storage house. There were no large guns, for 
 
 the only cannon brought into the Illinois country 
 at so early a date were the two small ones that 
 were mounted on the Rock of St. Louis. Touty 
 made his headquarters until the close of the 
 century on this famous bluff, midway between 
 the forts of Chicago and Feoria. 
 
 Tonty thus had three strongholds in Illinois, 
 which for twenty years kept communication 
 open between New France and the Mississippi. 
 They were defended not only by small bodies 
 of French troops but by the five tribes of the 
 Illinois Indians the Kaskaskias, Peorias, Ca- 
 hokias, Tamaroas and Mitchigamias. The Miami 
 Indians, who were disposed at this time to ally 
 themselves with the French, .stretched from the 
 mission village at Chicago, which grew up in 
 the shelter of the fort, across Indiana and to 
 the Maumee and Scioto rivers in Ohio, with 
 their capital at Fort Wayne, and resisted the 
 advance of the Iroquois. The Pottawatomies 
 were working steadily downward through Michi- 
 gan. All the prowess of this tribe was at the 
 service of the French. 
 
 So Tonty waited and held the Illinois country 
 for LaSalle, who lay dead on the banks of Trin- 
 ity river, Texas. 
 
 LaSalle 's Faithful Lieutenant. Think of him, 
 too, when you think of LaSalle. Many a country 
 has served the captains of industry of Chicago ' 
 since, and helped build up fortunes and enterprises 
 not their own. No city or state could reach 
 greatness without just such disinterested serv- 
 ices as his. Brilliant mind, faithful heart, ster- 
 ling integrity, untiring energy, he gave them all 
 to his illustrious chief, and asked no reward, not 
 even fame. 
 
 A FKENCH VOYA(iKUR.
 
 Suggestions to Teachers and Pupils. On an 
 outline map of North America, pupils may 
 mark the locations of the French forts which 
 existed in 1750 in the St. Lawrence, Ohio anc^ 
 Mississippi valleys, and find related matter in 
 the account in their school histories of the 
 French and Indian War. Lives of Washington 
 will all tell of his long journey through the 
 wilderness to carry the message from Governor 
 Dinwiddie to Fort Duquesne, and of his surren- 
 der of Fort Necessity. 
 
 Of the French settlements and Fort Chartres 
 in Illinois, there is practically no matter that 
 
 can be taken into the school room, since the 
 period has not had its popular historian. One 
 of the popular new novels is based on John 
 Law's famous Company of the West. It is 
 "The Mississippi Bubble," by Emerson Hough. 
 Some future romancer, perhaps, may find in- 
 spiration for a great historical novel in Pierre 
 d 'Artaguette. In the Chicago Public Library 
 may be found Edward G. Mason's scholarly 
 work, "Illinois in the Eighteenth Century." It 
 is recommended for reference. The state-house 
 at Springfielc! has a mural painting of Fort Char- 
 tres. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE FfciJNCH IN THE MISSISSIPPI BOTTOM. 
 
 (1700-1754.) 
 
 The Story Thus Far. Having found Chicago 
 to be the most available portage to the Illinois 
 valley, Marquette returned through the place 
 (1675), founded his mission at Kaskaskia, and 
 died. In 1679 LaSalle and his lieutenant, Henri 
 de Tonty, arrived and built forts on Peoria lake 
 and the Rock of St. Louis. At this latter place 
 LaSalle formed his confederacy of Indian tribes 
 to hold the country for France. He returned to 
 France for help and was assassinated in Texas. 
 Tonty built a fort at Chicagou (1685), and oc- 
 cupied the Illinois country up to the end of the 
 century. In 1699 St. Cosme, in passing through 
 the portage, remained for several days "among 
 his own people ' ' at Chicagou. 
 
 How Fort Dearborn Came to Be Built. Now 
 we come to the time when the last of the early 
 French explorers is to disappear from northern 
 Illinois. After twenty-seven heroic years Chi- 
 cago and the valley of the Illinois were to enter 
 a century of obscurity. So far as the ordinary 
 history of the United States is concerned this 
 hundred years in the Northwest is a lost century. 
 The single event that is considered worthy of 
 record is the capture of Kaskaskia and Vin- 
 cennes by Col. George Eogers Clark from the 
 British during the Revolution. But how these 
 places came to be on the Mississippi and the 
 Wabash, who settled them, how they came into 
 the possession of the British, and why their cap- 
 ture should have been considered an important 
 matter, is not explained. 
 
 Let us trace the history of this lost century 
 and study the stirring events which led up to 
 the building of Fort Dearborn at Chicago in 
 1803. 
 
 Tonty Gives Up the Struggle. In 1700 Henri 
 de Tonty abandoned the Illinois country. Twen- 
 ty years had he held the disheartened tribes to- 
 gether in the hope that France would redeem 
 
 LaSalle 's promises; but LaSalle had been long 
 dead and his red allies forgotten in France. 
 Now word came that France was to take up La- 
 Salle 's work, not where he had left off, but at 
 the mouth of the Mississippi river. D'Iberville 
 was among the Biloxi Indians on the Gulf, and 
 there is reason to believe that he sent for Tonty 
 to help him fortify Biloxi and Mobile, for Tonty 
 went down the river to Mobile and died there 
 in 1704. 
 
 It must have been with a sad heart that he 
 advised the Illinois Indians to leave their old 
 home and go down the great river, where they 
 could again live under the protection of French 
 forts far from the Iroquois and from the Sacs 
 and Foxes who now preyed on their lessened 
 numbers. 
 
 Early in the eighteenth century we find only 
 a few Illinois Indians in their old villages. The 
 Sacs and Foxes filled the Rock river valley and 
 foraged southward. The Miamis moved east- 
 ward into the region where Fort Wayne, Ind., 
 stands today. The Pottawatomies took posses- 
 sion of the end of Lake Michigan and began to 
 use the Chicagou portage. It was with the Pot- 
 tawatomies, Sacs and Foxes that the soldiers of 
 Fort Dearborn and the early settlers of Chicago 
 had to deal more than a hundred years later. 
 
 "Chicago: The Climax and Epitome of the 
 West." From this time forward the history of 
 Chicago is the history of the Northwest. Be- 
 cause in the eighteenth century nothing was to 
 happen at this point, it is all the more neces- 
 sary to learn of the development which took 
 place three hundred miles behind it on the banks 
 of the Mississippi below St. Louis. 
 
 For the next twenty years French missionaries 
 alone were to keep the little spark of civilization 
 alive in the western wilderness. Tribe after 
 tribe of the Illinois Indians journeyed leisurely 
 southward, each with its packs of skins and 
 
 17
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 canoe-loads of maize, its priest and mission prop- 
 erty, its carpenter and blacksmith outfit, its 
 millstones and few small firearms, and the ponies, 
 cattle and swine that had been brought in from 
 New France. 
 
 These bands may have intended going down to 
 the Gulf with Tonty, but they would have had 
 to fight their way through the fierce Chickasaw 
 and Natchez Indians. Of wars they were weary 
 and in the end they paused on the east bank of 
 the Mississippi at various points which they 
 found unoccupied between the present site of 
 St. Louis and the mouth of the Ohio river, 1,200 
 miles above the French forts at Mobile and 
 Biloxi. You can find the locations of their new 
 homes today by the names of villages in the 
 region Cahokia, Kaskaskia and Tamaroa. A 
 number of the Peorias went with the Cahokias, 
 the rest remaining at Peoria lake. Of the Mitch- 
 igamias after this migration there is no trace. 
 It may have been that tribe of the Illinois which 
 remained at the Rock of St. Louis and which 
 caused the Lake of the Illinois to change its 
 name to the Lake of the Mitchigamias Lake 
 Michigan. 
 
 The Founding of Illinois' 
 First Capital. It is the Kas- r~ 
 
 kaskias with whom we are 
 chiefly concerned. This tribe 
 was led by missionaries to the 
 bank of the Okaw or Kaskas- 
 kia river near its junction 
 with the Mississippi. On that 
 lovely green peninsula an 
 island today, bordered on two 
 sides by the broad brown flood 
 of the Father of Waters, on 
 the third by the rippling 
 Okaw, and sentineled by a 
 lordly line of bluffs to the 
 east the mission established 
 by Marquette on the Illinois 
 was continued. 
 
 From a mission village this 
 new Kaskaskia was to become 
 
 lower Mississippi, through the Ohio, without 
 passing the Illinois villages. 
 
 Except at Detroit, where Cadillac built Fort 
 Ponchartrain and began a settlement in 1701, 
 the French made no further attempt to open up 
 new posts on the upper lakes, contenting them- 
 selves with holding Michilimackinac, the Sault 
 Ste. Marie, Green Bay and St. Joseph. A new 
 route across Indiana into the Mississippi they 
 fortified in 1702, building Fort Ouatanon, near 
 the portage on the Wabash, and the fort and 
 trading post of Vinsenne on the present site of 
 Vincennes, Ind. 
 
 Ked Warriors Learn the Arts of Peace. In 
 the meantime in Kaskaskia and Cahokia all the 
 conditions existed under which primitive peoples 
 may begin to take the first steps in the arts of 
 civilization. The Illinois Indians were lost to 
 their hereditary foes in a land of plenty. Neith- 
 er fear nor care troubled them. The climate was 
 milder than that of their old home, game abun- 
 dant and the soil fertile and easily cultivated. 
 Around them were virgin forests and ledges of 
 rock materials out of which permanent homes 
 could be constructed. They had domestic ani- 
 
 CHICAGO AS IT PROBABLY LOOKED WHEN SEEN BY 
 ST. COSME, 1699. 
 
 a trading post and parish; the seat of govern- 
 ment of the French commandant of the Illinois 
 country; the center of an aristocratic social life; 
 the county seat of a single county of Virginia 
 that comprised five of our present states; the 
 capital of the territory of Illinois; and finally, 
 fifteen years before Chicago was incorporated as 
 a village, the capital of the state of Illinois. 
 
 For eighteen years Kaskaskia existed almost 
 without communication with the outer world. 
 The only material for the historian of this period 
 is to be found in the mission register kept by 
 the priests and in the periodical reports which 
 they made to the College of Jesuits at Montreal. 
 
 Traders from New France made the portage 
 from Lake Erie and into the Wabash, at what is 
 now Fort Wayne then the chief village of the 
 Miamis on the Maumee, and so reached the 
 
 mals and a few tools. Best of all, they had 
 with them priests and traders who could instruct 
 them. 
 
 What trades do you think were learned in 
 those mission villages, hundreds of leagues from 
 the outposts of civilization? 
 
 They beat out plowshares from old iron, on 
 the anvil, and turned up the soft soil. Oxen 
 were yoked and made to do this labor. They 
 grew not only maize but wheat, rye, barley, 
 beans, hops and tobacco. Of rawhide they made 
 flails to thresh grain. They cut down timbers 
 and built a grist-mill which they operated by 
 ox-power. They tempered axes and picks, quar- 
 ried limestone for lime to make mortar, built 
 stone chapels and priests' houses, burned char- 
 coal for the forge, and dressed millstones. They 
 
 18
 
 THE STOKY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 herded cattle and swine, made yeast for leaven- 
 ing bread; of the wild grapes on the bluff they 
 made wine for the communion. 
 
 No doubt the priests laid many of these tasks 
 on their red converts by way of penance. The 
 Indians never took kindly to such work, which 
 they must have looked upon as unnecessary toil. 
 The Illinois were a dying people and the leth- 
 argy and docility of old age were upon them. 
 There were no more than six hundred warriors 
 ;il together, and the year 1800 was to see the 
 tribes reduced to thirty warriors and living 
 ;imong the whites at Kaskaskia. Now, although 
 they toiled for the priests and traders, they con- 
 
 INDIAN CHIEF. 
 
 tinued to live in their own dome-shaped, rush 
 matted and skin-lined lodges, and to depend 
 chiefly on the chase, the rivers and the maize 
 fields for a living. 
 
 In the course of a few years a number of 
 Frenchmen made Kaskaskia their headquarters 
 for trading. Furs were brought clown from 
 Peoria and even Chicago. That region sent no 
 more skins to Montreal, but had its trade outlet 
 down the Mississippi. These traders married 
 Indian girls, as is duly recorded in the mission 
 register. In 1715 a French woman came to Kas- 
 kaskia, the first white woman to settle perma- 
 nently in Illinois. Her name was Francoisc Le 
 Brise. She could not write her name, but this 
 the mission priests did for her when she affixed 
 her mark as witness at weddings and acted as 
 godmother at the christening of Indian babies. 
 
 Valiant Francoise Le Brise! She had no 
 doubt come to far-away Kaskaskia from Mon 
 treal, traversing hundreds of leagues of woods 
 
 and prairies and wild waters, under the protec- 
 tion of a missionary or trader uncle or brother. 
 Society may be said to have begun in Illinois 
 with the advent of Francoise Le Brise. You 
 may be assured that it was laid upon the squaws 
 to make soap of wood-ashes, lye and animal fat, 
 to wash Francoise 's linen and the priests' vest- 
 ments in the clear water of the Okaw, and to 
 hang the "Monday wash" on the hazel bushes 
 to bleach and dry. Francoise was a capable 
 woman with true public spirit. She married at 
 last a bold trader named Jean Potier and 
 brought up a family of children to be a credit to 
 Kaskaskia. Her popularity is attested by the 
 frequency with which her mark appears in the 
 parish register long after there were plenty of 
 grander folk in Kaskaskia who were able to 
 sign their titled names with a lavish use of ink 
 on the flourishes. 
 
 The Mississippi Bubble. For eighteen years 
 Kaskaskia basked in the sunshine on the green 
 peninsula, its peace and silence unbroken by war- 
 whoop or gunshot or rumor of the world without. 
 Then, one morning in June, 1718, missionaries 
 and traders and Indians were startled by the 
 boom of cannon on the Mississippi. At the 
 mouth of the Okaw stood a formidable fleet of 
 sailing vessels. Troops were lined up on the 
 deck of the flagship, from which floated the 
 lilies of France, and officers in gorgeous uniforms 
 of scarlet and blue and white and gold lifted 
 their hands in salute \a their cocked and plumed 
 hats. The Sieur Duqiie Boisbriaut, king's lieu- 
 tenant in the Illinois country the first governor 
 of Illinois had arrived with instructions to 
 build a fort. 
 
 To protect the mission villages? Ah, no; 
 something much grander to them than that 
 mines! 
 
 No one knows just how the rumor of fabulous 
 riches in the Illinois country originated. Lead 
 had been discovered near Prairie du Chien, Wis., 
 a third of a century before, probably by Father 
 Hennepiu, who explored the upper Mississippi 
 for LaSalle; and copper was found by Joliet on 
 Lake Superior. Spanish adventurers, coming 
 from the settlement of Santa Fe, now in New 
 Mexico, had penetrated the mouth of the Mis- 
 sissippi and had discovered lead mines west of 
 Kaskaskia, in the present state of Missouri. 
 These mines w r ere similar to the argentiferous 
 or. silver-bearing lead mines of Mexico from 
 which the Spaniards had coined wealth. 
 
 In the Natchez country of Mississippi a semi- 
 precious stone just one had been picked up by 
 a French adventurer. Traders who had been 
 in the Illinois Indian villages went down to 
 Mobile and Biloxi and told tales of the wonder- 
 ful fertility of the soil in the Mississippi bot- 
 tom. These stories reached France, were en- 
 larged upon and exaggerated. Suddenly all 
 Paris was talking of the Illinois country, whose 
 soil, it was declared, rivaled the banks' of the 
 
 19
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Nile in richness and whose mines were equal to 
 those of Peru. The country was described as 
 bristling with gold, silver and precious stones! 
 
 Every one was eager to go to the new country 
 or to invest his money there. At the moment of 
 the greatest excitement John Law, a Scotch 
 banker of Paris, came forward with the Com- 
 pany of the West, duly chartered by King Louis 
 XV. Millions of crowns ' worth of shares of this 
 
 First Government House of Upper Louisiana, 
 Built at St. Louis (1776). 
 
 company were sold, not only in Paris but in 
 London and Vienna. The public debt of France 
 was refunded by the proceeds, the bold promoter 
 sinking his own fortune in the speculative enter- 
 prise which is spoken of today as the ' ' Great 
 Mississippi Bubble. ' ' The bubble was fifteen 
 years in bursting, and during that time it daz- 
 zled all Europe with its promise of the wealth 
 of Golconda. 
 
 The Company of the West went about its busi- 
 ness in a royal way. King Louis himself, who 
 was admitted to a sort of partnership, offered to 
 build a fort out of the public treasury and to 
 furnish a garrison for it. The troops were of- 
 ficered by the proudest nobility of France. 
 Humble folk farmers, wine growers, carpenters, 
 masons, ship and mill wrights, who had no 
 money to invest in the mines were offered 
 grants of lands, fabulous wages and high prices 
 for the products of the soil. Food and clothing, 
 shelter and service would be needed by the 
 scions of noble houses who were going out to the 
 fabled wilderness to make princely fortunes. 
 
 The king's lieutenant, the Sieur de Boisbriant, 
 selected a site sixteen miles above Kaskaskia on 
 the Illinois bank of the Mississippi and set his 
 soldiers to hewing timbers and quarrying stones 
 for the largest fort the French were ever to 
 build in the United States. It was two years 
 before the stronghold was finished and named 
 for the Due de Chartres. The wall, which in- 
 closed an area of more than four acres, was built 
 of a palisade of timbers, set in masonry. With- 
 in were barracks, the commandant's house, store- 
 house, well, mill, powder magazine of stone, and 
 the great hall where the representative of the 
 Company of the West was for ten years to trans- 
 
 act business of such magnitude as to amaze and 
 then to alarm Europe. 
 
 The lilies of France floated from the bastion 
 of Fort Chartres and heralded the arrival of 
 Philip Francis Renault, director-general of the 
 Company of the West, an iron founder and 
 banker of Paris. He arrived on a fleet of sailing 
 vessels owned by the company and brought with 
 him more soldiers to guard the company's treas- 
 ure; and he brought miners, settlers and 500 
 negro slaves from the French West Indies to 
 work in the mines. 
 
 Court Life in the Illinois Wilderness. The 
 commandant, the Sieur de Boisbriaut, led a 
 merry life. Magnificent quarters and luxurious 
 living were provided for the military officers in 
 the fort. Some of them had brought their wives 
 and mothers and daughters to form a court. 
 Cannon were planted to command the river, to 
 terrorize hostile Indians and to warn Spaniards 
 not to encroach on French territory. Gay caval- 
 cades of gentlemen and ladies in velvets, bro- 
 cades, laces, powder and jewels rode over to 
 Kaskaskia to attend mass in the missionary 
 chapel. The splendor and gaiety of Versailles 
 were imitated in the hunting parties and in the 
 balls and dinners at the fort. The mission at 
 Kaskaskia was raised to a parish and, mixed 
 in with the births and deaths and marriages of 
 Indians, were recorded in the parish register 
 momentous events in the lives of members of 
 the old aristocracy of France. 
 
 What a procession of them there was within 
 the next forty years! De Siette, St. Ange de 
 Bellerive, the gallant young Pierre D'Arta- 
 guette, of whom a volume of stories could be 
 written; Vinsenne, the elder and younger; De 
 Bienville, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, De Bertel 
 and the Chevalier de Makarty. They were all 
 there accompanied by black robes, tonsured 
 heads, high-born ladies, plumes and banners and 
 sabers, and smart musketeers. 
 
 The country began to be settled along the 
 river for a distance of fifty miles between Ca- 
 hokia. which is just below St. Louis on the Illi- 
 nois side, and Kaskaskia. The village of Ste. 
 Anne de Fort Chartres sprang up at the rustic 
 gate of the fort. French houses were built of 
 hewn timbers set upright in the ground, the in- 
 tervals filled in with stone and mortar neatly 
 dressed and washed with lime. They were usu- 
 ally a story and a half high, with the long roof 
 sloping out over a veranda and pierced with 
 dormers. Longfellow has described such houses 
 in "Evangeline": 
 ' ' Strongly built were the houses, with frames 
 
 of oak and of hemlock, 
 Such as the peasants of Normandy built, in the 
 
 reign of the Henrys. 
 Thatched were the roofs, with dormer windows, 
 
 while gables, projecting 
 Over the basement below, protected and shaded 
 
 the doorway; ' ' 
 
 20
 
 THE 
 
 OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Such was the French colonial house in Canada, 
 at New Orleans, in the Mississippi valley and in 
 the French West Indies. 
 
 Powder Magazine of Stone at Fort Chartres, 
 Built About 1750, Still Standing. 
 
 The French Farm Villages. Within five years 
 every house in the French settlements had its 
 picket-fenced garden, with apple, pear, peach, 
 cherry and plum trees, and its strawberry, as- 
 paragus and salad-vegetable beds. Roses draped 
 the veranda pillars, and bulbs and seeds brought 
 from France had taken root and flourished. 
 Five villages thus grew up in Illinois along the 
 river. From each, farms were laid out in strips 
 running back for a mile or more. The French 
 cannot endure the solitude of the isolated farm, 
 and this plan had its advantages. The tillers of 
 the soil could all be called to the village with 
 one alarm. Few French pioneers, therefore, fell 
 victims to prowling Indians, although the Sacs 
 and Foxes had begun to skulk around the set- 
 tlements. 
 
 This farm-village life, too, accounts for the 
 great number of social events that were held 
 along the river. Every village, as well as the 
 Fort, had its evening dance, its Spring flower 
 festival, Fall Nutting parties, and Twelfth 
 Night ball. The settlers were Parisians. The 
 women did not spin and dye and weave and 
 knit, as did the English women on the Eastern 
 seaboard. All clothing was brought from Paris, 
 and the wives and daughters of these gay pion- 
 eers were richly appareled. 
 
 Life was not so gay for Director-General 
 Eenault. It was his business to find the gold 
 and silver mines and diamond deposits of the 
 Illinois country, so that dividends could be paid 
 on the millions of crowns' worth of shares that 
 had been floated in the capitals of Europe. 
 Where was he to look for them? 
 
 France, at that time, claimed both banks of 
 the Mississippi. And the "Illinois country" in- 
 cluded Missouri and a portion of Iowa and Wis- 
 consin, as well as the Illinois of today. The 
 lead-mining district of Galena and Prairie du 
 Chien was known, but that region swarmed 
 with Sacs and Foxes and had a fringe of fierce 
 
 Sioux to the west. Besides, the lead-mines of 
 Missouri were believed to overlie beds of silver. 
 From the ramparts of Fort Chartres, the low 
 mountains of mineral formation could be seen 
 along the western sky line. It was in these 
 mountains that Renault hoped to realize the 
 belief on which the Company of the West had 
 been founded. 
 
 To supply his mines with provisions, Renault 
 laid out the village of St. Philip, five miles 
 north of Fort Chartres. Here, in what is now 
 Monroe county, Illinois, he had a large grant 
 of land. His village consisted of sixteen farm 
 houses and farms, a gristmill, and a chapel. 
 With a base of supplies at his back he crossed 
 the Mississippi with his mining expert, M. La 
 Motte, and went prospecting. 
 
 The Bursting of the Bubble. It is believed 
 that Renault and La Motte went over the en- 
 tire lead-mining region of Missouri. Traces of 
 their diggings are found today, overgrown with 
 brush and trees, around Potosi, Old Mines, Re- 
 nault, in the St. Francis river district and around 
 Iron Mountain. Lead they found everywhere, 
 and of zinc they must have found traces. Beds 
 of coal and iron ore were laid bare, but of silver 
 and gold and precious stones they found none. 
 Vast sums of money melted away like snow, and 
 the Illinois country had not treasures with 
 which to replace the enormous sums that had 
 been expended. In 1731 the Company of the 
 West failed and surrendered its charter to the 
 king. 
 
 No Gold Fields but Fie] is 
 of Golden Grain. But, 
 strange to relate, the Illi- 
 nois country itself was 
 prosperous and no longer 
 needed the company. "The 
 settlers," as Governor Rey- 
 nolds, one of the early gov- 
 ernors of Illinois says, 
 quaintly in his history of 
 the state, "had begun by 
 this time to draw on that 
 old bank Mother Earth, who never yet refused 
 to honor the drafts of labor and enterprise." 
 There were no mines of gold in that region, 
 but there were broad fields of golden grain. 
 
 M. Paget had built a water-mill on the Okaw 
 where it fell foaming down the bluff above Kas- 
 kaskia. Wheat and flour and pork were now 
 sent down the river to the city of New Orleans 
 that had sprung up amid the jungle of cane- 
 brakes on the river; and when the forts at Mo- 
 bile and Biloxi had also been supplied the sail- 
 ing vessels went on to discharge their cargoes at 
 the ports of San Domingo and Martinique. The 
 Illinois country came to be called "the granary 
 of the French West Indies." 
 
 JOHN LAW.
 
 THE STOEY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 What of Renault .' He was not a man to ad- 
 mit defeat, -his first captain of industry in Illi- 
 nois. When the charter of the Company of the 
 West was surrendered Renault secured in his 
 own name a grant of the laud on which was his 
 village of St. Philip, and the lead mines at the 
 headwaters of the St. Francis river. The mines 
 he named La Motte, for his faithful mineralo- 
 gist, in whom you may see the qualities of 
 Tonty repeated. Together they worked this rich 
 region, bringing up the ore by hand labor and 
 smelting it in open clay furnaces. No manufac- 
 turing of lead was attempted. The "pigs" of 
 metal were sent to Fort Chartres to be run into 
 bullets to supply the French forts on the St. 
 Lawrence and the Mississippi. 
 
 Of bullets there had begun to be need. Built 
 to protect mines that never existed, Fort Chartres 
 was maintained to develop a rich agricultural 
 country. Not a shot was ever directed against 
 its walls, but the French settlers along the river 
 \.ere threatened with extermination by the Sacs 
 and Foxes from the north and by the Chicka- 
 saws from Arkansas. 
 
 "In the Days of D'Artaguette." This was 
 the state of affairs when the gallant Pierre D 'Ar- 
 taguette arrived in 1734 to take command of 
 Fort Chartres. Much was expected of him, for 
 he had won such renown in fights with the 
 Natchez Indians in Mississippi that the river 
 still rigs with his name. In old steamboat 
 days Mark Twain somewhere speaks of the 
 negro boatmen as singing a chorus which ran: 
 
 "In the days of D'Artaguette, yo ho!" 
 
 When he arrived at Fort Chartres D'Arta- 
 guette wrote to the French commandant at 
 Green Bay, Wis., that he hoped to meet him and 
 the officer in command at Detroit, either at the 
 Rock of St. Louis or at the Chicagou portage, to 
 devise some plan for exterminating the Sacs and 
 Foxes and to open up communication with Mon- 
 treal again by way of Chicagou. He advised 
 that a fort be built for this conference. The 
 commandant of Green Bay replied that such an 
 end was very much to be desired, but he feared 
 that the Sacs and Foxes would do the extermi- 
 nating and not the French. 
 
 Had D'Artaguette lived Chicagou portage 
 might have been opened sixty years before it 
 was. As it happened the Chickasaws threat- 
 ened the peace of the Illinois country more im- 
 mediately, and the young commander marched 
 against them. In a fleet of bateaux and canoes 
 he embarked nearly all the garrison of Fort 
 Chartres. Volunteers from the French villages 
 and from Green Bay and Detroit joined him. 
 The younger Vinsenne came to his help with 
 the garrisons of Fort Vincennes and Fort Ouata- 
 non on the Wabash. Chief Chicago lead the 
 Illinois and Miami Indian allies, and troops were 
 to reinforce the party from New Orleans. 
 
 Those gallant young Frenchmen never came 
 back. The troops from New Orleans failed tc 
 
 appear and the Chickasaws had mustered their 
 savage allies by the thousands. A boy of sixteen 
 led the survivors back to Fort Chartres. D'Ar- 
 taguette, Vinsenne the son, young St. Ange all 
 who survived the battle and were taken pris- 
 oners were burned at the stake. A bell was 
 tolled in Kaskaskia when masses were said for 
 their souls. It was the first bell ever rung in 
 the Mississippi valley. Cast in Rochelle, France, 
 it was hung in the chapel in Kaskaskia in 1741. 
 
 Halcyon days now began for the Illinois coun- 
 try. There was a new garrison and commandant 
 at Fort Chartres, and the younger sons of noble 
 families began to arrive to take up grants of 
 land. These five French villages on the Mis- 
 sissippi, of which I have already spoken, had, in 
 1750, 1,100 white inhabitants and 300 black 
 slaves, besides the still numerous tribes of the 
 Illinois. Twice each year fleets convoyed by 
 an armed cruiser, and numbering forty vessels, 
 loaded with grain, flour, pork, lead and furs, 
 went down to New Orleans. 
 
 The Illinois French and the War with Eng- 
 land. But now there were rumors of the coming 
 war with England, to be known in history as 
 the French and Indian War. The French had 
 forts stretching from Nova Scotia to New Or- 
 leans. Louisburg, Quebec, Montreal, Frontenac 
 and Niagara, Sandusky and Detroit were all for- 
 tified on the lower lakes, and the upper lake 
 region was held by forts at Mackinac, the Sault 
 Ste. Marie, Green Bay and St. Joseph. On the 
 present site of Pittsburg was Fort Duquesne, 
 
 FRENCH SETTLEMENTS IN ILLINOIS. 
 "From the ramparts of Fort Chartres the low 
 mountains of mineral formation could be seen 
 along the western sky line. ' ' 
 
 guarding the headwaters of the Ohio. The Wa- 
 bash was defended by Fort Ouatanon, near the 
 portage, and by Fort Vinsenne. Fort Chartres 
 commanded the reaches of the middle Missis. 
 
 22
 
 THE STOEY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 sippi, and down the river were forts in Arkansas 
 and Mississippi and at Mobile and Biloxi. La 
 Salle's dream of empire was being realized. 
 
 The only missing links of that splendid chain 
 of defenses were those he himself had forged 
 across the wilderness of northern Illinois. The 
 forts at Chicago, the Eock of St. Louis and 
 Peoria had be^n rebuilt. This did not weaken 
 the chain, however, for that ' region was de- 
 fended against all comers, French and British 
 alike, by the Sacs and Foxes, and in it the 
 French still had their hardy traders. 
 
 No one was more alarmed by all this activity 
 of the French in the interior than Governor Din- 
 widdie of Virginia, for Virginia colony claimed 
 much of this territory under its old "sea-to-sea" 
 charter. Eich planters of Virginia had formed 
 the Ohio Company and obtained a large grant of 
 land west of the Monongahela which they pro- 
 posed to settle. Governor Dinwiddie therefore 
 sent young George Washington with a letter to 
 the commandant at Fort Duquesne (Pittsburg), 
 asking the French to vacate territory claimed by 
 Virginia. The reply was not reassuring; in 
 fact. Virginia was notified that if the French 
 were dislodged it would be only by war. This 
 news of the demand of Virginia aroused the 
 French settlements in Illinois to fury. It was 
 bad enough for the king of England to lay claim 
 to the Mississippi valley which the French had 
 discovered, explored and settled just because 
 Sir Walter Ealeigh had discovered the shore of 
 Virginia; but for the colony of Virginia to pro- 
 pose to take the fruit of all their labor was not 
 to be endured. 
 
 Fort Chartres, in Illinois, was the central link 
 in the chain of forts. It was in the heart of the 
 territory claimed by Virginia, and it was in 
 the middle of a rich region that every year be- 
 came more thickly settled. New Orleans, with 
 its more than a thousand white people, depended 
 upon Illinois for grain. Into Louisiana in the 
 year 1750 sugar-cane and cotton were intro- 
 duced, and the plantations were cultivated by 
 negro slaves. Excitement became intense when 
 
 some Englishmen were captured along the river 
 and confined as spies in the dungeon of Fort 
 Chartres. Commandant de Bertel called fran- 
 tically for reinforcements. 
 
 France did better than merely to send rein- 
 forcements. In 1750 the Chevalier de Makarty 
 arrived, not only with soldiers but with orders 
 to rebuild Fort Chartres in solid masonry. After 
 the work was finished Fort Chartres was de- 
 scribed in the records as having walls of stone 
 eighteen feet high, with forty-eight loopholes in 
 the corner bastions. Stairways, arched gate, 
 platforms for mounting cannon, embrasures, 
 sentry-box, storehouse, guardhouse, chapel and 
 coachhouse were all of cut stone, and there were 
 besides within the inclosure two stone barracks, 
 a powder magazine, wells, bakehouses and cells 
 for prisoners. 
 
 "Now!" said the Chevalier de Makarty, when 
 the work was completed; "Let England and 
 Virginia come and take the Illinois country if 
 they can. ' ' 
 
 Illinois Defeats Virginia and "Monsieur de 
 Wachenston. " In the first engagement of the 
 war a young captain from Fort Chartres, Nyon 
 de Villiers, who took a company of French 
 troops and Indian allies up the Ohio and across 
 the Monongahela and a spur of the Alleghanies, 
 compelled Monsieur de Wachenston (Georgo 
 Washington) to surrender Fort Necessity. As 
 an act of grace De Villiers permitted his foe, 
 who was to become so illustrious, to march out 
 with drums beating and flags flying. 
 
 What a story to tell his children when a quar- 
 ter of a century later sons of the proudest houses 
 in France were to enlist and fight under the ban- 
 ner of this same "Monsieur de Wachenston"! 
 
 But now at Fort Chartres was celebrated this 
 victory of Illinois over Virginia. Immediately 
 nine tons of flour were loaded on flatboats at 
 Kaskaskia and started over the Ohio river to 
 Fort Duquesne to feed French troops. For six 
 years the Illinois country was to furnish an un- 
 failing supply of foodstuffs, lead for bullets, and 
 soldiers, to hold Louisiana for the French flag.
 
 LILIES OF FRANCE. 
 (1682-1763.) 
 
 THIRTEEN COLONIES. 
 (Unfurled 1778.) 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CROSS OF ST. GEORGE. 
 (1763-1778.) 
 
 UNDER THREE FLAGS. 
 (1754-1803.) 
 
 The Story Thus Far. In the year 1700, 
 Tonty, the last of the four early French explor- 
 ers who passed through Chicago, disappeared 
 from the region. He went down to Mobile to 
 help d'Iberville fortify the mouth of the river. 
 The Illinois Indian tribes, unable longer to with- 
 stand their enemies, migrated to the Mississippi 
 bottom, below St. Louis. They were accompa- 
 nied by missionaries and traders. In 1718 John 
 Law, a Scotch banker of Paris, formed his 
 famous Company of the West to develop the 
 alleged mines of precious metals in the Illinois 
 country. Fort Chartres was built sixty miles 
 below the present site of St. Louis to protect the 
 country and the five French villages which grew 
 up along the river. Only lead mines were found 
 (in Missouri), and the "Mississippi Bubble" 
 burst. But by that time the soil was producing 
 great crops of grain which were sold in Mar- 
 tinique and San Domingo, so that the Illinois 
 country was spoken of as "the granary of the 
 French West Indies. ' ' Virginia colony, how- 
 ever, under its "sea to sea" charter, claimed all 
 this territory which had been colonized by the 
 French, and began the French and Indian war. 
 The French had forts strung along the water- 
 ways, which then formed the highways of travel 
 in the interior, from Nova Scotia to New Or- 
 leans. From Kaskaskia and Fort Chartres were 
 sent flower, pork, and lead for bullets, as well 
 as soldiers to defend the territory of France in 
 a war for the possession of the North American 
 continent, for Great Britain backed up the claims 
 of Virginia. 
 
 "New France" Passes Into English Hands. 
 The French and Indian war, which began be- 
 tween the French and the colony of Virginia in 
 1754, for the possession of the Ohio river valley, 
 was continued, after 1756, between England and 
 France, in both the Old World and the New. It 
 
 was understood by everyone concerned that the 
 struggle was for the ownership of the continent 
 of North America. 
 
 In America, the French stood on the defensive 
 with their line of forts stretched from Nova 
 Scotia to New Orleans. Not only was Fort 
 Chartres in the Illinois country rebuilt of stone 
 and twenty cannon mounted on its walls, but the 
 great fortress of Louisburg at the mouth of the 
 St. Lawrence on Cape Breton Island, and the 
 defenses of Montreal and Quebec were made, 
 what was fondly believed, impregnable. Upon 
 Fort Duquesne (at Pittsburg), Vanango and Le 
 Bouf on the Allegheny, and Presque Isle where 
 Erie, Pennsylvania, now stands, depended the 
 keeping open of the Ohio trade route between 
 New France and Louisiana. 
 
 To British troops and New England and Vir- 
 ginia volunteers, was left the task of cutting 
 through the tangled forest, climbing the wild 
 mountain ranges, and breasting- the broad rivers 
 that separated the colonies of the two nations. 
 The French were commanded by Montcalm, "the 
 very ablest Frenchman that ever commanded on 
 this continent," as McMaster says. When Mont- 
 calm had burned Oswego, New York, and had 
 won over even the Iroquois tribes to the French 
 cause or to neutrality, the astutest observer of 
 the time vould scarcely have ventured to pre- 
 dict that, within four years France was to lose 
 the vast empire in America upon which she 
 seemed to have so firm a hold. 
 
 We cannot go into all the reasons for the final 
 triumph of British arms, but, 1758, the tide of 
 fortune suddenly turned. Louisburg was sur- 
 rendered. Fort Frontenac, at the foot of Lake 
 Ontario, which you will remember was built by 
 La Salle, eighty years before, and mortgaged to 
 supply funds for his explorations in the West, 
 was taken by colonials from New England. 
 Simultaneously Fort Duquesne was captured by 
 Virginians under Washington and named Fort 
 Pitt (Pittsburg). At one stroke Quebec and the 
 
 24
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Ohio valley lost their defenses, and New France 
 was cut off from Louisiana. 
 
 A year later Quebec was 
 surrendered to the British 
 after that famous fight on the 
 Heights of Abraham, iu which 
 Montcalm and Wolfe both re- 
 ceived mortal wounds, men 
 whom, for other qualities, 
 aside from their military abil- 
 ity, the world could ill spare. 
 Montreal fell in 1760, and the 
 British very soon afterward 
 occupied all the old French 
 forts back to Detroit, and be- 
 gan to trade with and, as 
 Parkman declares, "to irri- 
 tate the Indians." 
 
 The war in America was 
 In Europe it dragged 
 
 about Fort Chartres and along the river, a whitu 
 
 THE PIEREE MENAED HOTJSE AT KASKASKIA. 
 A Typical French Colonial Mansion. 
 
 on for three years. France was so badly whipped 
 that Great Britain dictated the terms of peace. 
 As if anxious to be done with colonies in Amer- 
 ica, once and for all time, France divided her 
 colonial possessions, with the exception of a few 
 islands at the mouth of the St. Lawrence and in 
 the West Indies, between England and Spain. 
 The Mississippi river became a new boundary 
 line, Spain retaining the mouth of the river and 
 all the territory to the westward. The terms of 
 the treaty of peace came like a thunder clap out 
 of a clear sky to New Orleans, Fort Chartres, 
 and the French villages in the Illinois country. 
 The war had scarcely affected the colony of 
 Louisiana, for, to be cut off from Montreal was 
 not a hardship to settlements whose highway 
 to the ocean had long been the Mississippi. 
 
 From Fort Chartres three expeditions had 
 been sent out, and its soldiers had shared in the 
 victories of the early part of the war. 
 
 Fleet after fleet of flat boats, loaded with 
 flour, pork, and lead, had been sent by way 
 of the Ohio to sustain the French troops in the 
 forts along the St. Lawrence until the capture 
 of Fort Duquesne. After that time the forts 
 on the Wabash and on the lower Mississippi 
 were supplied. Every post in Louisiana could 
 have withstood a long siege, but the British 
 made no attempt to occupy the country or to 
 take a military expedition south or west of 
 Detroit. 
 
 No British fleet appeared before New Orleans. 
 The reaches of the wilderness drained by the 
 Mississippi were too vast to be compassed and, 
 indeed, there is no evidence that England was 
 aware of all that had been accomplished around 
 Fort Chartres, 500 miles back of Detroit and 
 1,200 miles above New Orleans a long voyage 
 up from a Gulf on which British ships had never 
 explored or traded. 
 
 Because of their isolation and the strength 
 
 population of 2,000 farmers, traders, priests, 
 nobles, artisans, and mining operators. There 
 was little money in circulation but their wheat, 
 pork, lead, and furs were paid for in the luxu- 
 ries of France. Their farms, gardens, orchards, 
 the results of the chase brought in by the In- 
 dians, and the cattle grazing on the common 
 fields that had been given to each village by 
 royal grant, kept their tables abundantly sup- 
 plied. Slaves did all their labor. These, with 
 the docile, dependent Indians, reproduced a con- 
 dition of feudalism most flattering to the French 
 seigneurs of the soil. The loss of New France 
 was a puzzle to them, but the British were 
 evidently afraid to carry their pretensions into 
 Louisiana. It became somewhat the fashion at 
 JCaskaskia to sneer at the enemy of France. 
 The news of the cession of Eastern Louisiana, 
 as well as New France, to Great Britain, was 
 therefore received with incredulity, disgust, and 
 dismay. In the village of Cahokia the an- 
 nouncement brought also care. 
 
 To the hamlet of Cahokia, which lay farthest 
 north of all the French settlements in Illinois, 
 had come, at the beginning of the war eight 
 years before, a band of refugees from Acadia. 
 The story of the expulsion of the Acadians from 
 Nova Scotia, is told in " Evangeline." The 
 British were not wholly without excuse nor the 
 French wholly without blame, as the poem repre- 
 sents, but the work was done with heedless 
 cruelty, and the incident, as a whole, is a fit 
 subject for Longfellow's genius. 
 
 Many of these simple, disheartened people who 
 had thus been ruined and bereft of kindred and 
 France, had found new homes in New Orleans 
 and along the Mississippi, in the numerous scat- 
 tered settlements of France. Those who reached 
 the Illinois country went past Kaskaskia, where 
 the gaiety and prosperity of the French capital 
 was ill-suited to their sad heart and fallen for- 
 
 of their fort the French villages in Illinois tunes, and settled at Cahokia, fifty miles further 
 dwelt in fancied security. There was now. up the river.
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 PIERRE 
 LACLEDE. 
 
 In her search for Gabriel, Evangeliiie, if such 
 a person really lived, jimst have visited this 
 refuge of the Acadiaus iii Illinois. Longfellow 
 has described her wanderings up and down the 
 . Mississippi, ' ' past the Ohio 's 
 mouth," westward across the 
 mining region of the Ozarks 
 Missouri, and nort'ieast- 
 Iward, up the Ohio and Wa- 
 bash, past the fort at Detroit, 
 and into the Ottawa country 
 around Saginaw, Michigan. 
 How eloquent that story of 
 her wanderings is of the en- 
 tire possession the French had 
 of the Mississippi, Ohio and 
 [St. Lawrence valleys! Priest 
 land trader and seigneur, 
 Icoureur du bois and friendly 
 [Indian watched over the foot- 
 [steps of that forlorn demoi- 
 Fselle, and aided her in her 
 hopeless search for her lover. 
 At no later pioneer period 
 could a young girl safely have made such a 
 journey. 
 
 Among other places she must have paused in 
 Cahokia, Illinois, and there, amid the fallen and 
 unlettered stones which lie to-day in the Cath- 
 olic cemetery, 
 "Sat by some nameless grave and thought that 
 
 perhaps in its bosom. 
 
 He was already at rest and she longed to slum- 
 ber beside him." 
 
 Many of the people of Kaskaskia crossed the 
 river and settled at Ste. Genevieve in Missouri, 
 preferring to live under Spanish rather than 
 British rule. Neyon de Villiers, who then com- 
 manded at Fort Chartres, took the first boat for 
 New Orleans and went back to France. St. 
 Ange de Bellerive and other French officers, 
 an-1 the garrison of Fort Chartres to the number 
 of forty, marched out, leaving twenty cannon 
 mounted and the lilies of France floating over 
 the bastion for the soldiers of King George to 
 take down. They crossed the river just above 
 Cahokia, the Acadians following, and taking 
 with them all their possessions even to the 
 frames and clapboarding of their houses. 
 
 There, on a wooded bluff which faced the ris- 
 ing instead of the setting sun, Pierre Laclede 
 and Pierre Chouteau had begun to trade with 
 the Indians at a point which they had named 
 St. Louis, and to which they had invited the dis- 
 contented French of Illinois to settle. This 
 migration gave St. Louis its first "boom." 
 There were soon storehouses and forty private 
 dwellings in the place, and a military force was 
 organized. In the next year the Spanish author- 
 ities made St. Louis the capital of Upper Louisi- 
 ana and St. Ange de Bellerive its first governor. 
 The Great Conspiracy of Pontiac. Although 
 the French garrison had thus abandoned Fort 
 Chartres, the British did not take possession of 
 
 it for two years. Poutiac, chief of the Ottawa;- 
 an Algonquin tribe barred the way. Behind 
 him was the tradition of a century and a half of 
 unbroken friendship with the French, and he- 
 could not endure to see them dispossessed. 
 
 On his island home in the St. Clair river, 
 above Detroit, Pontiac brooded over the results 
 of the war. He argued, too, that having driven 
 out the French, the British would next drive out 
 the red man. There was much in the attitude of 
 the British garrisons, then occupying the old 
 French forts, to fill the Indians with hatred 
 and alarm. Contempt and neglect were now 
 dealt out to the tribes which had known only 
 honor, affection, and paternal care from the 
 French. 
 
 Pontiae had courage, sagacity, endurance, an<5 
 eloquence, beside the duplicity and cruelty of 
 the savage, to fit him for his task of organizing 
 the tribes of the West against British occupa- 
 tion. He journeyed from Lake Champlain to 
 Lake Superior and from the Sault Ste. Marie to 
 New Orleans, exhorting the tribes. All the Al- 
 gonquins came under his banner, beside the 
 Natchez, Shawanoes, and even the Senecas, one 
 of the tribes of the Iroquois. 
 
 Within six months May to December of 1763 
 Pontiac recaptured all the old French forts 
 except Niagara, Fort Pitt, and Detroit. The 
 British got them back again, but Pontiac was 
 not conquered. He retreated across Illinois to 
 make a last stand before Fort Chartres, in the 
 same month that the French garrison marcheu 
 
 
 3ROUND PLAN OF FORT CHARTRES. 
 
 One Wall Was Washed Away by a Mississippi 
 
 River Flood in 1772. 
 
 out voluntarily and retired to St. Louis. 
 
 Three separate expeditions were sent by the 
 British to take formal possesion of Fort Char- 
 tres, but King Pontiac refused to capituHto. 
 For two years the Illinois country was witl out 
 any civilized rule. At the entreaty of tlu- 
 French villages, St. Ange came down from Tt. 
 Louis to Fort Chartres, and restored his gen tic 
 despotism. Poutiac, thinking that France had 
 returned to its own once more, brought his re,! 
 
 26
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 warriors to the fort, where the lilies still floated 
 above the bastion. St. Ange told the chief that 
 it was all over. No resistance was offered when, 
 one day, a company of Highlanders, of the 
 famous "Black Watch," in Tartan kilts, bare 
 legs, sporrans, and plumed helmets, marched in, 
 with a shrieking bag-piper at their head, and 
 raised the cross of St. George over Fort Chartres. 
 
 But Pontiac drove a hard bargain with the 
 British. Because of his long and stubborn re- 
 sistance, he secured for the red men the country 
 won from the French. The English seaboard 
 colonies were startled by the royal proclamation 
 that the vast region running westward from the 
 crest of the Alleghanies to the Mississippi, and 
 including all of the Mississippi and the upper 
 St. Lawrence basins, had been turned over to 
 Pontiac, and closed to settlement by the whites. 
 
 How Pontiac Helped to Bring on the Kevolu- 
 tion. No single event since the original settle- 
 ment and division of territory in America among 
 colonizing European nations, proved to be of as 
 profound importance as this treaty of peace be- 
 tween Great Britain and the Northwestern In- 
 dians. For the first time, England recognized 
 the power of the red man and made concessions 
 to him. This policy she was to continue during 
 the next fifty years. From a bitter and relent- 
 less foe, the Indian was turned into a paid ally 
 of Great Britain against her own colonies in the 
 Revolutionary war; and, until after the war of 
 1812, the red man, at British instigation, was to 
 oppose his savage tactics against the settle- 
 ments of the Great West. 
 
 For this alliance with the savage, England 
 paid the price of the loss of her .American 
 colonies. You will remember that it was Vir- 
 ginia which began the French and Indian war in 
 trying to establish her charter rights to lands 
 in the Ohio valley that were held by the French. 
 Now, by this treaty with Pontiac, her claims 
 were ignored. 
 
 The seeds of discontent were thus sown in 
 Virginia, and the sense of injustice was intensi- 
 fied when parliament laid stamp duties on the 
 colonies for the defense of a frontier they were 
 forbidden to cross. Heretofore the colonial as 
 semblies had opposed taxes and raised revenues 
 for the king, but parliament had never before 
 levied internal taxes in the colonies. It was in 
 1765, the very year British troops entered Fort 
 Chartres, that Patrick Henry raised the battle 
 cry of the Revolution in the House of Burgesses 
 of Virginia: 
 
 "Taxation without representation is tyranny." 
 
 Pioneers Ignore the King's Proclamation. 
 And do you think that the king's proclamation 
 that no settlements were to be made west of 
 the Alleghanies checked the emigration that 
 had just begun to flow westward? No. The 
 hearty frontiersmen, who had fought their way 
 to the mountain crest, cared no more for a royal 
 proclamation than they did for the bark of the 
 
 gray wolf at their cabin doors in the wilderness. 
 Settlers began to pour into the Indian country, 
 down the Ohio into Kentucky, and through Cum- 
 berland Gap into Tennessee. In 1769 Wheeling, 
 West Virginia, was founded, and Daniel Boone 
 reached Kentucky. Within a few years he had 
 fortified Boonsboro, and George Rogers Clark 
 had another outpost at Harrodsburg. 
 
 "New France" Changes Masters Again. 
 When the first shot was fired in the Revolution- 
 ary war, Col. John Tod, who was with Clark, 
 named another cluster of cabins, in the blue grass 
 region of Kentucky, Lexington, in honor of the 
 first battle-field of the patriots of New England. 
 Clark forthwith organized Kentucky into a 
 county of Virginia, fortified Harrodsburg and 
 formed a plan to capture Kaskaskia and Vin- 
 cennes from the British. 
 
 It was very important that this should be 
 done, for the British, in their anxiety to nip 
 the Revolution in the bud, were inciting the 
 Indians to fall upon the frontiers of the rebel- 
 lious colonies. This patriot in Kentucky felt it 
 to be his special mission to put a stop to that 
 dastardly scheme and to keep the Indians in 
 check. 
 
 You may admire this George Rogers Clark to 
 your heart's content, for, by his timely action, 
 he saved much bloodshed. He was the first hero 
 of the new era in the Great West. He readily 
 got a commisison from Patrick Henry, Governor 
 
 GENERAL GEORGE E. ROGERS CLARK, 
 
 "The First Hero of the New Era in the Great 
 
 West. ' ' 
 
 of the State of Virginia, to command a military 
 expedition. In the spring of 1778, he started 
 from his camp on Corn Island in the Ohio river, 
 near the present city of Louisville, in his long 
 march to Kaskaskia. 
 
 27
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Did he capture famous Fort Chartres near that 
 town? No! Fort Chartres, built in 1718, rebuilt 
 in stone in 1750, was destined never to have a 
 shot fired against it. Three 
 years before the war of 
 the Eevolution began, it 
 had the honor of having 
 its walls razed by a Mis- 
 sissippi river flood. 
 
 With the unfurling of 
 the British flag in 1765, the 
 river began to mutter at 
 the base of the bluff. 
 Higher and higher crept 
 the water with each spring 
 GEN. ANTHONY WAYNE, freshet. In 1772, a rush of 
 waters washed away the river wall of the old 
 fort. The British garrison fled to Kaskaskia. 
 On the bluff above the rippling Okaw, and over- 
 looking the busy town, which then had a popu- 
 lation of 1,000, Fort Gage was built. There 
 a M. de Rocheblave, a renegade Frenchman, 
 who in his time had served King Louis in Fort 
 Chartres, now commanded Fort Gage in the 
 name of King George, and was held in execra- 
 tion by the loyal French of the town. 
 
 One of the stories in connection with the 
 capture of Fort Gage is that Major Clark was 
 helped by Father Pierre Gibault, a priest of 
 Kaskaskia, who expressed the liveliest satisfac- 
 tion when De Eocheblave departed, a prisoner 
 of war of the "Long Knives" of Virginia, as 
 the Indians called the American pioneers from 
 their habit of carrying great hunting knives in 
 their belts. 
 
 Fort Gage was easily taken, for the British 
 officers, in fancied security from attack, were 
 attending a ball in the pleasure-loving French 
 town. The sentinels were captured, the garrison 
 imprisoned and placed under guard, and then 
 Major Clark with a picked company crossed the 
 Okaw in a ferry boat and appeared in frontier 
 costumes of deerskin shirts and trousers, coon- 
 skin caps and great boots, and armed with guns 
 and knives, at the door of the ballroom. There 
 was a panic. Ladies screamed and fainted, the 
 British officers turned pale with rage and 
 chagrin, and Father Gibault, in his long, loose 
 gown, behind the "Long Knives" chuckled with 
 amusement. 
 
 The French villages in the Illinois country 
 were ready enough to welcome the rule of Vir- 
 ginia, for the French alliance had been an- 
 nounced. Lafayette was fighting under Wash- 
 ington, and Admiral d'Estaing had arrived in the 
 Delaware in a French fleet. Loyalty to the rebel 
 Americans meant loyalty to France. It was 
 fondly dreamed, too, that, should the Revolution 
 succeed, France might regain Louisiana. 
 
 A People Who Objected to the Anglo-Saxon 
 Self -Government. They were not so ready, how- 
 ever, for self-government, which came as a con- 
 sequence of Clark's capture of Fort Gage. For 
 
 eighty years the French dwellers along the Mis- 
 sissippi had been under priest, chartered com 
 pany, royal commandant, or British military 
 rule. They were prepared to accept a new 
 despot with philosophy. 
 
 As a self-governing state, Virginia was less 
 than three years old and there were to be three 
 years more before her political status was to be 
 assured at Yorktown, but she did not shrink 
 from her duty of giving republican institutions 
 to the vast territory in the Great West, which 
 she claimed by charter and by conference. An 
 act was passed by the Virginia assembly organ- 
 izing the present states of Ohio, Indiana. Illi- 
 nois, Michigan and Wisconsin into the county of 
 Illinois, and Col. John Tod was appointed Coun- 
 ty Lieutenant, with his capital at Kaskaskia. 
 
 Colonel Tod arrived at Kaskaskia in May, 
 1779, by way of the Ohio. In all probability he 
 made a journey from Pittsburg in a sailing 
 vessel, for there were sailboats on the Ohio as 
 early as 1774. The thirteen stars and thirteen 
 stripes flew from the masthead, as the boat came 
 to anchor in the Okaw before the town. The 
 inhabitants were gathered on the bank. Here 
 and there a voice cried: 
 
 "Vive le Roi!" 
 
 "There is no king, now," another would say. 
 
 "Parbleu! Who then is to rule us?" 
 
 "They say we are to govern ourselves." 
 
 Heads were shaken in bewilderment. The new 
 
 28
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT . 
 
 governor, who called himself simply County 
 Lieuatenant, and came in little state, inspired 
 no confidence. Kaskaskia was used to splendor 
 and high-sounding titles. The first thing Colonel 
 Tod did was to organize a military force. That 
 the people understood. But when he ordered 
 an election of civil officers they had to be in- 
 structed in the business of voting. The climax 
 was reached when the new town councils were 
 told that it was their duty to levy taxes to 
 defend their new liberties. To taxes imposed 
 by the king they had always submitted, as to 
 the will of God, but to impose taxes on them- 
 selves was a queer use to make of liberty. It 
 \vas beyond their comprehension that the Eng- 
 lish colonies were fighting bitterly for the right' 
 to tax themselves. Had the world gone mad? 
 
 By dint of not a little old-fashioned despotism, 
 Governor Tod forced these simple Frenchmen to 
 take the trouble to govern and tax themselves. 
 It was not so difficult to raise recruits for Major 
 Clark, who had taken Vincennes and was clear- 
 ing the Wabash region of troublesome Indians. 
 The British did not venture out of the French 
 forts .on the Great Lakes. Thus it happened 
 
 nois, Virginia had fought twice in the conviction 
 that it belonged to her. She had conquered it 
 from the common enemy, occupied, governed, and 
 defended it for three years, without help from 
 Congress or any other colony. Now, one is glad 
 to read, from a motive of pure patriotism, she 
 gave it all up to the general government. Massa- 
 chusetts, Connecticut, North Carolina, South 
 Carolina and Georgia had "sea to sea" charters 
 also, but none of them had ventured anything 
 to secure their titles to unoccupied territory in 
 the West. But now, the seven states which had 
 no such charters, refusing to sign the Articles 
 of Confederation unless such claims should be 
 surrendered to the general government for the 
 payment of the cost of the war, Virginia set 
 the example in patriotism. 
 
 Growth of the Northwest After the Revolu- 
 tion. Thus was created a public domain, on the 
 condition that the territory should be cut up 
 and admitted as states as soon as there should 
 be sufficient population. The "County of Vir- 
 ginia" became the Northwest Territory. 
 
 In 1787 it was ordered surveyed, marked into 
 townships and opened for settlement and the re- 
 
 that, with very little bloodshed, Virginia estab- 
 lished military and civil rule over the region 
 northwest of the Ohio. It was this fact of actual 
 occupation which secured the Mississippi and 
 the western boundary of the United States at 
 the close of the Revolution. 
 
 For the possession of the country of the Tlli- 
 
 cording of deeds. The proceeds of the sale of 
 one township, measuring one mile square, out 
 of every thirty-six, in the old Northwest Terri- 
 tory, were to go toward the creating of a public 
 school fund. For the first time in the history 
 of the world, in all probability, public lands 
 were set aside for public education. 
 
 29
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 This fact alone would have attracted the emi- 
 gration of ambitious families from the seaboard 
 colonies. The settlement of the Northwest Ter- 
 ritory, however, was subject to the consent of 
 the Indians and, incidentally, of the British gar- 
 risons which, in spite of the treaty of peace, 
 still occupied the old French forts and traded 
 for furs in a wide strip of territory south of 
 the Great Lakes. This included all of the state 
 of Michigan and the present sites of Chicago, 
 Milwaukee, and Duluth, upper Ohio and north- 
 western New York. 
 
 To strengthen their position the British gar 
 risons made friends with the Indians and in- 
 cited them to resist the flood of emigration that 
 began to pour down the Ohio. It became clear 
 that the new government would have to fight 
 the Indians before the Northwest Territory 
 could be settled and its treaty right to the south 
 shore of the St. Lawrence river system secured. 
 
 This state of affairs presented extraordinary 
 difficulties which we find it hard to realize to- 
 day. In 1790 all except perhaps 10,000 of the 
 3,380,000 people of the United States lived east 
 of the Alleghany mountains and more than half 
 of the 10,000 in the northwest were in the 
 French settlements along the Mississippi, and 
 in Kentucky. Fully half the population of the 
 country was south of Pennsylvania. The six 
 largest seaboard cities had altogether only 
 131,000 people. Washington had no existence 
 until 1800. Philadelphia was the capital, and 
 from that city diverged great highways to New 
 York, New England, and Virginia. One stage 
 road ran the entire length of Pennsylvania to 
 Pittsburg, and stages made the journey over the 
 mountains to Pittsburg in twelve days. 
 
 Here, at the headwaters of the Ohio river had 
 grown up a town of two hundred log cabins. 
 Two thousand people lived there and did a thriv- 
 ing business in the outfitting of emigrants for 
 the West. There were flour and saw mills, black- 
 smith shops, stores of dry goods and salt meats, 
 and ship-building yards where flatboats, keel- 
 boats, and sailing vessels for navigating the 
 Ohio were constructed. A blast furnace for the 
 smelting of iron ore was probably in operation 
 on one of the lofty hill tops, and castings were 
 made for boats, wagons, and the farm imple- 
 ments that would be needed by the emigrants. 
 Since nothing could be obtained in the West, 
 except what nature provided, everything had to 
 be taken there. A family usually required two 
 boats. On the floatboat were loaded horses and 
 cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens, hunting-dogs, house- 
 hold goods, farm implements and tools, the 
 churn, spinning-wheel and loom, barrels of flour 
 and salt 'pork, and bags of corn meal and pota- 
 toes. Seeds of every description were included, 
 even roots of rose bushes and honeysuckles from 
 the old home gardens. 
 
 ^The family, with the guns and stores of ammu- 
 nition, clothing, and provisions for the voyage, 
 
 embarked on a keelboat that was fitted up with 
 a cabin on the deck, so low as to pass under 
 the branches of trees along shore so they could 
 lie concealed where anchorage was made foi 
 the night. The walls of the cabin were made 
 bullet and arrow proof, for hostile Indians fol- 
 lowed boats for days, and watched from the 
 shores to shoot the emigrants. Thus, steered 
 by one huge oar at the stern, these water cara- 
 vans with their freight of courageous people, 
 floated into the wilderness. 
 
 "The Ordinance of '87." Before the war of 
 the Revolution all this western, country was 
 thought of by the settlers in the East as rich 
 and desirable, but very dangerous because of the 
 Indians and the wild beasts which prowled about 
 in great numbers. After the war, the people 
 were, of course, unsettled and ready for adven- 
 ture. Boys who had followed the flag and seen 
 bloodshed were not much frightened by stories 
 of Indians, and as for wild beasts, they were 
 simply game for these hardy young fellows. 
 
 The large families had to break up and the 
 more rugged members go out to the frontier, 
 where land was plenty and opportunity great. 
 But until the close of the war, there was no 
 great inducement to young men to go west. But 
 an important act of legislation which came about 
 on the very year of the adoption of the constitu- 
 tion changed all this western country at a stroke 
 of the pen. We can remember this date, 1787, 
 not only by the name of the ordinance, which is 
 always spoken of as if it were the only ordinance 
 of its year, "The Ordinance of Eighty-seven," 
 but also we may remember the date by associa- 
 tion with the date of the adoption by the con- 
 vention of the federal constitution, 1787. Most 
 of us remember readily that Washington began 
 as president under the constitution in 1789, and 
 that the constitution which then went into effect 
 was adopted somewhat before that date. 
 
 In 1787 congress agreed by the ordinance- of 
 '87 to protect settlers in the new country from 
 the ravages of wild beasts and Indians. The 
 Northwestern territory included what is now the 
 states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and 
 Wisconsin, and the two positive advances in 
 government which were made in the erection of 
 this territory made a startling change in the 
 history of civil government. Slavery was for- 
 bidden north of the Ohio river in this section. 
 Land was set apart for educational purposes, 
 and a provision was made to help out the 
 younger children of parents who died without 
 will. Instead of giving all the property to the 
 eldest, the ordinance settled matters so that 
 younger sons and daughters of a father who 
 died without making a will had equal shares in 
 the division of the estate. This upset the old 
 English notion and law which had prevailed in 
 the colonies wherever the rule of England was 
 acknowledged, for it had been the custom to 
 give everything to the eldest son regardless of 
 
 30
 
 THE STOEY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 the rights or worth of the younger members of 
 the family. 
 
 Within two years of the passage of this ordi- 
 nance, twenty thousand settlers made their way 
 down the Ohio. They usually went down with 
 the current on flatboats, and when they reached 
 their destinations, they tore up the boats and 
 used the planks to build their first residences 
 in the new land where there were yet no saw 
 mills. 
 
 In the year 1788, 10,000 emigrants passed 
 through Pittsburg. The never-ending stream of 
 settlers began to make an impression on the 
 great West. Trees were felled, cabins rose in 
 the clearings, crops were planted and sometimes 
 harvested, pioneers perished, but, in doing so, 
 they made the way easier for those who came 
 after them. Not without honor did these sol- 
 diers die in the front ranks of the battle of civili- 
 zation. Not in vain were the hardships endured 
 by delicate women and little children. A ster- 
 ling race sprang up in the old Northwest Terri- 
 tory. 
 
 Cincinnati and Marietta, Ohio, were founded 
 in 1778. After that time there is a gap of eight 
 years before Chillicothe, Dayton, and Cleveland 
 were settled. What do you suppose was the 
 reason for this? During the first year or two, 
 until ground could be cleared and crops har- 
 vested, pioneers were compelled to depend 
 chiefly upon game to supply their tables. As 
 wild animals became scarce, the Indians, spurred 
 on by British garrisons on the Lakes, who 
 wanted to keep the fur-trade, determined to 
 drive the white settlers out. They succeeded, 
 for five or six years, in checking emigration. 
 Hundreds of cabins were burned. Pioneers were 
 scalped, and women and children were carried 
 into captivity. In Kentucky, 1,500 people per- 
 ished during these years. In Illinois one horror 
 followed another; men who plowed the fields did 
 so under guard. Forts were built at Cincinnati 
 
 
 and Marietta, and General St. Clair, governor 
 of the Northwest Territory, led an unsuccessful 
 expedition against the Miami Indians. 
 
 General Wayne's Defeat of the Indians. The 
 task of opening the Northwest to peaceable set- 
 tlement was at last undertaken by Gen. Anthony 
 Wayne, then commander-in-chief of the Ameri- 
 can army. He went about his work in so cool 
 and sane a fashion as to belie his nickname of 
 "Mad Anthony." In all our literature there is 
 no more stirring story of Indian fighting than 
 is to be found in the simple narration of General 
 Wayne's campaign of 1793-4. 
 
 He marched from Fort Washington at Cincin- 
 nati, to where is now Fort Wayne, Indiana, and 
 thence up the Maumee to the rapids in Ohio, 
 where, in the shelter of the British Fort Meigs, 
 the Indians had taken their stand amid a large 
 tract of fallen timber, a place admirably 
 adapted to their mode of warfare. There the 
 Indians of the Northwest were defeated in a 
 great battle on the 20th of August, 1794. A 
 year later a treaty of peace was signed at Fort 
 Greenville, northwest of the new settlement of 
 Dayton. This treaty is very important to us, 
 for in it the name of Chicago occurs for the first 
 time in any official document since 1735, when 
 Pierre d'Artaguette proposed to march from 
 Fort Chartres against the Sacs and Foxes, and 
 open the Chicagou portage. 
 
 There was a great gathering of tribes at Fort 
 Greenville all the old Algonquins who had been 
 soured against the white man by the disposses- 
 sion of the French. The Miamis were the great 
 tribe in northern Indiana and Ohio. The Ottawas 
 and Ojibwas and Hurons were in Michigan. 
 The Delawares were around Dayton, the Pianke- 
 shas and Weas in eastern Illinois along the west 
 side of the Wabash. 
 
 The Illinois Indians who had rallied to the 
 banner of LaSalle, had disappeared. By 1800 
 only thirty warriors of these once numerous
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 tribes were living in Kaskaskia. About 1780 
 great numbers had perished on the Rock of St. 
 Louis (Starved Rock). One of their number 
 a Kaskaskian had assassinated Chief Pontiac, 
 the Ottawa, in Cahokia, in all probability bribed 
 to the deed by the British at Fort Gage, Kas- 
 kaskia. The Pottawatomies, at the time of 
 Wayne's victory, occupied the south end of 
 Lake Michigan. Each tribe was required to 
 cede some choice bit of land to the United 
 States. The Miamis thus lost their ancient capi- 
 tal and portage between the Maumee and the 
 Wabash, now known as Fort Wayne, and the 
 Pottawatomies ceded ' ' one piece of land, six 
 miles square, at the mouth of Chicago river, 
 emptying into Lake Michigan, where a fort 
 formerly stood." This was Tonty's fort, aban- 
 doned nearly a hundred years before. 
 
 The British, finding their fur trade gone, 
 evacuated the forts on the Great Lakes and re- 
 tired to Montreal. The Indians of the North- 
 west were, for the time being, conquered, and 
 gave little more trouble until the war of 1812. 
 Emigration poured into the West. Cleveland 
 was settled and Detroit grew apace. Near the 
 close of the eighteenth century, English names 
 began to appear in the annals of Kaskaskia, 
 names destined to shine in the early history of 
 Illinois. The lead-mining district of Dubuque, 
 Galena, and Prairie du Chien was being worked. 
 Salt making, from salt springs, in Indiana, Illi- 
 nois, Missouri, and Tennessee was a growing 
 industry. Along the Ohio, the middle Missis- 
 sippi, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee rivers 
 were numerous water mills for making flour and 
 meal and sawing lumber. 
 
 Emigration for years to come was to be along 
 the Ohio and through Cumberland Gap. Ken- 
 tucky was admitted as a state in 1792, Tennessee 
 in 1796, and Ohio in 1803. Except for the old 
 French and Spanish towns along the Mississippi, 
 there were no settlements of white men west 
 
 of Vincennes; but Kaskaskia had become the 
 Mecca of the Great West toward which money 
 and enterprise turned. It had its judge, its 
 lawyers, its doctors, its thriving merchants, its 
 university graduates, its soldiers, its legislators, 
 its speculators in mines and lands, its exporters 
 of flour and pork and lead, its Indian agents, 
 and its embroyo statesmen who were to frame 
 the constitution of Illinois in 1818. 
 
 St. Louis did not attract pioneers other than 
 French and Spanish until after Louisiana was 
 first ceded to France in 1800 and then sold to the 
 United States in 1803 by Napoleon, for $15,- 
 000,000. 
 
 There was a thriving town and much land 
 under cultivation at Prairie du Chien, Wiscon- 
 sin, where a trading post was very early fortified 
 by the French, and later developed by the Brit- 
 ish. At Peoria was a flourishing trading center 
 among the Indians. Except for these two places, 
 there were few white men in the region from 
 which Chicago was to draw its wealth when, in 
 the year of the Louisiana Purchase, orders were 
 given by the department of war at Washington 
 then only three years old for the building 
 of a fort at the mouth of the Chicago river. 
 
 The Unpainted Warrior. There seems to be 
 no picture of the famous Ottawa Chief, Pontiac, 
 in existence. The historical societies of Chi- 
 cago, Illinois, Michigan, Detroit, the St. Louis 
 Exposition officials, and the librarian of the 
 House of Commons of Ottawa, Canada, have all 
 been appealed to. In the illustrated edition of 
 Parkman's "Conspiracy of Pontiac," no por- 
 trait of the chief appears. Mr. Pierre Chouteau, 
 the living descendant of both of the founders 
 of St. Louis, and an enthusiastic collector of 
 French and Indian relics, wrote the author tha* 
 he had for years tried in vain to find portraits 
 of Pontiac and of St. Ange de Bellerive, the 
 last French officer over Fort Chartres and first 
 governor of upper Louisiana.' 
 
 32
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE WAUBANSIA 
 STONE. 
 
 FORT DEARBORN, THE BEGINNING OF 
 MODERN CHICAGO. 
 
 (1803-1812.) 
 
 General Dearborn Orders a Fort on Chicago 
 River. With the defeat of the Indians of the 
 Northwest by General Anthony Wayne in 1795 
 the 'way was open for a fresh beginning to be 
 made at Chicago. Eight 
 years passed, however, be- 
 fore General Henry Dear- 
 torn, Secretary of War un- 
 der President Jefferson, in- 
 structed Captain Whistler, 
 of the post at Detroit, to 
 proceed to the mouth of 
 the Chicago river, with one 
 company of soldiers of the regular army, and 
 there to build a fort. 
 
 The fort at Chicago was not considered of 
 special importance, for, until the massacre of 
 1812, there is little concerning it in the records 
 of the war office at Washington. It seems to 
 have been established chiefly for the protection 
 of an Indian agent, who was to have charge of 
 the government's dealings with the Pottawa- 
 tomies, Sacs, Foxes and Kickapoos. The agent 
 was expected to control a great deal of the fur 
 trade of the region. 
 
 The story of those nine years in Chicago and 
 of the massacre itself has been gathered chiefly 
 from the personal recollections of the heroic 
 band of Americans who lived at this frontier 
 post. They are so few that you can come to 
 know them by name. 
 
 The private soldiers and non-commissioned 
 officers, to the number of sixty-eight, marched 
 overland the first troop of any nation to cross 
 the unbroken forests of lower Michigan and 
 around the head of the lake to the site of Chi- 
 cago, which looked exactly as Marquette had 
 found it one hundred and thirty years before, 
 except for four rude, bark-covered cabins, where 
 French voyageurs lived with their Indian wives. 
 Captain Whistler, with his wife and three-year- 
 old son George, who was to become the famous 
 engineer and build railroads for the Czar of 
 Russia; his son, Lieutenant William Whistler 
 with his young bride, and Lieutenant Moses 
 Hooke, emb;irked in the United States sailing 
 schooner Tracy for the voyage around the lakes. 
 The two Whistler ladies were not dismayed by 
 the venture, for they were soldiers ' wives and 
 used to frontier service. But there was much 
 shopping to be done in the muddy unpaved 
 
 streets of Detroit for wearing apparel and 
 household necessities which they would need for 
 at least a year. All such goods at that time 
 came from Montreal, for distribution to the 
 scattered trading posts in the Northwest, which 
 were still very largely inhabited by the French. 
 Military stores for the United States army came 
 from the East through Cincinnati and Fort 
 Wayne, or by way of the seven-year-old town 
 of Cleveland over Lake Erie. 
 
 It was late in the summer when the Tracy 
 left the docks at Detroit, the little company 
 quite expecting the voyage to the Chicago river 
 to take three months. On Lake Huron they had 
 almost the same experiences as La Salle had in 
 the Griffin a century and a quarter before 
 calms in the St. Clair flats, violent storms on 
 Thunder Bay, the springing of leaks in the cabin 
 roof, and sea-sickness. In fair weather they sat 
 on the deck and watched the wooded shore glide 
 by. There was no sign of a white settlement 
 until they reached Michilimackinac. 
 
 The Trading Post at Michilimackinac. The 
 sea-girt rocky point had become a great place 
 of transit for the furs of the Northwest. A 
 white-washed fort crowned the beautiful bluif. 
 The Indian agency house had its piazza and 
 garden. Beside the long warehouse of the Mack- 
 inac Fur company were piers and wharfs laden 
 with goods for the Indian trade. Numerous log 
 cabins were occupied by French artisans and 
 swarms of Ottowa lodges enlivened the beach. 
 The crystal bay was dotted with hundreds of 
 bark canoes and long Mackinac row-boats with 
 their freight of furs from Lake Superior, Lake 
 Michigan and the Mississippi. These had come 
 hundreds of miles with their loads of beaver, 
 otter, marten, mink, red and silver fox, wolf, 
 bear, wild-cat, and smoked deer skins. Carried 
 around portages, beached in storms, calked with 
 pitch and greased with deer tallow to make them 
 glide swiftly, what wild regions had they not 
 traversed in their long journeys from Duluth, 
 Prairie du Chien, Peoria and St. Joseph. 
 
 No one would have believed that this town of 
 Mackinac was then on American territory. Ex- 
 cept for the garrison the people were mainly 
 French Canadians and Indians, and very little 
 English was spoken. In September the place 
 was very likely to be crowded with voyaguers 
 making out their forest outfits. There were fam- 
 ily reunions and marriages, and baptisms of in- 
 fants in the Catholic mission, much feasting and 
 dancing and exchange of goods. In another 
 
 33
 
 THE STOEY OF CHICAGO AND'NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 month or so the place would be almost deserted 
 and locked in the ice of the strait. 
 
 The little company set sail again, lay for days 
 among the Manitou Islands, and saw, perhaps, 
 the little river, on whose bank Marquette died, 
 flashing down an open glade that lay below 
 Sleepy Bear Point. For a United States naval 
 vessel this was a voyage of discovery and ex- 
 ploration on the waters of Lake Michigan. Ex- 
 cept for clusters of Indian villages around Green 
 Bay and the mouth of the Grand River in Mich- 
 igan, there was nothing to break the monotony 
 of plain and wood and bluff along the wild 
 shores. 
 
 At St. Joseph the officers disembarked while 
 the Tracy proceeded to Chicago. At St. Joseph 
 they were entertained by William Burnett, a 
 trader who had been at that point more than 
 thirty years, and by John Kinzie, a silversmith 
 who had recently come over from Detroit to set 
 up as an independent trader in furs. Mrs. 
 Kinzie, who had been a Mrs. Eleanor McKillup, 
 and the widow of a British officer, no doubt 
 found old friends in the ladies of Fort Dear- 
 born. The Kinzies seem to have decided to go 
 to the new settlement on the Chicago river as 
 soon as the fort should "be built. 
 
 Late in the summer the officers and ladies 
 crossed the lake in a Mackinac row-boat. This 
 style of boat was a skiff thirty feet long with 
 a sort of a deck, midway, where passengers and 
 goods could be protected from the weather by a 
 tarpaulin roof. For many years to come the 
 freight of Lake Michigan was to be carried 
 chiefly in Mackinac boats. 
 
 On the Site of Fort Dear- 
 born. The Tracy was anchor- 
 ed a half-mile from shore, dis- 
 charging her cargo by row- 
 boats. The soldiers stood 
 guard over the piles of mer- 
 chandise and military stores 
 on the south bank of the river, 
 on an elevation at the point 
 where the stream turned 
 southward. Here Fort Dear- 
 born was to be built. Two 
 thousand Indians stood on 
 shore and watched the 
 strange, "big canoe with 
 wings," which rocked idly in 
 the harbor of Chicago. 
 
 Most numerous were the 
 Pottawatomies very tall and 
 fierce-looking and haughty. 
 They wore buffalo robes or 
 red and blue blankets. Their FOET DEAEBOEN. 
 
 faces and arms were delicately "In the following summer the fort was completed and a suug 
 painted in lace-like designs of little stronghold it was, with its stout stockade, blockhouses and corn- 
 white and vermilion, and col- fortable quarters." 
 ored feathers were in their. 
 
 head-dresses. The Kickapoos were tall, sinewy, plete, and a snug little stronghold it was, with 
 and active and their dialect soft and liquid. But its stout stockade, block houses, and comfortable 
 the Sacs and Foxes were veritable Ishmaelites quarters for officers and men. 
 
 of the prairies, their hands against everyone. 
 These latter tribes, however, had their home on 
 Bock Eiver and it was thirty years before they 
 were to menace the peace of Chicago. 
 
 It was remarked with misgiving that these 
 Indians were well clothed, and armed with rifles, 
 keen, bright tomahawks, hunting knives, wood- 
 men's axes, and muskrat spears. All the tribes 
 of the Northwest, except the Miamis, were 
 known to be in the pay of the British, and to 
 send their chief men to Fort Maiden, Canada, 
 every year, for presents of goods and money. 
 Here, in this remote outpost, was fresh indica- 
 tion that, in the event of another war, England 
 might have her red allies retained to fall upon 
 the American frontier posts and settlements. 
 
 Captain Whistler set about erecting a stockade 
 and barracks before winter should set in. The 
 Tracy sailed back to Detroit. While the fort 
 was building, the ladies took refuge in the bark- 
 covered cabins of their French voyageurs, 
 whose names were Ouilmette (Wilmette), Le 
 Mai, and Pettell. The Indians departed to their 
 villages and then went off on the annual hunt. 
 
 The Building of Fort Dearborn. There was 
 not, within hundreds of miles a team of horses 
 or oxen and soldiers had to put on rope harnesses 
 and drag the needed timbers from the oak 
 woods, six or seven miles south, over the west 
 prairie. After the river froze over, the logs were 
 dragged down the ice. The widow of Lieutenant 
 Whistler, who came here a bride, told, more than 
 sixty years later, how the soldiers built Fort 
 Dearborn. In the summer the fort was com- 
 
 34
 
 THE STORY. OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 John Kinzie, the "Father of Chicago," ar- 
 rived in the spring of 1804, and the population 
 of the "Settlement of Fort Dearborn," as it 
 was called, was increased by six persons. Be- 
 side his wife, he brought his young nephew, 
 Eobert Forsythe, his nine-year-old stepdaughter, 
 Margaret McKillup, and the baby, John H. Kin- 
 zie, who made his entry into our future city in 
 an Indian birch-bark cradle, swung from the 
 shoulder of a negro slave Black Jim. 
 
 Mr. Kinzie bought La Mai's cabin, which 
 stood on the north side of the river facing the 
 fort, even then an old house with a history, and 
 began to improve it. He promptly took the 
 three French voyageurs into his service and sent 
 them into the woods to collect furs. Within a 
 year he had established trading posts at Milwau- 
 kee and on the Illinois, the Rock, and the Kan- 
 kakee rivers. 
 
 How Business Was Carried on at the Trading 
 Posts. Each trading post had its superintend- 
 ent, agents, voyageurs, trains of pack-horses, 
 
 LIEUT. WILLIAM 
 WHISTLER. 
 
 CAPT. WM. WELLS. 
 
 Hero of the Mas- 
 sacre. 
 
 canoes and Mackinac boats. Furs from all the 
 outposts were brought to Chicago, and the packs 
 made ready for the sailing vessel that came 
 down from Michilimackinac in the spring with 
 goods from Montreal. 
 
 The fur trade, which was to be the only busi- 
 ness conducted in Chicago for years, was car- 
 ried on under conditions that can not be imag- 
 ined today. There was practically no money in 
 the country except what was paid out at the 
 fort by the government. A gun, . a blanket, a 
 wool shirt, whatever was wanted by the Indians, 
 was paid for in skins. Different kinds of skins 
 had different values and these varied according 
 to their beauty, size and rarity. When the skins 
 were received at Mackinac they were paid for 
 in goods for the Indian trade and in clothing, 
 food stuffs, ammunition, or building material 
 wanted by the traders. The country produced 
 not a single necessity of life except game, fish, 
 and Indian corn. The corn could not be ground, 
 but was hulled with lye and used as hominy. 
 Flour and salt pork formed two of the largest 
 items of import into Chicago the city which, in 
 time, was to furnish Europe with meat and 
 grain. 
 
 The work of collecting the pelts was done by 
 the voyageurs. These were half-breeds or 
 French Canadians who, for an average of $100 
 a year, an outfit of clothing, and a ration of 
 food, entered into contracts to follow the Indians 
 on their hunts, buy the skins of freshly-killed 
 animals, cure them, and bring them to their em- 
 ployers in the spring. The ration was usually 
 a quart of sagamite (hominy) and salt pork or 
 venison tallow. Often these voyageurs lived on 
 fish and maple sugar an entire winter when 
 other food was not to be obtained. They car- 
 ried with them needles, thread, beads, ribbon, 
 tobacco, and a supply of goods for trading. 
 Their worth to their employers depended upon 
 the shrewdness with which they bargained. 
 Blankets, cloth, calico, guns, camp kettles, axes, 
 tomahawks, knives, looking glasses, animal traps 
 and spears, fishing tackle, ammunition, liquor, 
 ribbons, paint, beads, tobacco, and silver orna- 
 ments were the articles most in demand by the 
 red men and their squaws. John Kinzie 's silver 
 bracelets, rings, earrings, and chains, which he 
 fashioned himself, were very popular. The In- 
 dians called him Shaw-ne-aw-kee Silverman. 
 
 The French voyageurs were sturdy, enduring, 
 resourceful, light-hearted. No difficulties baffled, 
 no hardship discouraged them. They formed 
 dog-like attachments for kind masters, and were 
 adored by the Indians, whose long winters were 
 made less dreary by the music of violins, and 
 the laughter and story-telling of the voyageurs. 
 Most of these adventurers took Indian wives, 
 and delighted to dress them in the short blue 
 skirts and jackets, and neat kerchiefs worn by 
 the French peasant women of Canada. 
 
 Jean Baptiste Pointe de Saible, a free negro 
 from the French island of San Domingo, there 
 seems to have been a number of such in the 
 French settlements on the Mississippi, built a 
 cabin and began to trade in furs with the In- 
 dians of Chicago about 1779. Upon hearing that 
 the United States intended to build a fort here, 
 he sold his cabin to Le Mai and went back to 
 Peoria, where he died several years later. 
 
 The story of John Kinzie, the Silverman, is 
 from the sketch of his life by his granddaughter, 
 Mrs. Eleanor Kinzie Gordon, of Savannah, Ga.; 
 and of the Princess Nelly, Mrs. Kjnzie, from 
 "Waubun, " that classic of the Northwest, writ- 
 ten in 1855 by Mrs. John H. Kinzie, who had 
 the story, in greater detail than is given here, 
 from the lips of her mother-in-law. Editions of 
 "Waubun" were issued for the centennial by 
 half a dozen publishers of Chicago and may be 
 had, well illustrated and bound, for 75 cents. 
 
 John Kinzie began to live in a style that was 
 considered magnificent. The bark-thatched cabin 
 had been transformed into "the Kinzie Man 
 sion. " Much of the material for flooring, doors, 
 windows, and veranda, was brought from Mon- 
 treal, and doubtless a Mackinac boat-builder did 
 the joinery. It was a long, low house of one 
 story, with piazza extending along its front 
 
 35
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 range of four or five rooms, and was, altogether 
 sixty feet in length. A broad green space was 
 enclosed between it and the river, and was 
 shaded by a row of Lombardy poplars, grown 
 from saplings that were, in all probability, 
 brought by way of Montreal from France, for 
 the. tree is nowhere native in America. Two 
 great cottonwoods stood in the rear of the build- 
 ing, and there was a fine flower and vegetable 
 garden, a dairy, bake-house, stables, and a lodg- 
 ing house for voyageurs and Indians. 
 
 CABIN ON LEE'S PLACE. 
 
 In 1805 Charles Jouett, Indian agent, arrived 
 and built the Agency House on the Esplanade, 
 west of the fort. This building was called Cob- 
 web Castle, possibly because of its slight con- 
 struction. It consisted of two big storerooms 
 divided by a hall. Verandas extended along 
 both front and rear. A family named Burns 
 occupied a cabin on the north side of the river 
 west of the Kinzie mansion; and a Mr. Charles 
 Lee built a house for himself south of the fort. 
 He also had a farm at what is now Center ave- 
 nue and Twenty-second street on the west fork 
 of the south branch. This was called Lee 's 
 Place and afterward ' ' Hardscrabble. ' ' It was 
 in charge of a man named White. These were 
 all the residents of Fort Dearborn settlement at 
 the time Mr. Jouett brought his bride from 
 Kentucky. 
 
 A Rough Wedding Journey. The Kinzie and 
 Whistler children were never tired of hearing 
 about Mr. Jouett 's wedding journey. It was 
 the depth of the winter of 1809, when the bride 
 and groom started on horseback from Lexington, 
 Ky. They crossed the Ohio at Louisville and 
 struck across the wild knobs of southern Indiana 
 to the old French post at Vincennes. After leav- 
 ing this town, which was over 100 years old 
 and was then the capital of Indian Territory, 
 they did not see a white man in the two-hun- 
 dred-mile ride to Chicago. Only occasionally did 
 they see a small band of friendly Piankeshas. 
 
 With them was a black servant and an Indian 
 guide. The weather was bitter. Snow lay deep 
 on that "prodigious prarie, " as a French ex- 
 plorer once called it. It extended, almost un- 
 broken, from Chicago to Cairo on the Ohio. 
 Every night, when this bridal party camped in 
 a strip of timber along some stream, they had 
 to keep huge fires going to frighten away wolves 
 
 and wildcats. At last they reached Fort Dear- 
 born. At sight of that rude stronghold, the one 
 really good house, and the few cabins huddled 
 before the blast on the slough, amid stunted 
 junipers and dwarf willows, with the stormy 
 lake breaking in wild waves over the drenched 
 and frozen sand-bar, the bride cried for her old 
 home in the blue-grass region of Kentucky. 
 
 The First White Child Born in Chicago. The 
 Kinzie mansion was full of- children. Ellen 
 Marion had arrived in December, 1804, the first 
 white child born in Chicago. A year later a 
 son was born to Lieutenant Whistler, and was 
 named Meriwether Lewis, for the leader of the 
 Lewis and Clark expedition. Maria Kinzie, 
 Eobert A. Kinzie, and John Harrison Whistler 
 were all born before 1810. There were children 
 in the Lee and Burns homes also, and in the 
 cabins of the French voyageurs, so there were 
 plenty of little feet to go flying over the piazza 
 floor of the Kinzie mansion when Shaw-ne-aw- 
 kee, the Silverman, played his violin. 
 
 In 1810 the Whistlers, father and son, were 
 transferred to Fort Wayne, and the command of 
 Fort Dearborn was given to Captain Nathan 
 Heald. There were an Indian interpreter, a sur- 
 geon, and four musicians in the fort, and a new 
 Indian agent in "Cobweb Castle," for Mr. 
 Jouett yielded to the tears of his homesick bride 
 and went back to Kentucky. 
 
 And there was a young Lieutenant Helm, who 
 promptly fell in love with and married pretty 
 Margaret McKillup, Mrs. Kinzie 's sixteen-year- 
 old daughter. These lovers must have had to 
 send, by an Indian or a French voyageur, to 
 Kaskaskia, then the capital of Illinois Territory, 
 for a license, and to wait quite six months for 
 it. About the same time Colonel Pierre Menard, 
 of Kaskaskia, was preparing to marry Angelique 
 Saucier with all the social eclat and church cere- 
 mony the wealthy town could muster. How 
 "society" of Kaskaskia would have smiled at 
 the simple wedding in the rude fort at Chicago. 
 
 The Boyhood of Johnny Kinzie. Johnny Kin- 
 zie, Jr., found plenty to do and learn in Chicago. 
 Before he was six years old, he knew English, 
 French, and three Indian dialects. He could 
 fish with bone hooks, swim in Mud Lake, and 
 trap otter. In a few years more he could shoot 
 , gray wolves and ducks and spear muskrats, and 
 he could play the Indian ball game of Lacrosse. 
 Once he found a spelling book in a chest of tea 
 from Mackinac and it occurred to him to learn 
 to read. His teacher was his cousin, Robert 
 Forsythe. Like Hiawatha he was wiser in field 
 and wood and water craft. His knowledge of 
 the wilderness was to stand him in good stead, 
 for his occupation in early life was to be that 
 of a fur trader at Mackinac, and Indian agent 
 at Winnebago. 
 
 For the little girls, there was knitting, patch 
 work, and playing at housekeeping. Spinning 
 and weaving were not done, for there were no 
 sheep in the country. There were a few milch 
 
 36
 
 cows and Madame Kinzie's dairy was famous; 
 there were cattle and swine on Lee's place, 
 where hay, corn, and wheat were grown. 
 
 It was always a great day for the little maids 
 when the voyageurs began to arrive in the 
 spring, with their packs in canoes or on ponies, 
 for their Indian wives always brought quan- 
 tities of maple sugar, beaded moccasions, belts, 
 and pouches; miniature cradles, tepees, canoes, 
 and snow-shoes, and carved wooden dolls. And, 
 best of all, there were beautiful birch-bark 
 boxes, embroidered with colored porcupine quills 
 and filled with maple sugar. These were the 
 first boxes of candy ever sold in Chicago, and 
 the price of one was the choicest ribbon or 
 string of beads owned by the small purchaser. 
 
 The Friendly Indians and Their Stories. No 
 sick or hungry Indian was ever turned away 
 from the Kinzie mansion. The 
 chiefs of the region Black 
 Partridge, Winnemeg, Topene- 
 bee, and Waubun, made the 
 long piazza their headquarters 
 in the summer. Some gorgeous 
 brave was usually to be seen 
 there, basking in the sun and 
 gazing at the whitewashed fort 
 across the river, where sentinels 
 paced their beats outside the 
 stockade and the military band 
 of four musicians played "Yan- 
 kee Doodle" in the evening. 
 The "Star Spangled Banner" 
 and "America" had not then 
 been written. While the squaws 
 hoed in the maize fields, and 
 the Indians fished in the rice- 
 choked river, the chiefs sat 
 
 were to go down to Peoria, a week 's journey by 
 canoe on the Illinois." 
 
 Black Partridge told the children the story of 
 "Starved Rock." He himself was a boy when, 
 in 1780, the Pottawatomies had exterminated the 
 Illinois Indians for the treachery of one of the 
 tribe in assassinating the great Ottawa chief, 
 Pontiac. And he told them that'Pere Marquette, 
 an "angel from heaven," had once spent a win- 
 ter in a cabin on the South branch. That was 
 a long time ago, but the Pottawatomies still 
 invoked the aid of that gentle spirit in all their 
 enterprises. That was the reason they had 
 prospered. 
 
 "But there are no more great chiefs like 
 Pontiac and no more saints with power from 
 heaven like Marquette?" 
 
 "Yes, there is a great Shawnee chief, Tecuin- 
 
 THE OLD KINZIE HOUSE, CHICAGO. 
 
 on the piazza, with Silverman's children play- 
 ing at their feet. Black Partridge, who wore 
 a peace medal, given by General Wayne, and 
 who boasted of his friendship with the Silver- 
 man's family, sometimes condescended to tell the 
 children a story. His favorite one, put into our 
 language, began: 
 
 "The first white man who ever lived in Chi- 
 cago was a negro." 
 
 "A white man cannot be a negro!" the chil- 
 dren never failed to exclaim. 
 
 "Oh, yes, he can. Some Frenchmen are quite 
 black. This one was named Jean Baptiste Pointe 
 de Saible. He was a very fine man, very rich 
 in furs, usually very drunk. But he was not 
 happy." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "He wanted to be a chief over the Pot- 
 tawatomies and that was even too much for 
 a Frenchman to ask. He built the cabin where 
 this house now stands and lived here many years. 
 When he heard the Long Knives (as the Indians 
 called all American pioneers) were coming here 
 to build -a fort, he was very sick and disgusted, 
 for he was altogether French. So he sold the 
 cabin to Le Mai. You could see him if you 
 
 seh, who lives at Tippecanoe on the Wabash with 
 his brother, The Prophet, whose sayings come 
 true." Black Partridge spoke mysteriously, but 
 he promised that no harm should come to the 
 Silverman 's family. 
 
 Best of all the children loved to hear a story 
 that Mrs. Kinzie sometimes told on winter even- 
 ings. It began like an old fairy story, and it 
 was called "Princess Nelly and the Silverman." 
 
 For eight years Princess Nelly and the Silver- 
 man "lived happy" with their house full of 
 merry children. Then dark days came. In the 
 year 1810, after the chiefs of the Northwestern 
 tribes had returned from their annual journey 
 for gifts to Fort Maiden, Canada, they gathered 
 for council at Tippecanoe on the Wabash. The 
 Miamis alone refused to go to this council. 
 
 The Indians knew, before the white men of 
 the country, before even the officials at Wash- 
 ington, that Great Britain intended to provoke 
 the United States to war and they knew what 
 part they were to perform. The search of Amer- 
 ican vessels at sea, with the impressing of sea- 
 men, and the stirring up of the Indians on the 
 frontier, were the irritants the English intended 
 to use. To the white settlers of the Northwest 
 
 37
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 it was known only that the Indians meant mis- 
 chief. From the Ohio river, north and west- 
 ward, blockhouses were hastily built in every 
 settlement. General William Henry Harrison 
 marched 700 troops from Vincennes against 
 Tecumseh. In August, 1811, he defeated the 
 Shawnee chief and burned his village of Tippe- 
 canoe, which stood a few miles above the pres- 
 ent city of Lafayette, Ind. 
 
 Princess Nelly and the Silverman. 
 
 This is the story that Mrs. Kinzie used to tell 
 to the children of the Fort Dearborn settlement: 
 
 "Once upon a time there was a little boy 
 named Johnny. He was born in Quebec and his 
 father was a Scotch soldier, who had come over 
 with General Montgomery to fight in the French 
 and Indian War. As Canada became British 
 territory when peace was declared, the Scotch- 
 man concluded to remain and become a mer- 
 chant. He died when Johnny was a small boy, 
 and after a few years his mother married an- 
 other Scotchman named Forsythe. The family 
 then removed to New York, a town that Johnny 
 did not like very well because so many of the 
 people were Dutch. 
 
 "Besides, he had to go to school, and this he 
 considered a hardship. Every Monday a black 
 slave took him and his two half-brothers over 
 to Long Island to the school, and came for them 
 every Saturday night. One Saturday night 
 Johnny was missing! 
 
 "It was thought the Indians had stolen him 
 or that he had run away to sea, or to be a drum- 
 mer boy in the army. Three years passed and 
 even his poor mother gave him up for dead. 
 The Revolutionary war was on and business was 
 so unsettled that Mr. Forsythe concluded to 
 move to Detroit and open a tavern, for that re- 
 mote place had grown to be an important Brit- 
 ish trading post. He put his family and goods 
 on a boat and sailed up the Hudson to the falls, 
 crossed to Lake George and went up to Quebec, 
 going nearly all the way by water. In Quebec 
 he went into a silversmith's to buy a chain for 
 his wife and there he saw, sitting over a jew- 
 eler's melting pot 
 
 " 'Johnny Kinzie!' the children would shout 
 at this thrilling crisis of the story. 
 
 "Yes, Johnny Kinzie, grown to be a tall lad 
 of sixteen and a good deal ashamed of his 
 thoughtless behavior. He was quite ready to go 
 to Detroit with the family and to be a loving 
 son to his mother. He had learned the trade of 
 silversmith and he could doubtless turn his art 
 to good account in Detroit, where the Indians 
 were as thick as blackberries in August around 
 the fort. He was soon in the woods trading 
 his silver trinkets for furs. After a good many 
 years he married a widow 
 
 "'No, he married the Princess Nelly!' cor- 
 rected the children. 
 
 "Well, of course, he married the Princess 
 Nelly, who was then a widow, and this is how 
 it happened: 
 
 "About the time that Johnny Kinzie started 
 to Detroit, that was in 1779, I think, a little 
 nine-year-old girl named Eleanor Lytle her pet 
 name was Nelly was playing with a seven-year- 
 old brother behind a log cabin in western Penn- 
 sylvania. The farm was not far from the fort 
 at Pittsburg, and the Indians were usually afraid 
 to trouble the settlers. The children were play- 
 ing in a little hollow behind the cabin, among 
 some trees their father had felled. The father 
 was away helping a new settler raise his log 
 house, but the mother could be heard in the 
 house singing to her baby. 
 
 "Suddenly big red hands were clapped over 
 the mouths of both of the children from behind, 
 and they were carried into the woods by two 
 big Indians, who were so tall and fierce and 
 splendidly dressed that the little ones knew they 
 were not the Delawares of the neighborhood. 
 Signs were made to them to make no noise, and 
 they were afraid to disobey their savage captors. 
 They were given jerked beef and parched corn 
 to eat, and when the party stopped for the 
 night the leader, who seemed to be a great chief, 
 directed that a couch of long dry grass be pre- 
 pared for them. 
 
 "After that Nelly rode in front of the chief 
 on his big horse. It was several days before 
 they reached Olean Point, on the Allegheny river 
 in southwestern New York. This was the chief 
 village of the Senecas, who were one of the 
 tribes of the warlike Iroquois. Nelly 's protector, 
 who was none other than the great Chief Corn- 
 Planter himself, led her to the principal lodge, 
 where his mother, 'the Old Queen,' lived. To 
 her he said: 
 
 " 'My mother, I bring you a dear child to 
 take the place of the little brother who died 
 six moons ago. She shall be my sister and 
 dwell in my lodge. Treat the boy kindly also, 
 for many guns and horses will be paid to ransom 
 him. Little Sister they can never have again.' 
 "After many months Mr. Lytle found his 
 children in the Seneca village. The boy he got 
 back, but the chief would not give up Nelly. 
 
 ' ' ' No, ' when her father offered to ransom 
 her; 'she is my sister, adopted into the tribe. 
 She is dear to me, and I will not part with her 
 for all the ransom you can bring.' The father 
 was compelled to leave her there, for to have 
 tried to take her away by force would have 
 aroused all the Iroquois to war. So terrible were 
 these tribes in warfare that for a hundred years 
 they had been called the 'Scourge of God.' 
 
 "The little captive missed her parents and 
 brothers and sisters at first, but her big brother, 
 the chief, and the old queen loved her so dearly 
 and treated her so kindly that she became happy 
 and almost forgot her old home. The principal 
 
 38
 
 THE STOKY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 seat in the lodge was hers, the most delicate 
 food, the softest bed, and the finest clothes. So' 
 active and bright was she, so full of energy and 
 fun, that the chief called her ' Little Ship Under 
 Full Sail. ' The white settlers, who now and 
 then saw her riding a pony beside the chief, and 
 who knew her story, called her Princess Nelly 
 of the Senecas, for this tribe of the Iroquois was 
 called Senecas. 
 
 "Four years passed. Princess Nelly was now 
 thirteen. The revolution was over, and the 
 Lytles, in the hope of recovering their darling, 
 went to Niagara. Sir William Johnson, the 
 British Indian agent, went himself to Oloan, and 
 told Chief Corn-Planter how the child's mother 
 had sickened for grief. The father had given 
 up his home and come a hundred miles just on 
 the chance of seeing Nelly. 
 
 "The chief promised he would bring her to 
 Fort Niagara to the Iroquois grand council. 
 They could see her there, but he exacted a prom- 
 ise that no effort would be made to take her 
 from him. Nelly promised that she would not 
 leave her Indian brother without his permis- 
 sion. 
 
 "The father and mother waited anxiously in 
 the fort for the promised interview. At length 
 the Senecas were seen coming in, Chief Corn- 
 Planter and Princess Nelly at the head. The 
 fair-haired English girl sat on a gaily decked 
 pony, with the longest, silkiest mane and tail 
 that had ever been seen in the region. And she 
 was dressed like an Indian princess, in truth! 
 She wore a petticoat of blue broadcloth, bor- 
 dered by rows of bright ribbon. Her jacket of 
 black silk was covered in front with silver but- 
 tons and brooches. Strings of white and purple 
 wampum were around her neck, and the plaits 
 of her yellow hair were hung with beads. Leg- 
 gins of scarlet cloth and moccasins of deer skin, 
 embroidered with colored porcupine quills, com- 
 pleted her beautiful costume. 
 
 "The chief, true to his promise, took his 
 darling sister to a boat and crossed the Niagara 
 river. He held her hand all the way. The boat 
 touched the shore and Nelly sprang up the grassy 
 bank below the fort, and ran straight into her 
 mother's arms. 
 
 "The ladies were all in tears. Even the uni- 
 formed officers brushed the mist from their eyes. 
 The mother gazed across the child's head at the 
 chief in agonized appeal. With an eloquent ges- 
 ture of sorrow the chief stepped back into the 
 boat and cried, as he pushed away: 
 
 " 'Farewell, Little Ship Under Full Sail! I 
 go back to my lonely lodge! ' He had given her 
 up voluntarily. 
 
 "Nelly never saw her big Seneca brother 
 again, but she never forgot him. Her father 
 took her to Detroit, and there, when she was 
 only fourteen, she married a brave British of- 
 ficer, Major McKillup. He died in the battle of 
 Fallen Timbers, when fighting against General 
 
 Anthony Wayne, with the Miami Indians. She 
 was very sad and lonely after that, so she mar- 
 ried Johnny Kinzie, the silverman, and came to 
 the settlement of Fort Dearborn and lived happy 
 ever after. ' ' 
 
 First Attack by the Indians. Tecumseh fled 
 into Canada. The tribes scattered, but reap- 
 peared at the various posts to utter insolent 
 threats. The Pottawatomies, who had never be- 
 fore given any trouble, now made boasting 
 speeches around Fort Dearborn, but no real alarm 
 was felt at Chicago until April 7, 1812, when a 
 band of eleven Winnebagoes appeared at the 
 farm house on Lee's Place. Mr. White, the 
 manager, and a French voyageur were killed, 
 I ut a soldier and a young son of Mr. Lee escaped 
 by making the excuse of crossing the river to'f eed 
 the cattle. 
 
 After dark they crept down stream and gave 
 the alarm to the Burns, Ouilmette, and Kinzie 
 families and the Indian agency. A cannon was 
 fired to warn a party of soldiers who had gone 
 out to Mud Lake to fish. They made their way 
 back in safety. That night the entire popula- 
 tion of Chicago slept in Fort Dearborn. The 
 next morning the bodies of Mr. White and the 
 Frenchman were found on the farm, and the 
 Indians had disappeared. 
 
 CHICAOO /N 18/2 
 
 The large building to the right of the Agency 
 House is Fort Dearborn. 
 
 39
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 
 
 On the 18th of June the United States de- 
 clared war on Great Britain, and on the 16th 
 of July Fort Mackinac was captured by the 
 British. Neither of these facts was known in 
 Fort Dearborn, however, until the 7th of August, 
 when Chief Winnemeg, of the Pottawatomies, 
 who was friendly to the Americans and especial- 
 ly devoted to the Kinzie family, arrived with 
 dispatches from General Hull, commander of the 
 army of the Northwest at Detroit. Peremptory 
 orders were sent to Captain Heald to evacuate 
 Fort Dearborn, and to proceed to Detroit to take 
 part in the proposed campaign against Canada. 
 
 In Fort Dearborn were Captain Heald, Lieu- 
 tenant Helm, Ensign Kohan, Doctor Van Voor- 
 his, the surgeon, the sergeants, corporals, and 
 musicians, fifty regulars and twelve militiamen, 
 beside Mr. Kinzie, his nephew, Robert Forsythe, 
 Mr. Charles Lee, and Mr. Burns, ninety men in 
 all. The Indian agent, Mr. Irwin, had left in 
 July, after forwarding $7,000 worth of skins to 
 Detroit. The French voyageurs remained out- 
 side, for toward them the Indians displayed no 
 hostility. There were, beside, a dozen women 
 and twenty children. 
 
 Chief Winnemeg advised instant departure 
 before the Indians could learn of the intention 
 to abandon the fort. This plan might have suc- 
 ceeded, but Captain Heald refused to believe 
 that the Pottawatomies were unfriendly and 
 waited until 600 warriors had gathered about the 
 fort. He had been instructed to distribute the 
 goods on hand among them, and to ask a friend- 
 ly escort to Fort Wayne. 
 
 To this the Indians agreed with suspicious 
 alacrity. Mr. Kinzie and the younger officers 
 distrusted them, and begged Captain Heald to 
 hold the fort. Chief Black Partridge came into 
 the fort and gave up his peace medal, given him 
 by General Wayne at the treaty of Greenville, 
 declaring sorrowfully that the reckless young 
 braves were determined to destroy the garrison 
 and that he could not hold them in check. There 
 was food and ammunition enough for a six 
 month's siege. Events proved, however, that 
 the fort could not have been relieved within six 
 months, for, on the 16th of August, twenty-four 
 hours after the massacre at Fort Dearborn, the 
 British captured Detroit, and for two years the 
 Northwest was to be at the mercy of the Indians. 
 
 On the 13th of August Captain William Wells, 
 Indian agent at Fort Wayne, and an Indian 
 fighter of renown (Wells street is named for 
 this great pioneer), arrived with thirty Miamis 
 as an escort. With John Kinzie, Captain Wells 
 insisted that the whisky and ammunition in the 
 fort should be destroyed. Large quantities of 
 both were thrown into the river. This made 
 the Indians furious and they howled and danced 
 around the fort all that last dreadful night. 
 
 The little company of one hundred and twenty 
 people in Fort Dearborn knew they would have 
 to fight their way out and across the Pot- 
 
 tawatomie Country to Fort Wayne. There were 
 only forty fighting men altogether, for a num- 
 ber of soldiers had sickened in the heat of 
 August. But Captain Wells thought he could 
 depend upon the bravery of his thirty Miamis. 
 
 Departure from Fort Dearborn. At 9 o'clock 
 on the morning of August 15 the garrison of 
 Fort Dearborn marched out. Mrs. Kinzie and 
 her young children, under the protection of 
 Chief Topenebee, were placed- in a Mackinac 
 boat to be taken to Saint Joseph. French 
 voyageurs rowed the boat to the mouth of the 
 river. There they were ordered to stop by the 
 chief, who hoped to save Mr. Kinzie and Mrs. 
 Kinzie 's daughter, Mrs. Helm, who had insisted 
 upon remaining with her soldier husband. Mr. 
 Kinzie hoped that his presence with the garri- 
 son would serve to restrain the savages, for 
 they all loved the genial Silverman. 
 
 In breathless agony, Mrs. Kinzie poor 
 "Princess Nelly" sat in the boat at the mouth 
 of the river and watched her husband and eldest 
 daughter ride to what seemed to be certain 
 death. From there she saw the smoke and 
 heard the firing during the massacre. 
 . The fugitives marched bravely down the old 
 Indian trail along the lake shore. Captain 
 Wells led with fifteen Miamis and Captain 
 Heald brought up the rear. The women and 
 children and six soldiers were in the baggage 
 wagons in the middle. Mrs. Helm, Mrs. Heald, 
 and Mrs. Lee rode beside their husbands on 
 horseback, Mrs. Lee soothing a fretful infant 
 in her arms. The band played the Dead March. 
 Five hundred Pottawatomies, who had agreed 
 to go with the fugitives and furnish them safe 
 escort, rode on prancing ponies, while the squaws 
 swarmed into the abandoned fort for plunder. 
 
 The Massacre. When a half mile from the 
 fort gate, the Pottawatomies suddenly struck 
 across a low sand ridge to the west of the trail 
 and disappeared. A mile further down the lake 
 shore, an ambuscade opened fire. On the first 
 alarm the troops were swung into line. In the 
 confusion, the Miamis, on whom Captain Wells 
 had depended, fled across the prairie in a panic 
 of fright. The women, children, and sick 
 soldiers were hastily collected under a cotton- 
 wood tree and there, on a spot that has been 
 identified as the foot of Eighteenth street, forty 
 white men faced 600 howling savages. The 
 late George M. Pullman marked the site of this 
 heroic stand with a statuary group in bronze. 
 
 Within an hour the dreadful scene was over. 
 Only twenty-five men and eleven women and 
 children were left of all who marched out of 
 Fort Dearborn. Several of these were sick and 
 wounded, and died or were killed by the In- 
 dians after being carried back to the fort. 
 Captain Wells perished after having killed eight 
 Indians. Ensign Rohan and Doctor Van Voor- 
 his were dead; Captain and Mrs. Heald and 
 Lieutenant and Mrs. Helm were all dangerously 
 
 40
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 wounded. Mr. Lee and his young daughter and 
 son had been killed, and Mrs. Lee and her in- 
 fant were borne off as prisoners by an Indian 
 chief. The Burns family was wiped out. The 
 
 THE FORT DEARBORN MASSACRE MONU- 
 MENT. 
 (Black Partridge Rescuing Mrs. Helm.) 
 
 survivors surrendered upon condition that, if 
 not ransomed by friends, they should be de- 
 livered as prisoners of war at the nearest 
 British post. 
 
 John Kinzie was unhurt and every member 
 of his family except Mrs. Helm escaped injury. 
 They all returned to the Kinzie mansion and, 
 for three days, while many Indians of distant 
 tribes came in, were guarded by Chiefs Black 
 Partridge, Winnemeg, and Topenebee. Once a 
 band of Indians from the Wabash went to the 
 house for the purpose of massacreing all of 
 them, but were stopped by a whoop from a 
 big chief of the Forest Pottawatomies, who 
 bounded into the house. It was the famous 
 Billy Caldwell, "The Sauganash," or English- 
 man, as he called himself. His father had been 
 a British officer at Detroit. For twenty years 
 after "The Sauganash" was to use his elo 
 quence to restrain the savage passions of his 
 red tribesmen. 
 
 The Kinzie family got off in safety to St. 
 Joseph. John Kinzie himself remained among 
 the Pottawatomies for weeks, disguised as an 
 Indian, to try to save some of the pelts in his 
 trading house. He, with the two surviving offi- 
 
 cers of the fort, surrendered himself to the 
 British at Detroit. 
 
 The next day after the massacre of the gar- 
 rison of Fort Dearborn the Indians burned the 
 fort and agency building. The blackened ruins 
 crumpled on a knoll, while a mile and a half 
 below, the bones of heroes were left to bleach- 
 on the sand. The Pottawatomies danced a war 
 dance and hurried away to help the British in 
 Canada. 
 
 Once more the site of Chicago reverted to 
 the wilderness. 
 
 Suggestions to Teacher and Pupils. Schools 
 of Chicago may make an historical pilgrimage, 
 within the limits of the city, to the scenes de- 
 scribed in this chapter. Better than any book 
 or written account of this massacre, is the 
 bronze statuary group erected by the late 
 George M. Pullman at Eighteenth street and 
 Prairie avenue. The group represents the mo- 
 ment when young Mrs. Helm, Mrs. Kinzie 's 
 daughter, was attacked by an Indian. She tries 
 to seize his scalping knife. The chief who came 
 o her rescue was Black Partridge. The four 
 bronze panels in low relief, on the granite 
 pedestal, illustrate four scenes the giving up 
 of his peace medal in the fort by Black Par- 
 tridge; the march from the fort; the battle, and 
 the death of Captain Wells. The prostrate 
 figure on the plinth is Dr, Van Voorhis, and the 
 child with outstretched arms, typifies the twelve 
 children who were tomahawked in an army 
 wagon. Every figure on this wonderful monu- 
 ment may be identified. 
 
 There are several versions of the story of the 
 massacre of Fort Dearborn, the best known ones 
 inspired by various members of the Kinzie fam 
 ily. The monument group is based on Mrs. 
 Helm's account of her experiences in the fight, 
 as related in "Waubun. " While it is romantic 
 and heroic, the accuracy of the details has been 
 questioned. Other versions of the tragedy have 
 been given by Chief Alexander Robinson, Chief 
 Simon Pokagon (then a very young boy), by a 
 French voyageur, and by a young son of Cap- 
 tain Heald. Mr. Dilg has collected ninety dif 
 ferent reports of the tragedy, matter enough to 
 fill a volume! 
 
 The site of Fort Dearborn is at the foot of 
 Michigan avenue. There on the W. M. Hoyt 
 building, on the north wall which faces the Rush 
 street bridge, may be seen a marble tablet fill- 
 ing in a lofty, arched window opening, in com- 
 memoration of the location of Fort Dearborn. 
 The site of the old Kinzie house is opposite the 
 fort on the north bank of the river at Kinzie 
 and St. Clair streets, on the spot now occupied 
 by Kirk's soap factory. The cabin on Lee's 
 place was at Center avenue and Twenty-second 
 street on the west fork of the south branch. 
 
 41
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 ON THE FRONTIER. 
 
 (1816-1834.) 
 
 Students of this History should visit the Chi- 
 cago Historical society building at 142 Dearborn 
 avenue. There are a model of Fort Dearborn, a 
 ground plan, pen and water-color drawings, many 
 Indian relics and portraits of Captain Wells, 
 Lieutenant Whistler, and John H. Kinzie. There 
 are in existence no portraits of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Kinzie, "Princess Nelly and the Silverman." 
 
 The "Waubansia Stone," a two-ton granite 
 boulder, with a carved Indian face, which re- 
 sembles Aztee work in Mexico, and which was 
 found on the site of Fort Dearborn by the 
 officers sent to build it, now serves as the cap 
 stone of a fountain on a private lawn, between 
 Erie and Huron streets, on Lincoln Park boule- 
 vard. This pre-historic rock carving is the old- 
 est authentic relic of Chicago, and should be in 
 possession of the Chicago Historical society. 
 
 The name Chicago, as applied to a pioneer set- 
 tlement on the present site of the city, appeared 
 in a school text-book for the first time in Wood- 
 bridge 's Geography in the year 1821. This book 
 was in use in the schools in New England. In 
 Middletown, Conn., where sixteen-year-old Ellen 
 Marion Kinzie was attending a private school, 
 this official recognition of Chicago must have 
 been a matter of pride. No doubt she pointed 
 it out to her schoolmate, little Juliette Magill, 
 the daughter of a wealthy citizen of the town. 
 
 The place was not marked by a dot but by a 
 hollow square, indicating the location of the 
 fort, and around it, on either side of a forked 
 stream which entered the lake, were clusters of 
 triangles which stood for Indian lodges. There * 
 was plenty of room for this pictorial represen- 
 tation of the frontier post, for behind it 
 stretched a vast plain on which were scattered 
 the names of Indian tribes. 
 
 St. Anthony's Falls was indicated, Prairie du 
 Chien, St. Louis, and Kaskaskia; Fort Jefferson 
 below St. Louis, Fort Armstrong on Hock Island 
 in the Mississippi, and Fort Madison just above 
 the mouth of the Des Moines. West of that 
 point the word "unexplored" sprawled across 
 the map. Ellen Kinzie was to go home when- 
 ever her brother John, who was learning the fur 
 trading business in Mr. Astor's trading house 
 
 at Michilimackinac, could come for her. To- 
 gether the two girls traced the route of the long 
 journey she would have to make to Philadel- 
 phia by steamboat, thence through Pittsburg to 
 Cleveland by stage, and around the lakes by 
 sailing vessel. 
 
 "My, if I had to go to Chicago to live, as you 
 do, Ellen, I'd die of a broken heart," sighed 
 Juliette. 
 
 In just nine years Juliette Magill married 
 Ellen's brother John and went with him to a 
 
 GEN. JEAN BAP- 
 TISTE BEAUBIEN. 
 
 BLACK HAWK. 
 
 place that was not on the map at all Fort 
 Winnebago, at the portage between the Fox and 
 Wisconsin rivers, where Portage, Wis., stands 
 today. And far from dying of a broken heart, 
 Mrs. Juliette Kinzie found frontier life so in- 
 teresting that she wrote a book about it the 
 now famous "Waubun. " 
 
 What kind of a home was this first white 
 child born in Chicago returning to, after nine 
 years of exile in Detroit and the East? Fort 
 Dearborn had been rebuilt in 1816. In the same 
 year that the massacre at Fort Dearborn oc- 
 curred 1812 the first Territorial Legislature of 
 Illinois met at Kaskaskia. The assembly con- 
 sisted of twelve men, two from each of the six 
 counties that had been organized in Illinois 
 along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The chief 
 subject of discussion at that session was how 
 best to defend the settlements of southern Illi- 
 nois against the northern Indians. 
 
 From Shawneetown on the Ohio to Alton on 
 the Mississippi there were, perhaps, 10,000 white 
 settlers in Illinois, of which possibly 5,000 were
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 in Kaskaskia. Nine-tenths of the Illinois terri- 
 tory was a wilderness held by the Indians. At 
 Galena, below Prairie du Chien, the lead mines 
 were being worked by capitalists of Kaskaskia 
 and St. Louis, supplies going up and the metal 
 coming down by the river. The mines being in 
 the Sac, Fox, and Winnebago country, much 
 anxiety was felt for their safety when the sec- 
 ond war with England broke out. 
 
 It was decided, therefore, to march a militia 
 force northward. Governor Ninian Edwards of 
 Illinois territory headed a volunteer party of 
 380 men in a march to Peoria. During the next 
 year a force of 800 marched north, built Fort 
 Clark on the shore of Peoria Lake, and explored 
 the Illinois river. No Indians were encountered 
 on either campaign, for they had all gone into 
 Canada to help the British. Except for the 
 massacre at Fort Dearborn and the border forays 
 of Chief Black Hawk, Illinois was entirely out- 
 side the arena of the war of 1812, which was, 
 as you know, mainly a naval war. 
 
 But over 1,200 pioneers of southern Illinois 
 had seen and were enchanted by Peoria Lake 
 and the bluffs, woods, meadows, and fertile corn 
 fields of the Illinois river valley, just as the 
 French explorers had been one hundred and 
 forty years before. The best land in the Missis- 
 sippi bottom, between Kaskaskia and Alton, had 
 been taken up, while the low lands along the 
 Ohio were malarial and liable to floods. 
 
 The Peopling of Northern Illinois. Peace was 
 no sooner declared than hundreds sought homes 
 in the region immediately behind Chicago. Jean 
 Baptiste Beaubien, a French trader who had 
 come down from Mackinac in 1813, and who was 
 living in the Lee house south of the burned fort, 
 supplied these new settlers with goods from 
 Mackinac. It was very quickly seen by these 
 newcomers, as it had been seen by the French, 
 that Chicago was the terminus of a natural thor- 
 oughfare between the Mississippi and the Great 
 Lakes. Indeed this had been recognized by the 
 very able men in charge of the public affairs of 
 Illinois territory at Kaskaskia. Through their 
 influence at Washington had been secured, in the 
 treaty of peace that was signed with Great 
 Britain and with the Indians of the Northwest, 
 the grant from the Pottawatomies of a right 
 of way along the Illinois river to Chicago, for 
 the construction of a military road or canal, as 
 might seem best. 
 
 Petitions began to pour in to President Mon- 
 roe from the settlements along the Mississippi 
 to improve the port at Chicago and to construct 
 a land or water highway from Lake Michigan to 
 the head of navigation on the Illinois river. 
 
 This looks now like a big undertaking, but 
 the whole country had entered upon an optimis- 
 tic era, due to the feeling that, at last, we were 
 to be let alone. England had definitely retired 
 to molest us no more. 
 
 The war was no sooner over than home manu- 
 facturing developed and internal improvements 
 of enormous cost were projected. The Erie canal 
 was begun to connect the Hudson with Lake 
 Erie. When that three hundred and fifty miles 
 of artificial waterway should be completed as 
 it was in 1825 the Great Lakes would rival the 
 Ohio as a route to the west. It is not surpris- 
 ing, therefore, that President Monroe recom- 
 mended that Fort Dearborn be rebuilt, and a 
 survey made for a canal. 
 
 The fort was rebuilt in 1816, on the site of 
 the former one, but of hewn logs, lumber, and 
 brick, and was of much better construction 
 than the first fort. 
 
 John Kinzie returned with his family less 
 prosperous now, for he had lost practically every- 
 thing by the four years of war and idleness, and 
 he was past the prime of life. For rivals in 
 the fur trade he had Jean Baptiste Beaubien and 
 a Mr. Crafts. The American Fur Company of 
 John Jacob Astor was soon to have a monopoly 
 of the fur trade of the Northwest, and inde- 
 pendent traders were to become employees. Dr. 
 Alexander Walcott, the new Indian agent, ar- 
 
 MRS. MARY GALLO- 
 WAY CLYBOURNE. 
 
 MARK BEAUBIEN. 
 
 rived. The Kinzies, the Beaubiens, and Dr. Wal- 
 cott, with various traders, many of whom were 
 birds of passage, made up the civilian popula- 
 tion for Chicago for the next several years. This 
 was the Chicago to which Ellen Marion Kinzie 
 returned, and where she married Dr. Walcott in 
 1823. 
 
 The conditions of trade were somewhat 
 changed. Trade was carried on with Mackinac, 
 but it was also more or less active with St. Louis 
 and Kaskaskia, by the historic route established 
 by the French explorers. Peltries went over the 
 portage and down the river, and flour, salt, salt 
 meat, and lead for bullets came back. The Mis- 
 sissippi between St. Louis and New Orleans 
 swarmed with bull-boats, flat-boats, and keel- 
 boats. In 1818 a passenger in a steamboat from 
 New Orleans counted 650 such boats laden with 
 goods, on his voyage up the river. Many of 
 these went on up to Prairie du Chien and Ga- 
 lena. 
 
 Chicago was far from this busy highway, and 
 far from the eastern stage roads. For fifteen 
 years our city was to remain a mere frontier
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 trading post, while the wave of migration, far 
 to the south, was breaking roads to the west. 
 
 Chicago must have felt the wave lapping its 
 feet when James Galloway arrived overland from 
 Ohio in 1824. The story of his journey was a 
 nine days' wonder. At Sandusky he had put a 
 gun, tomahawk, steel traps, blankets, bacon, and 
 cornmeal in a wagon. He shot game to eat on 
 the way, and sold the peltries in Fort Wayne. 
 From there he crossed Indiana and Michigan to 
 St. Joseph, and followed the Indian trail around 
 the end of the lake. He toiled through the sand 
 dunes, where Michigan City now stands, and 
 got stuck in the mud of the Calumet marsh. He 
 v.-ent on nearly one hundred miles west of Chi- 
 cago to the grand rapids of the Illinois river, 
 and, on the site of Marseilles, staked out a claim 
 in the military road strip. 
 
 The next year he went back to Ohio for his 
 family, bringing them around by the Great 
 Lakes. After incredible hardships, extending 
 over three years, and including shipwreck, an 
 attempt at confiscation of his goods by the Amer- 
 ican Fur Trading Company, a bitter winter in 
 the dilapidated farmhouse on Lee 's place, and 
 an Indian scare, Mr. Galloway saw his family 
 safely installed in a new log cabin on his claim, 
 and was duly thankful that they were all alive, 
 
 A Pioneer Romance. In the 
 same year 1824 the Cly- 
 bourne family arrived from 
 Virginia, and built two cabins 
 on the North Branch, where 
 Elston avenue was afterwards 
 cut through. Archibald Cly- 
 bourne thought there was a 
 good opening in Chicago for 
 the butcher business. This 
 belief took a good deal more 
 faith than you would think, 
 for there was very little money 
 in the country, and the fort, 
 which had become his chief, 
 customer, was garrisoned only 
 a part of the time. Besides, 
 he had to go as far as Decatur 
 or Springfield on the Sanga- 
 inon river for cattle and hogs. 
 The Galloway house on the 
 Illinois was one of the few 
 stopping places on these journeys, and Mary Gal- 
 loway one of the few girls he had a chance of 
 meeting. In 1829 he installed her as mistress of 
 one of the cabins on Clybourne place and the Cly- 
 bournes took rank as a "first family" of Chicago. 
 
 Mark Beaubien, a younger brother of Jean 
 *Baptiste, who was destined to contribute to the 
 social gaiety of the little settlement for many 
 years to come, arrived from Detroit in 1826, 
 coming over the old Indian trail, through the 
 woods in an ox wagon. He had to hire an In- 
 dian to show him the way. 
 
 Across the southern part of the state, arid 
 extending as far north as the Illinois river, a 
 stream of migration from neighboring states set 
 in after the close of the war of 1812, and con- 
 
 tinued, almost without interruption, for a third 
 of a century. Instead of coming by way of the 
 Ohio and Mississippi rivers, as earlier settlers 
 had come from the seaboard colonies, these new- 
 comers from Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky made 
 the journey in rude covered wagons called 
 "prairie schooners." Very rarely were horses 
 used. Oxen drew their groaning, creaking bur- 
 dens through the woods, and patiently chewed 
 their cuds while fallen timbers were cleared out 
 of the way, or the clumsy wheels were pried 
 from the mud with rails. Every stream to be 
 crossed was a 'Separate problem to these re- 
 sourceful pioneers, for there were no bridges 
 and few ferries. 
 
 Lincoln Family Typical Emigrants. 
 It was in this way that the Lincoln family 
 emigrated from Indiana in 1829. Abe Lincoln, a 
 tall, ungainly youth of 20, in buckskin breeches 
 and coonskin cap, urged the slow oxen with a 
 hickory gad, and cracked jokes over the dis- 
 heartening difficulties that beset the way. The 
 family settled on a wooded bluff, overlooking 
 the Sangamon River, for the pioneer who would 
 prosper always located where there were trees 
 and running water. Abe split rails to inclose 
 a fifteen-acre field, broke the sod of the prairie 
 and planted corn, while ' ' neighbors, ' ' from 25 
 
 THE LIXCOLX CAI5IX. (Copyright. S. S. McChnv Co. 
 
 Situated near Charleston, 111. Built in 1831 by 
 Abraham Lincoln 's father. 
 
 miles away, helped raise the log cabin. Abe, 
 being then 21, cut loose from home and started 
 out to find his niche in the life of this limitless 
 West. The story is typical of the peopling of 
 Illinois. 
 
 Northern Illinois got tho fringe of this mi- 
 gration. Galena became a thriving settlement 
 on account of the mines. Adventurers came up 
 the Mississippi to Galena in steamboats after 
 1825, just six years after the admission of Illi- 
 nois as a state. In the same year a Mr. Kellogg 
 broke a trail through the woods from Fort Clark, 
 
 44
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 on Peoria Lake, to Galena, and others soon fol- 
 lowed. This was the country of the Sacs and 
 Foxes, tribes whose very names had blanched 
 the chiefs of the French on the Mississippi a 
 hundred years before, and who had added to 
 their terrible reputation in the war of 1812, 
 when fighting with the British. But now they 
 seemed to have laid all animosity aside. From 
 1816 to 1832 the Sacs acted as guides to white 
 prospectors, escorted money and valuable goods, 
 and, lashing canoes together, ferried wagons 
 across the Rock river at Dixon. 
 
 The settlement nearest Chicago, in the late 
 twenties, was Naperville, thirty miles to the 
 west. Scattered farms, many miles apart, lay 
 along the Illinois and its tributaries. Mr. Gur- 
 don S. Hubbard, an agent of the American Fur 
 Company, had opened a trail from Chicago to 
 Shawneetown, on the Ohio, and had a depot for 
 goods for the Indian trade, and fifty pack ponies, 
 
 stock of the company was sold. To encourage 
 the project, the government donated large blocks 
 of land in the canal strip along the Illinois to 
 the state. Still there were no buyers of stock, 
 and the state was too poor to contribute any 
 
 FORT PAYNE AT NAPERVILLE, 1832. 
 
 thing from its treasury, although the need for 
 a waterway was felt at Kaskaskia as keenly as 
 at Chicago. 
 
 It was in 1829 that the state 
 legislature, sitting in the new 
 capital of Illinois, which some 
 practical joker had caused to 
 be named Vandalia, on the 
 ground that a tribe of Indians 
 called Vandals had once lived 
 there, appointed a canal com- 
 mission to locate a route for a 
 canal to connect Lake Michigan 
 with the Illinois river, to lay 
 out towns, reserve and sell lots, 
 and apply the proceeds to the 
 cost of the canal. 
 
 Chicago Platted by Canal 
 Commissioners. Chicago, in 
 the canal survey of 1830, was 
 described as a settlement Qf 
 
 WOLF POINT, 1832. 
 Where Market and Canal Streets 
 now cross Kinzie. 
 
 at what is now Danville, on the 
 Big Vermilion. 
 
 But now, as to Chicago itself. 
 Although Illinois had been ad- 
 mitted to the Union in 1818, 
 civil rule was not extended to 
 our city until 1823, when the 
 region was described as "at- 
 tached to Fulton County," of _ 
 which Peoria was the county CHIC AGO IN 1831, 
 seat. An election was held here 
 in that year in the Indian agency house. The head 
 of nearly every white household held some civil 
 office, but the duties and salaries were both nom- 
 inal. 
 
 When, in 1825, the Illinois and Michigan 
 Canal Company was incorporated for $1,000,000 
 capital, a few sangine souls began to hope that 
 Chicago was destined to future greatness. No 
 
 SHOWING THE SECOND FORT DEARBORN. 
 
 fifteen houses and a fort, not always gar- 
 risoned, located on Sec. 9, Tp. 39, Range 
 14. As the terminus of the proposed canal 
 it was platted, its boundaries being fixed at 
 State street, Madison, Desplaines, and Kin- 
 zie, or the north bank of the river. East of 
 State and south to Madison, in the southward 
 bend of the river, lay Fort Dearborn Govern- 
 
 45
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 ment Reservation, which could not be included 
 in the town. The whole had an area of three- 
 eighths of a square mile and embraced Wolf 
 Point at the forking of the river. A number of 
 lots were sold at auction by the canal commis- 
 sioners. The choicest brought $200, while some, 
 ' ' away out on the prairie at Madison and La 
 Salle, " sold as low as $1.25. 
 
 "Father John Kinzie, " as he had come to be 
 called, had died two years before at the age of 
 sixty-five. During the last five years of his 
 life he had served the little settlement as justice 
 of the peace, in the absence of ministers per- 
 forming marriage services, and settling disputes 
 with the kindness and fairness he had ever dis- 
 played in his Indian trading days. The old In- 
 dian no, not fighter lover was buried from the 
 fort, in the Fort cemetery at the foot of Madi- 
 son street. No doubt those who loved him 
 thought he could rest in peace near his old home. 
 Three times within the next fifty years his bones 
 were removed to the site of the waterworks, 
 to the tract now covered by Lincoln park, and 
 then to Graceland, where the metropolis has 
 again overtaken them. When the village of 
 Chicago was platted by the canal commissioners, 
 in 1830, Robert Kinzie, for the Kinzie family, 
 entered a claim for a homestead which had been 
 occupied since 1804. This tract, afterward known 
 as Kinzie 's Addition to Chicago, extended from 
 the river to Chicago avenue, and from North 
 State street to the Lake. It contained 102 acres, 
 and as each man who made an entry on govern- 
 ment land was entitled to 160 acres, Mrs. Kinzie 
 urged her sons to pre-empt the other fifty-eight 
 acres on Wolf Point. They were much amused 
 by her insistence that Wolf Point, between the 
 forks and looking up the main stream would one 
 day be worth a king's ransom. Before five years 
 had passed the Kinzie boys wished they had 
 taken their mother's advice. 
 
 On the map, platted at the time, Chicago looks 
 like a town. The nice straight lines, marking 
 streets, existed only on the map, however. 
 Stakes were driven in at the corners of sur- 
 veyed blocks to indicate where future streets 
 were to be run, but the highways as yet were 
 mere footpaths and wagon tracks that meandered 
 from house to house. The only roads out of the 
 town, across the sloughs and sand ridges, were 
 the old Indian trails. There was not one well- 
 defined street or bit of paving. Every man had 
 built his cabin wherever he pleased, on the driest 
 spot he could find along the river front. 
 
 Beginning further south, the American Fur 
 Company had a warehouse at the mouth of the 
 river, and the agent, whoever he might be, lived 
 in a cabin near by. Jean Baptiste Beaubien had 
 a store at the foot of Randolph street on Fort 
 Dearborn Reservation. West of the fort grounds 
 a slough entered the river at what is now State 
 street. Across this a log foot-bridge had been 
 thrown. At the west end of the bridge, on what 
 
 would now be Dearborn and South Water streets, 
 was a store owned by Medore Beaubien. 
 
 A public square had been staked out bj tie 
 canal commissioners in the meadow where our 
 court house and city hall now stand. On it, at 
 that time, the horses of transient guests at the 
 taverns were turned out to graze, and later an 
 "estray pen," the first public building in Chi- 
 cago, was built, to be followed by a log jail. 
 
 On the east side of the south branch, corner 
 of Lake and Market streets, Mark Beaubien 
 built a tavern. This was easily the most con- 
 spicuous house in the settlement, for it was two 
 stories high, clapboarded over the logs, painted 
 white, and adorned with bright blue shutters. 
 Beaubien called it the Sauganash House, after 
 the half-breed Indian chief, Billy Caldwell. 
 
 The Sauganash and Its Landlord. An English 
 traveler a few years later described Mark Beau- 
 bien as a "sporty Frenchman with a squaw and 
 a score of papooses." It is true that he had 
 married an Indian woman and that, he was the 
 father of twenty-three children, many of whom 
 went west of the Mississippi with the Potta- 
 watomies; but nearly all Frenchmen in the West 
 marrid Indian women, and early Chicagoans 
 
 THE SAUGANASH HOUSE. 
 
 would have resented such a description of the 
 genial landlord of The Sauganash, who kept 
 tavern, traded with the red man, ran the first 
 ferry across the river, and still had time for his 
 serious occupations of horse racing, fiddling, and 
 general entertaining for the community. The 
 Sauganash House was always open for a dance 
 and "Monsieur Mark," in a swallow-tail blue 
 coat with brass buttons, and tight nankeen 
 trousers, played Money Musk and Fisher's Horn- 
 pipe as long as there was a youthful pair of 
 heels to keep time. 
 
 Elijah Wentworth had a public house on 
 Wolf Point, and a man named Miller kept a 
 tavern and Clybourn's butcher shop in the north 
 triangle made by the forking of the river. Th? 
 stream and its branches were the only highway? 
 to both Indian and white man, and any way 
 farer needing food and shelter was sure to hav* 
 to pass the junction of the waterways. In th^ 
 course of a year there would be a good many 
 guests to patronize the public houses about 
 Wolf Point, which was then, indeed, the nucleus 
 of the future city. 
 
 46
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, continued. 
 
 Alexander Eobinson, a half breed Indian chief, 
 had a trading house on the site of the present 
 Haymarket, and a half-breed chief named La 
 Framboise, a cabin where the Burlington depot 
 now stands. On the north side of the river were 
 the Kinzie house, the Indian agency, McKee's 
 blacksmith shop and the old Burns cabin, that 
 was seldom occupied. Up near Chicago and 
 Dearborn avenues, on the Kinzie tract, lived 
 the half-breed Pottawatomie chief, Billy Cald- 
 well, "The Sauganash," in a good frame 
 house. The Clybourne cabins and slaughter- 
 house were two and a half miles out on the 
 North Branch. 
 
 In 1831 a postoffice was established by a Mr. 
 Bailey in the old Kinzie mansion. Mail was 
 received every two weeks by star route from 
 Fort Wayne, the mail-carrier having to camp 
 out and to sustain himself with his gun on the 
 way. The next year the postoffice was moved to 
 a new cabin on Market and Water Streets, op- 
 posite The Sauganash House, where a newcomer, 
 John S. C. Hogan, opened a store. 
 
 The mail was laid in a corner of a shelf with 
 the bolts of calico, and customers picked out 
 their own letters. Archibald Clybourne asked 
 Mr. Hogan why he didn't put on some style 
 and get a set of pigeon-holes, such as were used 
 in the East. There was not a cabinet-maker in 
 the country, but the postmaster called for old 
 boot-tops, lashed them together, and nailed them 
 by the straps to the log side of the cabin, let- 
 tered them and had a set of pigeon-holes that 
 was the admiration of Chicago. 
 
 There was no garrison in the fort in the win- 
 ter of '31- '32, and this was fortunate, for 400 
 emigrants, who reached Chicago in the autumn, 
 spent the winter inside the stockade because of 
 the rumor of trouble with the Sacs on the Mis- 
 sissippi. The winter was a busy and prosperous 
 one for the little settlement. The existing 
 stores could not supply all these wayfarers, so 
 Eobert Kinzie, then 21, and George W. Dole 
 opened two more. Archibald Clybourne began 
 to grow rich in the butcher business and 
 planned to build a large colonial mansion at 
 New Virginia, as he called Clybourne Place. 
 Cook county was organized and Chicago be- 
 came the county seat of a territory that em- 
 braced the present counties of Cook, Lake, Du 
 Page and Will. A ferry was established at 
 Wolf Point and two country roads were laid out. 
 One of these roads ran out Madison street and 
 Ogden avenue to Barney Lawton's house at 
 Eiversicle, following the old portage trail, and 
 the other went out over Hubbard's trail, now 
 State street and Archer avenue. Chicago confi- 
 dently looked for a boom in the spring of 1832. 
 But, instead of a boom, business was paralyzed 
 and emigration brought to a standstill by the 
 Black Hawk war. 
 
 In all the histories of Chicago and Illinois, a 
 great deal of space is given to the terrible 
 
 Black Hawk war, to the sufferings and losses 
 of innocent white settlers and to the friendship 
 "and good faith of two Pottawatomie chiefs 
 "The Sauganash" and Shabona. But for their 
 refusals to join the Sacs, Chicago would have 
 added another terrible massacre to her history, 
 while all these things are true, there seems little 
 doubt that the Black Hawk war could have 
 been avoided. 
 
 Causes of the Black Hawk War. On the out- 
 break of the War of 1812, Black Hawk, Sha- 
 bona, and other chiefs of the Northwest, joined 
 Tecumseh and the British. When Tecumseh fell 
 in the battle of the Thames in Canada, in 1813, 
 Black Hawk came home, intending to fight no 
 more, but he found an aged Indian friend seri- 
 ously injured by white ruffians. He then began 
 his terrible border forays. For three years the 
 people of the middle Mississippi slept on their 
 guns and shuddered at the name of this chief. 
 As Mr. Reuben Gold Thwaites says in his mono- 
 graph on the Black Hawk war: 
 
 He buried the hatchet, but he hated the 
 Americans.' He was continuously disturbed and 
 molested by them. In 1823 some white settlers 
 caught him alone and gave him a causeless and 
 cruel beating. This insult he treasured up against 
 the American people. In the same year, squat- 
 ters began to take up claims in the Sac country, 
 under an old treaty which Black Hawk dis- 
 claimed, by which the Sacs had agreed to mi- 
 grate beyond the Mississippi whenever their 
 land should be needed for settlement. 
 
 The main body of the Sacs had, long before, 
 crossed the Mississippi and gone to the Des 
 Moines river under the head chief, Keokuk. 
 Only this one band, numbering 380 warriors, 
 remained in Illinois, in a village at the mouth 
 of the Rock river, which the Sacs had occupied 
 undisturbed for 150 years. 
 
 In 1830 it could not be claimed that this Sac 
 Village site was "needed for settlement," 
 since the nearest farms were fifty miles away. 
 Yet, in the spring of 1831, Black Hawk, now 
 67 years of age, returned from the winter hunt 
 to find white men living in his village. A trader 
 from Fort Armstrong, on Rock Island, had en- 
 tered a claim on it with the government and, 
 with hirelings from the fort and the lead mines, 
 was cultivating the 700 acres of fertile bottom 
 land, made mellow by 150 years of growing 
 Indian crops. 
 
 There was a skirmish, and the Sacs recovered 
 a part of their fields and planted their corn. 
 The white claimants did not observe an honor- 
 able truce, however, but in the course of a sum- 
 mer spread such alarming reports of an alleged 
 intended rising of the Sacs, that settlers in (he 
 Illinois valley appealed for help. They cannot 
 be blamed, for, in his prime, Black Hawk had 
 been a warrior of many bloody deeds, and his 
 name still inspired terror. 
 
 Governor Reynolds, not knowing the source 
 
 47
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 of this alarm, called for 600 volunteers, and 
 General Gaines was ordered from Washington 
 to reenforce the garrison at Fort Armstrong, on 
 Rock Island. There it must surely have been 
 known that the Sacs were the victims of reck- 
 less -and greedy adventurers. But as no pretext 
 was ever lost by which the Indians might be 
 moved westward, so now the Sacs were ordered 
 to leave their ancient village and cross the 
 Mississippi. Faced by soldiers, they sullenly 
 submitted, and signed a forced treaty to remain 
 on the west bank of the river. From the bluffs 
 of Davenport they could see the green banners 
 of the maize waving and flashing in the fields 
 the squaws had planted, and which their de- 
 spoilers were to reap in triumph. 
 
 That winter they had no corn. They were in 
 debt to traders on Rock Island and had no 
 credit. Always poor, as Indians are in winter, 
 famine, sickness and death were companions of 
 this wretched band of exiles. With bitterness 
 in his heart, Black Hawk recrossed the river 
 and begged the Winnebagoes of Wisconsin and 
 the Pottawatomies of Illinois to help him re- 
 cover his village. They refused the Winne- 
 bagoes, because they had been defeated in an 
 uprising and severely punished, only five years 
 before, and the Pottawatomies because they had 
 wives and humane chiefs, who knew that for the 
 Indian to go on the warpath simply invited ex- 
 termination. The chiefs "Sauganash" and 
 "Shabona" were putting off the evil day of 
 exile for the Pottawatomies as long as possible. 
 
 In pity, Chief White Cloud of the Winne- 
 bagoes, offered the dispossessed tribe of Sacs corn- 
 fields along the Wisconsin river. In April, the 
 moon of corn-planting of 1832, Black Hawk 
 broke the treaty so far as to recross the Mis- 
 sissippi. There were 380 braves, and twice as 
 many squaws and children and old men, with 
 the skins and camping outfits. This alone indi- 
 cated a peaceful expedition, for when on the 
 warpath these Indians never hampered their 
 movements by taking the non-combatants along. 
 As if anxious to avoid trouble, or the appear- 
 ance of hostility, the band did not stop at their 
 old home. The braves rode on ponies along the 
 bank of Rock river while the squaws and chil- 
 dren embarked in canoes and rode to Dixon's 
 Ferry. 
 
 The country along the Illinois, clear to Chi- 
 cago, was in a panic of fright, and Governor 
 Reynolds called out 1,800 militia. Abraham Lin- 
 coln, then twenty-three years old, and "out of 
 work," enlisted from Sangamon county, and 
 was elected captain by the Clary's Grove boys, 
 ' ' serving, " as he said, "as a high private, ' ' 
 for his privates all felt themselves capable of 
 commanding themselves, and did so in this back- 
 woods Indian chase. 
 
 The militia reached Dixon's Ferry by May 9, 
 and there it was reported that the Sacs had 
 dispersed among the Winebagoes and did not 
 
 intend to fight. Major Stillman, however, had 
 come to fight, and he marched thirty-five miles 
 farther east to Sycamore Creek. While in camp 
 there, a party of Indians came under a flag of 
 truce from Black Hawk's camp, where the chief 
 was giving a dog feast to seal his friendship 
 with the Winnebagoes. 
 
 Black Hawk Provoked to War. This flag of 
 truce was violated. Some of the Indians were 
 killed. Those who escaped fled to Black Hawk 
 with the story of the outrage. Only half of 
 Black Hawk 's braves were with him, but the 
 war-whoop was sounded and there was a bloody 
 battle at Stillman 's Run, That night a council 
 of war was held, and Black Hawk made a speech 
 that was an impassioned example of Indian 
 oratory. He begged the Winnebagoes and Pot- 
 tawatomies to help him avenge his wrongs. ' ' If 
 we bring all our warriors together they will be 
 in number like the trees of the forest, and will 
 sweep the pale faces into Lake Michigan." 
 
 "And the white men can muster troops in 
 number like the leaves on the trees of the for- 
 est and they will sweep us all to the western 
 ocean," said Shabona of the Pottawatomies, 
 who rode away to Chicago to organize his tribe 
 for scout and spy service to protect white settle- 
 ments. 
 
 Deserted by their allies, Black Hawk's braves 
 seemed to have determined to sell their lives 
 as dearly as possible and to make the whites pay 
 a high price for their final victory. The Sacs 
 left their women and children among the Winne- 
 bagoes and broke up into small parties to mas- 
 sacre, burn and ravage the white settlements. 
 
 The settlers west of Chicago made a stam- 
 pede for Fort Dearborn. Five hundred refugees 
 found shelter within the stockade. The Cook 
 County militia was organized under General J. 
 B. Beaubien. Indian scouts under "The Sauga- 
 nash" and Shabona brought in scattered set- 
 tlers and livestock, and made it their business 
 to protect buildings and growing crops. So well 
 did they do this that except at one or two places 
 there was very little loss of life or property 
 after news came in of a horrid massacre of the 
 white settlers on Indian Creek, near the present 
 town of Ottawa. The Chicago militia marched 
 to this point, buried the dead and marched back 
 again, while the state militia took up a running 
 pursuit of the flying Indians. There was not 
 one pitched battle. As Lincoln often said "we 
 rarely caught up with an Indian but we fought 
 mosquitoes through a six weeks' march." 
 
 In July General Scott arrived in Fort Dear- 
 born over the lakes with government troops, 
 and with Asiatic cholera aboard. From the 
 cholera the refugees fled with greater terror 
 than from the Indians, who were now, as a 
 matter of fact, retreating westward across Wis- 
 consin. The pest-stricken town of Chicago was 
 abandoned. After burying 100 victims of the 
 cholera, General Scott camped on the banks of 
 
 48
 
 THE STOitr OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 the Desplaines under the rustling maples of 
 Riverside. Thence he marched through Naper- 
 ville and the sites of Elgin, Belvidere and Be- 
 loit. There news came to him that Black Hawk 
 had been routed at the mouth of the Bad Axe 
 river in western Wisconsin. 
 
 The Black Hawk War was over; 380 half- 
 starved, homesick Indians had been reduced to 
 a helpless remnant by six or eight times their 
 number of white men. Black Hawk, " ihe last 
 native defender" of the soil of the old North- 
 west Territory, had been vanquished. This is a 
 page in our history of which we are not proud, 
 but it is a story that is typical of our treat- 
 ment of the red man in the first century of 
 national freedom. 
 
 General Scott marched along the beautiful 
 valley of the Bock river to Kock Island. Farm- 
 ers glean wealth there today; prosperous cities 
 have arisen; artists go hundreds of miles to 
 sketch its wooded bluffs, rolling pastures and 
 reaches of bright water. Then it was vacant; 
 the Indian was gone. Deer and gray wolves, 
 
 song birds and Indian graves tenanted the great 
 watered plateau of northern Illinois. The Rock 
 river valley was opened to settlement. 
 
 Beginnings of Chicago's First Boom. Again 
 soldiers spread tidings of a new, rich country. 
 A furore of immigration set in through Chicago. 
 Many who had intended to go on stopped in the 
 village that now began to give promise of its 
 future importance. Emigrants arrived on foot, 
 on horseback, in caravans, by sailboat. In the 
 summer of 1833, 150 new houses were built along 
 both sides of the river. Rough green lumber 
 from the poor native timber was used and sawed 
 in a water mill six miles out on the north 
 branch. Newberry and Dole built a frame ware- 
 house on Dearborn and South Water streets and 
 shipped 287 barrels of beef, besides tallow and 
 hides, to Detroit; and David Carver brought a 
 Bchoonerload of pine lumber from St. Joseph, 
 Mich., and opened a lumber yard on the river 
 bank between what is now La Salle street and 
 Fifth avenue. Thus were two of Chicago's 
 greatest industries begun. 
 
 The close of the year 1833 found Chicago 
 a legally incorporated town with the required 
 
 population of 150. An election was held in 
 August, when twenty-eight voters were regis- 
 tered. A transformation was to be wrought 
 within five years, but at that time Chicago 
 was a rather squalid town of rough shanties and 
 cabins, squatting disconsolately and without 
 order, in the mud. Even in the fort there was 
 no building over twenty feet in height. The 
 flagstaff was fifty feet high, and on holidays 
 the weather-beaten emblem of liberty and union 
 did its best to lend a festive air to the untamed 
 landscape. 
 
 But there was an unmistakable air of busi- 
 ness about the place. There were as many emi- 
 grants birds of passage as there were inhabi- 
 tants. A score of families might be seen any 
 day camping about their prairie schooners on 
 the public square and cooking their meals over 
 gipsy campfires. Houses were put up on a 
 week's notice; the taverns about Wolf Point 
 were crowded, and muslin partitions, run on 
 'cords, multiplied the bedrooms. And the gov- 
 ernment engineers, with an encampment of la- 
 borers on the Kinzie tract, were working on the 
 harbor improvements. 
 
 Congress had appropriated $25,000 for this 
 purpose, more money than all Chicago would 
 have sold for, but no one scoffed, for the very 
 atmosphere of the place was sanguine. Chicago 
 seemed to hold its breath with expectancy while 
 the straight cut was being made across the sand 
 bar, the old outlet of the river closed, and the 
 piers steadily pushed a thousand feet out into 
 the lake. Then the river froze over during a 
 winter of content and hope. In the spring of 
 1834 the ice in the Desplaines broke up with a 
 boom, such as had forced Father Marquette 
 to take to his canoe 160 years before; the flood 
 rolled over the divide, submerged the Chicago 
 flats, and rushed like a mill race through the 
 new channel to the lake. 
 
 It was a gala day to Chicago's 400 people 
 when the first vessel of large tonnage the Illi- 
 nois sailed into the river. The town was 
 made; the boom had come; real estate values 
 soared, although the real estate itself lay under 
 a foot or so of water. There was no talk among 
 business men and the speculators who swarmed 
 into Chicago but of the projected Illinois and 
 Michigan canal, and of the fleets that were to 
 sail from New York, through Chicago to the 
 Mississippi and the gulf. 
 
 49
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE TOWN OF CHICAGO. 
 
 (1833-1837.) 
 
 The Passing of the Bed Man. When the first 
 election of a board of five trustees for the town 
 of Chicago was held on the 10th of August, 
 1833, in the Sauganash 
 House, the allied tribes of 
 Pottawatomies, Ottawas, 
 and Ojibwas still held title 
 to the lands bordering 
 Lake Michigan, with the 
 exception of certain tracts 
 ceded to the government. 
 The old Northwest Terri- 
 tory had been cut up into 
 states; state roads had 
 ALEX BEAUBIEN. been laid out and canals 
 
 As a boy he saw the built or proiected. The 
 last war dance. , *_ iv A j.i j.- 
 
 country from the Atlantic 
 
 seaboard to the Mississippi burned with zeal to 
 conquer nature, and the people were nothing 
 daunted by time, distance, expense, or wide soli- 
 tude. Only the fear of the Indian held ambition 
 in check. Black Hawk had been defeated, and 
 the valley of the Eock river was ready for the 
 plow of the pioneer, but between that fertile 
 land and the East lay a broad region of Indian 
 country which might at any moment become 
 hostile. Chicago was girt on all sides. In 
 western Michigan and northwestern Indiana lay 
 a wilderness almost as unbroken as that of 
 Wisconsin and Iowa. The site of Michigan City 
 had but one house on its desolate sand dunes, 
 and between that and Chicago were but few 
 other habitations of white men. 
 
 The defeated Black Hawk brought about an 
 immediate transformation in Chicago. The In- 
 dians as well as white settlers realized that the 
 time had come for the red men to depart from 
 the region and go into exile west of the Miss- 
 issippi. That they did go without resistance 
 and made such good terms for themselves is due 
 to the wise and temperate counsels of their 
 chiefs, who saw that resistance simply invited 
 extermination. There were a half-dozen of 
 these chiefs with the Indians about Chicago 
 who deserve special mention. Shabona was a 
 full-blooded Ottawa, a grand-nephew of the fa- 
 mous Pontiac, with much of his great ancestor's 
 sagacity. "He was the one Indian I ever knew 
 
 who was good when he was alive," the late 
 Colonel Hitt, of Ottawa, owner of "Starved 
 Kock, " once said to the writer. 
 
 But he was not the only good Indian, as many 
 of the early settlers of Chicago were ready to 
 testify. The Sauganash (Billy Caldwell), Alex- 
 ander Eobinson, and La Framboise half breeds 
 had all won affection and respect by their 
 virtues. Many pathetic efforts were made by 
 these enlightened chiefs to win their tribes to 
 the ways of white men. 
 
 Last Council of the Indians of Chicago. In 
 September, 1833, the government commissioners 
 arrived and called the Indians to a treaty coun- 
 cil. Plank huts were erected along the north 
 bank of the river for their accommodation, for 
 the fort was full of soldiers who might be 
 needed should the r.ed men give trouble. Five 
 thousand Indian? of the allied tribes were 
 camped all over the prairie to the north. A 
 council house had been built of poles and bark 
 on the Kinzie tract, where the Kinzie mansion 
 stood abandoned to decay. It was not occupied 
 after 1832, and soon disappeared. 
 
 Chicago was a picturesque place in Septem- 
 ber, 1833. Within the next four years it was 
 to. change from month to month by a series of 
 startling transformations. Never again was it 
 to look as it did then. The lake tumbled its 
 waves over the new piers and piled up sand 
 along the north shore, rapidly changing the 
 shore line. The autumn rains had not begun, 
 and golden rod, asters, and Indian lilies bloomed 
 in the rank prairie grass. The river was as 
 limpid as the lake, for not enough slaughtering 
 and tanning had been done as yet to pollute its 
 waters. 
 
 There were but one hundred and fifty people 
 resident in the town, but there were four 
 hotels about Wolf Point, all full of transient 
 guests, drawn here by the treaty. Hundreds of 
 emigrants were living in prairie schooners wait- 
 ing for the conclusion of the treaty before seek- 
 ing homesteads in the Indian lands. Horse 
 dealers and stealers, peddlers, sharpers, whisky 
 sellers, contractors for feeding the Indians, spec- 
 ulators, and adventurers enough rogues to keep 
 the new log jail on the public square filled 
 were in town. Every man had a claim, genuine 
 or spurious, against the Indians, and schemed to 
 
 50
 
 get some of the cash which the government was 
 sure to distribute with a liberal hand. 
 
 The village was a chaos of mud, rubbish, and 
 confusion. The Indians kept up the wildest up- 
 roar day and night, singing, howling, weeping, 
 yelling. The braves got drunk and stayed drunk, 
 and in that condition, gaudily dressed and 
 painted, rode races, fought mock battles, and 
 went on the chase. Squaws, papooses, dogs, 
 ponies, and medicine men, as well as braves, 
 lived merely on the government. Ignorant, de- 
 graded by the white man's fire-water, desolate, 
 helpless, speedily to disappear from the earth, 
 these aboriginals were no match for agents, 
 traders, and creditors. In spite of most liberal 
 grants they were to go out of the country 
 plucked. 
 
 Day after day passed in carousal. The signal 
 gun from the fort called the chiefs daily to the 
 council, but it was the 21st before the council 
 fire was lit in the long bark house. In four 
 days the deed was done, and all Indian titles 
 to lands east of the Mississippi were wiped out. 
 Five million acres of land in northern Missouri 
 were granted these tribes, their debts were paid, 
 buildings and tools were to be provided, and an 
 annuity given them for twenty years. The 
 principal chiefs were pensioned. 
 
 Last War Dance in Chicago. It was two 
 years, however, before the Indians departed 
 from Chicago for their new home. In the mean- 
 time the town had increased to a population of 
 over 3,000, who, from the fort, the storey, 
 hotels, dwellings, the wharves along South 
 Water street, and the new drawbridge at Dear- 
 born street, witnessed the farewell war dance 
 of the braves. The scene was thus described 
 half a century later by John Dean Caton, a 
 young lawyer who, in 1835, had an office ' ' on 
 the head of a barrel," as he said, at Fifth ave- 
 nue and Lake street, and wondered how he was 
 going to meet his weekly board bill at the 
 Sauganash House: 
 
 "It was in August, 1835, that the Potta- 
 watomies danced their last war dance in Chi- 
 cago. Certain risks were taken in permitting 
 them to dance, but the officer in command at the 
 fort feared also to refuse them. The garrison 
 was under arms on the parade ground at Mich- 
 igan avenue and the river, ostensibly to do the 
 braves honor, but in reality to be in readiness 
 for trouble should sorrow, excitement, and bad 
 whisky prove too much for the Indians' self- 
 control. 
 
 "The braves assembled at the bark council 
 house after hours in their tepees spent in mak- 
 ing their savage toilet. All were naked except 
 for a strip of cloth about the loins, but their 
 bodies were covered with elaborate designs, in 
 brilliant paints, foreheads, cheeks, and noses 
 were lined with curved stripes of vermilion 
 edged with black points, that gave a diabolical 
 expression to their faces. The long, coarse, 
 
 black hair was gathered into scalp-locks and 
 decorated with colored hawk and eagle feathers 
 extending down the back to the ground. The 
 braves were armed with war clubs and toma- 
 hawks and were led by musicians who kept up 
 a hideous, rhythmic din by beating on hollow 
 vessels with sticks. 
 
 "They advanced, not by marching, but by a 
 continuous dance. Proceeding westward along 
 the north bank of the river, they crossed the 
 eighty-foot slough at Market street and the 
 north branch on swaying foot bridges, thence 
 along the west bank to Lake street, where a 
 log bridge spanned the south branch. They 
 were now just below the windows of the Sauga- 
 nash House, which stood on the southeast corner 
 of Lake and Market, where the Republican Wig- 
 wam was afterward built and where Lincoln 
 was nominated for the presidency twenty-five 
 years later. 
 
 "The dance, which never stopped, consisted 
 
 SHABONA. 
 
 of jerks, leaps, and unnatural distortions, all 
 performed with lightning-like swiftness and 
 wildcat grace and ferocity. There were eight 
 hundred braves in that raging river of dusky, 
 painted fiends which poured over the bridge 
 and flowed down Lake street to the fort. They 
 were frothing at the mouth; many had been 
 wounded by flying tomahawks and war clubs, 
 and blood mingled with dust, paint, and sweat, 
 but the victims were unconscious of their hurts. 
 Ladies at the windows fainted as the savages 
 closed around the hotel to perform extra ex- 
 ploits. What if this sham rage should turn into 
 a real attack! How easy it would have been 
 
 51
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 for these Indians to have committed another 
 massacre in a helpless town! 
 
 "But the braves worked off their emotions 
 in the dance, and after an exhibition that was 
 a horrid climax, before the garrison on the 
 parade ground, they crossed Dearborn street 
 bridge and, for the last time, lit their council 
 fire in Chicago. The next day, sad and sober, 
 they began their march to Missouri. Many half 
 breeds went with them, including Medore Beau- 
 bien, who had been a beau among white belles, 
 a successful business man, and a member of the 
 first board of town trustees. The blood of his 
 Indian mother called him to the wilds, and he 
 departed with the tribe to become an Indian 
 chief." 
 
 Suggestions. The early life of Abraham Lin- 
 coln will give the best account obtainable of the 
 peopling of southern Illinois, and of what sol- 
 diering meant in the Black Hawk war. Schools 
 in towns along tne Illinois and Eock river val- 
 leys and northward into Wisconsin will find 
 in their local histories many interesting stories 
 of the famous Sac chief, Black Hawk. Eock 
 Island, 111., is now on the site of the ancient Sac 
 village. Chief Shabona was well known as 
 far west as La Salle county. The early chap- 
 ters of Mrs. Kinzie's "Waubun" describe a 
 horseback journey of Mr. and Mrs. John H. Kinzie 
 from Fort Winnebago, Wis. (now Portage City) 
 to Chicago, in 1831, the spring before the Black 
 I'awk war. They went past the Four Lakes 
 (n3w Madison) into the edge of the mining 
 country, and eastward along the Eock river val- 
 ley. This was all Indian country, and but few 
 white families were found in a nine days' 
 journey. "Madame John" was the heroine of 
 Chicago for the dangers and fatigues she had 
 gone through- A very full life of Marquis de 
 La Fayette will give an account of his visit to 
 General Jackson at Nashville, St. Louis and 
 Kaskaskia, in 1825, thus contrasting the wealth 
 and social conditions of these old French towns 
 on the Mississippi with the Chicago of that day. 
 In Kaskaskia he was wined and dined and feted 
 in the great tavern, and a splendid ball and re- 
 ception were given in his honor. This was only 
 two years after Dr. "Walcott and Ellen Marion 
 Kinzie had had to send 160 miles to Peoria 
 for a marriage license. 
 
 Chicago's First Boom Arrives. Chicago had 
 not waited for the Indians to leave before it 
 began to grow. In the payment of Indian 
 debts, $175,000 was distributed among creditors 
 in the little town, a half-dozen members of the 
 Kinzie family alone receiving $30,000 as com- 
 pensation for their father's losses in the mas- 
 sacre of 1812. This average of $1,000 per capita 
 gave capital for the enlargement and establish- 
 ment of business, houses. Orders were sent to 
 Detroit and New York for stocks of goods in 
 
 anticipation of the influx of settlers in the 
 spiing. Wharves were built along the south 
 bank of the river from the fort to the forks. 
 When the Illinois sailed through the new chan- 
 nel in June, 1834, it unloaded directly on the 
 wharves along the river, and goods were carried 
 into the stores and warehouses on the south side 
 of the street that fronted the river, one hundred 
 feet back from the bank. 
 
 By the middle of May a cordon of prairie 
 schooners was drawn around the town. A sale 
 of school lands, in the square mile bounded by 
 State and Halsted, Iladison and Twelfth streets, 
 had taken place in October of the year before, 
 the tract bringing an average of $6.72 an acre, 
 or a total of over $38,000. Much of it was sold 
 on time and came back to the school commis- 
 sioners, for which the school board of today is 
 duly thankful. The magnificent Tribune build- 
 ing, on Dearborn and Madison streets is built on 
 school land held under long lease. It was on 
 this school block that land speculation in Chi- 
 cago began as early as the summer of 1834, 
 for the purchasers of acre tracts subdivided 
 their holdings into lots and put them on the 
 
 FRINK & WALKER'S STAGECOACH OFFICE. 
 
 market. Speculators came in the van of the 
 emigrants and began to invest, for the glorious 
 future of Chicago had been cried in the streets 
 of New York. 
 
 In that year Eobert Kinzie sold in New York 
 a fourth of the Kinzie addition and all of the 
 Walcott addition, west of North State street, 
 for $20,000, and was elated over his bargain 
 until, in the spring of 1835, a fraction of this 
 purchase again changed hands for $100,000. On 
 behalf of the latest buyer William B. Ogden 
 came out to Chicago to put this property on 
 the market. 
 
 He found the ground low and wet, where it 
 was not in sand ridges along the shore, and cov- 
 ered with scrub oaks and underbrush. West 
 of State street the tract was under a foot of 
 water, and a slough eighty feet wide at Market 
 street, extended to Chicago avenue. Mr. Ogden 
 wrote to the owner that he had been guilty of 
 the grossest folly in paying $100,000 for that 
 swamp. However, since he was here, he sub- 
 divided the plot into blocks and lots, opened
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 streets and avenues and had maps prepared. 
 June suns dried up the swamps, and flowers 
 bloomed on the prairie. Even the slough was 
 attractive by the time emigrants arrived, looked 
 on the busy town, believed, and bought lots. 
 
 The government opened a land office on Dear- 
 born street for the sale of homesteads in the 
 ceded Indian lands. Mr. Ogden seized the mo- 
 ment when the excitement was the highest, and 
 the crowd of newcomers was greatest and rich- 
 est, to put his lots up at auction. Over seventy 
 vessels with 5,000 tonnage discharged their car- 
 goes on the wharves of Chicago in that season. 
 The boom had arrived, and Mr. Ogden sold one- 
 third of the one hundred and eighty-two acres 
 for the purchase price of the whole. He was 
 dazed. ' ' The people who bought those lots were 
 land-crazy," he declared when he returned to 
 New Y,ork. ' ' There is no such value in them, 
 and won't be for a generation." 
 
 Nevertheless, Chicago drew him, as it drew 
 others, like a magnet. He came back in 1836 
 to see two hundred and fifty vessels crowd the 
 river with shipping, wharves laden with goods, 
 ten hotels that had sprung up in a night filled 
 with guests who lived but to invest money, and 
 men he had left poor grown rich. Fabulous 
 stories were abroad, that might or might not be 
 true; but here was Chicago, sitting in her pride 
 of place on the obvious interoceanic port to the 
 West, and there was the Illinois and Michigan 
 canal to be dug at last, for the state had made 
 a $500,000 loan to begin the work. He who had 
 witnessed the transformation wrought in New 
 York by the Erie canal, changed his mind, and 
 definitely cast his fortunes in with Chicago. 
 
 The craze for land had reached fever heat. 
 Every emigrant bought his homestead, and lots 
 besides, in the towns that were platted in the 
 forests, prairies, and sand dunes of Wisconsin, 
 Illinois, and Michigan. Chicago was the place 
 where new towns were hatched on paper. In 
 Chicago itself values soared. Everybody was 
 scrambling for school lots, canal lots, water 
 lots with wharfing rights, Kinzie, Wabansia, 
 and Walcott addition lots; even for Fort Dear- 
 born reservation lots. This last needs to be 
 explained. 
 
 In 1835 it was rumored that Fort Dearborn 
 was to be abandoned as a military reservation. 
 General Jean Baptiste Beaubien had lived on 
 the reservation twenty-two years, in two houses 
 that he had bought and paid for. Because 
 there was more room than was needed by the 
 soldiers, he was not disturbed. The place was 
 his homestead. Since the fort was to be aban- 
 doned, he thought to secure a title to it by 
 filing a claim in the land office. One morning 
 he surprised Chicago by walking out with a 
 title to Fort Dearborn reservation, for which he 
 had paid $1.25 an acre, or a total of $94.61 for 
 the seventy-four and a fraction acres. The 
 popular "general" of the Chicago militia, as he 
 
 53 
 
 had been since the Black Hawk war, was ap- 
 plauded for his shrewdness. Although there 
 were doubts as to his claims being allowed in 
 Washington, since the fort was not evacuated 
 until December of 1836, and was not technically 
 opened to pre-emption, still there were plenty of 
 people ready to take their chances on making 
 good their titles when General Beaubien platted 
 the reservation and put the lots on the market. 
 
 In illustrating the craze for land speculation 
 in Chicago, the Treinont House lot at Dearborn 
 and Lake streets has become historic, for its 
 price rose so phenomenally as to make people 
 wonder if yeast had been stirred in the soil. 
 In 1829 this lot was put in a raffle at the 
 fort at twenty-five cents a chance. In 1830 the 
 owner swapped it for an Indian pony and 
 chuckled over his bargain, for in 1831 its value 
 was rated under that of a cord of wood at 
 $1.25. In 1832 it got for its owner a pair of 
 boots worth $5, and in 1833 was traded for a 
 barrel of whisky at $25. General Beaubien was 
 the purchaser. In 1834 he tried to get forty 
 cords of wood, worth $50 for it, but failed, but 
 later he parted with it for a yoke of steers and 
 a barrel of flour. In 1835 it was sold for $500 
 cash, and in 1836 for $5,000. It was then taken 
 out of the market, for Dearborn and Lake had 
 become one of the most important corners in 
 Chicago, the center of the hotel and stagecoach 
 district. 
 
 Gurdon S. Hubbard, the old Indian trader, 
 bought two water-front lots between La Salle 
 street and Fifth avenue in 1829 for $66. In 
 1836 he sold them for $80,000 
 
 Let us now see what Chicago looked like in 
 the boom days of 1836. Harriet Martineau was 
 here in the summer of that year and has given 
 a graphic picture: 
 
 "I never saw a busier place. It was but a 
 squalid town of insignificant houses that sat 
 jauntily in the muck of the prairie, but the 
 streets were as crowded as those of London. 
 Land sales were held on every block, and every- 
 body hurried from one to another, fearing to 
 miss the bargains. A negro dressed in scarlet, 
 bearing a red flag and riding a white horse with 
 scarlet housings, dashed through the town and 
 announced the times of sale. Crowds flocked 
 around him. The gentlemen of our party were 
 hailed from the shop doors with offers of farms, 
 land lots, water lots, town sites, timber claims. 
 The immediate occasion of excitement was the 
 sale of $2,000,000 worth of lots along the pro- 
 jected canal. Wild land along that undug ditch 
 was selling for more than the finest land in the 
 valley of the Mohawk, where an inestimable 
 amount of traffic was then being carried on. 
 These speculators in Chicago were not sharpers 
 or gamblers, but hard-headed business men. It 
 was remarkable to find such an assemblage of 
 cultivated, refined, and wealthy people living in 
 the rudest houses on the edge of that wild 
 prairie. ' '
 
 THE STOEY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Chicago in 1836. One who arrived in Chicago 
 by way of the lake, at that time, would have 
 seen a huddle of low houses on the prairie, over- 
 topped by the shipping in the river, for none of 
 the six churches had a steeple, and the ' ' sky- 
 scrapers, " of which there may have been a half- 
 dozen, were but four stories high. The fort 
 stood on a sort of knoll of sand, ten feet above 
 the level of the lake and, with its white-washed 
 walls and neat garden and esplanade, presented a 
 pleasing appearance. The buildings within the 
 stockade, however, were not more than twenty 
 feet high, with the exception of the forty-foot 
 lighthouse tower, which stood near the end of 
 the' Eush street bridge of today. South of the 
 stockade, on what is now the corner of Mich- 
 igan avenue and South Water street, stood 
 General Beaubien 's house and garden. Visitors 
 were sure to be told of the claim the General 
 had filed on the reservation, and a standing joke 
 was to ask him when he intended to call out 
 the Chicago militia to turn the United States 
 troops off his claim. 
 
 At the west end of the pier, 
 on the north bank, and just 
 east of the site of the old 
 Kinzie house (the shore of the 
 lake was at that time about a 
 block east of St. Clair street), 
 stood Newberry & Dole 's for- 
 warding warehouse. Large 
 covered wagons, with two span 
 of big draft horses hitched to 
 each, were sure to be seen in 
 front of this building in the 
 early mornings when the cara- 
 van loads were being made up. 
 This was Chicago 's fast 
 freight line to Galena, which 
 was the great distributing 
 point for the Northwest. 
 
 Where Kinzie, Michigan, 
 and Eush streets almost con- 
 verge, was the new, four-story, 
 $100,000 brick hotel, called the 
 Lake house, where they had printed bills of fare 
 and a French chef. It was here that society con- 
 gregated for the weekly dance in the winter. 
 "Society" lived on the North side, in the Kinzie 
 addition. From the river the score or so of big 
 frame houses of the aristocracy could be seen 
 plainly, for many of them occupied a block of 
 ground, and the elms and maples that were to 
 shade them later were then saplings. St. James' 
 Episcopal church, with its Gothic windows and 
 square tower, and William B. Ogden's house, 
 with its classic porticos, were not built until 
 1837, when Mr. Van Osdel, the architect, had 
 come from New York. 
 
 The town of Chicago had had no architect, as 
 was apparent from the many buildings that were 
 out of plumb. The first piece of work done by 
 Mr. Van Osdel when he arrived in 1836, was to 
 raise the fronts of three brick stores on Kinzie 
 
 street that had careened when the frost went 
 out of the soil. Chicago was taught thereby to 
 drive its foundation piles through the muck, 
 quicksand, blue clay, and gravel pockets to 
 hard-pan. 
 
 The highest points in the town were at Mich- 
 igan avenue and Eush street, with the drainage 
 toward the west, the elevation falling from ten 
 to only two feet above lake level. Water would 
 have stood over the whole surface the year round 
 had it not cut gullies or sloughs to the river. 
 Three of these entered the river at State street, 
 near La Salle and at North Franklin. 
 
 South Water Street the Business Center. The 
 south bank of the river monopolized the busi- 
 ness of the town. On this bank, beyond the 
 shipping that crowded the river, could be seen 
 the busy wharves and the straggling row of 
 brick, frame, and log stores which stood a hun- 
 dred feet back from the stream. The boundaries 
 of the town were at Jackson on the south, Jeffer- 
 son and Cook on the west, Ohio on the north, 
 
 THE DEARBORN STREET DRAWBRIDGE (1835). 
 
 the Lake north of the river and State street 
 south, on the east; but the main part of the 
 town was crowded into five blocks east and west, 
 between the Fort and the Forks, and three north 
 and south. 
 
 Every store on South Water street had its 
 wharf frontage on the river, and the space be- 
 tween was a chaos of boxes, barrels, and bales. 
 The plank sidewalks went up and down by steps, 
 scarcely any two neighboring stores being on a 
 level. No one thought of complaining of that, 
 for any sidewalk at all was a matter for thank- 
 fulness. The main streets were graded but not 
 paved. An inclined plank road, forming a gutter 
 for drainage in the middle, had been laid out in 
 Lake street, but the planks soon sank in the mud. 
 After that historic failure at drainage Chicago 
 began to build up her streets instead of digging 
 them out. At that time the cross streets were
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 drained by sluices running to the river. There 
 was a bottomless inud hole at Clark and Ran- 
 dolph in front of the courthouse, and a bog that 
 bred mosquitoes, bull frogs, and malaria at Clark 
 and Lake, in front of the Saloon building and 
 the First Presbyterian church. The people com- 
 plained bitterly of the condition of the streets 
 and bridges. They did not realize that the level 
 of the city would have to be raised ten feet 
 before it could get above the mud. 
 
 On the southeast corner of Dearborn and South 
 Water streets stood Newberry and Dole's store. 
 It was to remain a landmark for twenty years. 
 Directly in front of it was the Dearborn street 
 drawbridge, a grewsome sight with its gallows- 
 like framework at either end standing stark 
 above the river. The ' ' draw ' ' was usually out 
 of order, and the bridge was pulled down three 
 years later. 
 
 Just around the corner on Dearborn street was 
 the land office, always a lively place with its 
 black jockey runners, and the strident voice of 
 the auctioneer calling for bids. On South Water 
 street were many names on the sign boards that 
 became noted in Chicago annals; Kimball, Dole, 
 Carpenter, Peck, Brown, Carver, Kimberly, 
 
 
 OLD STAGECOACH TAVERN. 
 
 Wentworth, and others. Among the notable 
 structures of the town was the four-story State 
 bank building at La Salle and South Water; the 
 Temple building at South Water and Franklin, 
 that was sacred to religion, education, and the 
 learned professions. John Dean Caton, who was 
 to be a judge by and by, shared a law office in 
 the Temple with a seedy young physician, Dr. 
 Daniel Brainard, who was to help found a groat 
 medical college. . 
 
 On Lake street were half a dozen hotels, among 
 them the first Tremont house, then on the north- 
 west corner of Dearborn; St. Mary's Catholic 
 church at State street, Prink and Walker 's stage- 
 coach office and the famous "Saloon building." 
 This was riot a "saloon" at all but a "salon" 
 which, you know, is French for "hall," and it 
 is strange that the Beaubiens and other French 
 people in the town should have permitted the 
 name of the hall to become corrupted. It was 
 the finest public hall west of Buffalo. 
 
 In Stagecoach Days. South Water street 
 
 curved with the river at the west end. Just on 
 the curve west to Franklin street was the post- 
 office. When the stagecoach came in from the 
 west, over the rattling log bridge, with a crack 
 of the whip and a toot of the horn, the mail was 
 thrown out and the coach dashed up Lake street. 
 The old Sauganash house was passed by, for the 
 genial Mark had leased it, and built the Mansion 
 house at 84 and 86 Lake street. Passengers had 
 their choice of nearly a dozen hostelries. East- 
 erners went to the Lake house, court officials to 
 the City hotel on the Sherman house site, poli- 
 ticians to taverns around the Saloon building, 
 and countrymen with droves of hogs and cattle 
 or wagon loads of wheat put up at the Green 
 Tree tavern on Lake and Canal. 
 
 The postoffice and the courthouse were rival 
 places of entertainment. When the Detroit stage 
 arrived some gentleman with good lungs would 
 mount a dry-goods box in Hogan 's store and read 
 aloud from the New York papers that were 
 only thirty days old. The courthouse had no 
 standing room when a trial was on. Before the 
 first circus came to town in 1836 and pitched its 
 "monster tent" beside the New York hotel on 
 Lake Street, and the first dramatic company 
 played in the Sauganash house in 1837, the court 
 room was the only theater. The judges and law- 
 yers were the stars, and the prisoner the villain 
 of the piece or the persecuted hero. Had the 
 eloquence or wit of lawyers been restrained the 
 public would have felt defrauded. It was under 
 such conditions as these that Lincoln had already 
 begun to win fame as an orator at Springfield. 
 
 Frink and Walker's stage office, on Lake 
 street, rivaled the land office, postoffice, and 
 court room as a place of attraction. Any one 
 who wanted to take a journey made up his mind 
 and secured his seat in the stage a week or a 
 month ahead. A time table that hung on the 
 wall announced that stages left for Detroit every 
 other day, time, three and one-half days; for 
 Peoria, via Ottawa, Tuesdays and Saturdays; for 
 Galena, via Dixon's Ferry, Tuesdays and Satur- 
 days; time five days; for Green Bay, via Mil- 
 waukee, Tuesdays, 4 a. m.; for Vincennes, via 
 Danville, Saturdays. The trip to Joliet (it was 
 called "Juliet," then, so had its historic name 
 fallen on evil days; Miss Martineau looked for 
 Romeo, also, on the prairie) could be made in 
 fourteen hours, two and one-half miles per hour. 
 
 Across the western prairie the trip was pleas- 
 ant in summer time, although the road w?,s a 
 mere widening of the old Indian trail that, in 
 spring and fall, became a ditch. The road to 
 Galena was an extension of Ogden avenue. Bar- 
 ney Laughton had a tavern near the present site 
 of the Burlington depot at Riverside that was 
 a favorite resort of Chicagoans of the thirties, 
 but the first relay station for horses was at 
 Brush Hill, now Fullersburg, near Hinsdale, and 
 two miles from any railway. An old stagecoach 
 tavern of seventy years ago is still standing at 
 
 55
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Brush Hill. The next station was at Naperville, 
 A thriving settlement, and the third at Aurora 
 on the Fox river, where the first store was built 
 about 1835 or 1836. 
 
 The Archer road, which was completed in 
 1836 to Lockport, ran through Summit and on 
 to Joliet and La Salle, the head of navigation 
 on the Illinois. The Green Bay road was marked 
 by stakes and blazed trees, and the streams were 
 spanned by puncheon bridges. Ouilmette, 
 Kinzie's old French voyageur, lived at Gross 
 Point (now Willmette, and why doesn't the 
 town restore its historic spelling?). Waukegan 
 was not settled, but Kenosha then called South- 
 port had been platted. At Eacine was simply 
 a log bridge over Boot river. Milwaukee had 
 four hundred inhabitants ' ' three hundred ninety- 
 three men and seven women" as the Sentinel of 
 1836 dolefully confessed, but it aspired to rival 
 Chicago. 
 
 Chicago river had begun to smell bad, for 
 there were soap and candle and oil works, 
 slaughter houses, and a tannery along its banks. 
 And it was noisy with its vessels discharging 
 on the wharves, its brick and lumber yards, its 
 grist and saw mills, its plow works and wagon 
 shop, its smelting furnace and foundry. The 
 place began to take on metropolitan airs, al- 
 though the mud was deep and pigs and cows 
 ran at large; the bridge gave way to the 
 primitive ferry-boats, and water was peddled 
 from house to house in carts. But people could 
 no longer throw things into the river, push stove 
 pipes through board walls, or carry borrowed 
 fire through the streets in shovels, for now there 
 were ordinances. 
 
 Illinois and Michigan Canal Begun. Such was 
 the Chicago of 1836 when, in December, Fort 
 Dearborn was evacuated for the last time by 
 United States troops. On July 4 of that year 
 Chicago had its last gala day for a whole decade, 
 for hard times trod on the heels of the boom. 
 On that day work was actually begun on the 
 Illinois and Michigan canal. The town was 
 awakened by three cannon shots from the fort. 
 Citizens and invited guests assembled on the 
 public square where there was then a one-story 
 and basement brick courthouse with a Greek 
 portico, a log jail, and an engine house. 
 
 At eleven o'clock the steamer Chicago that 
 had got through the Dearborn street drawbridge, 
 gaily decorated with flags and bunting, was in- 
 vaded by cheering crowds. A procession of 
 watercraft moved down stream, towed by horses. 
 There were no tugboats in those days. The land 
 procession went out by way of the new Archer 
 road to the new house of the canal commission- 
 ers on Canal port. After a lot of speech making, 
 Colonel Archer, of Lockport, turned out the first 
 spadeful of earth and the canal was begun. 
 
 But the canal was no sooner begun than the 
 panic broke over the West. In order to under- 
 stand both the extraordinary speculative fever 
 
 which swept the country in '35 and '36 and the 
 panic which followed in '37, one must under- 
 stand the peculiar financial situation. 
 
 President Jackson had been reflected in 1832 
 under pledge to destroy the United States bank, 
 whose charter was to expire in 1836. Jackson 
 believed that state banks would develop the 
 south and west more rapidly, and it was the 
 policy of the administration to favor the estab- 
 lishment of state banks. In 1833 he instructed 
 the secretary of the treasury to deposit all 
 public moneys in state banks. 
 
 Jackson and the Banking System. State 
 banks immediately multiplied. Illinois re- 
 chartered its state bank at Shawneetown and 
 established six branches. One of these was at 
 Chicago, where the need of a bank was becom- 
 ing urgent. Chicago's first bank was open and 
 ready for business on the corner of La Salle and 
 South Water streets in December, 1835, and be- 
 gan to do an enormous business, one firm alone 
 depositing $700 a day. This was just at the 
 height of the craze for speculation in land. 
 
 After having made the system of state banks 
 possible, President Jackson apparently became 
 afraid of the flood of state bank notes which 
 appeared, since few of them were redeemable 
 in gold or silver. He directed the land offices 
 of the government to accept only specie in pay- 
 ment for claims. Gold and silver were, in con- 
 sequence, withdrawn from the East by emigrants 
 seeking homesteads in the West. The eastern 
 banks became crippled, while the West was 
 
 FIRST COOK COUNTY COURTHOUSE. 
 
 flooded with good money from the government 
 deposits. 
 
 Since banks can make money only by loaning 
 it, this specie was loaned out at low rate. Every 
 business man in Chicago borrowed money to 
 speculate in land, for money was cheap and 
 land values were soaring. For the chance to 
 grow rich in a year, the hardest-headed men 
 risked everything they had. In the town that 
 numbered but 4,000 one firm reported trans- 
 actions in real estate amounting to $1,800,000 
 in ten months, and this represented but a frac- 
 tion of the total dealings in land. The sale of 
 public lands here, and throughout the South 
 
 56
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 and West, was of such vast proportions that the 
 public debt was wiped out and the government 
 had $50,000,000 surplus. 
 
 Whenever the government accumulates a sur- 
 plus the public always clamors to have some- 
 thing done with it. People abhor idle money 
 as nature abhors a vacuum; they want it back, 
 in one form or another. In this instance it was 
 decided to call in this surplus, which was on 
 deposit in the state banks, and to distribute it 
 pro rata among the state treasuries, to be spent 
 on public improvements. So large a sum as 
 $50,000,000 could not be withdrawn from the 
 banks all at once without creating a scarcity of 
 money. The government refused to accept any- 
 thing from the banks but the gold and silver 
 it had deposited, thus repudiating the notes of 
 the state banks it had called into existence. 
 Eastern banks went down with a crash, for the 
 gold and silver were in the West; mills and 
 factories closed; mercantile houses failed; 
 laborers were thrown out of employment; there 
 were bread riots in New York city! 
 
 The Panic of '37. It was not believed that 
 the West would suffer from the money crisis 
 in the East, for there was no such intimate 
 connection between the two sections, in busi- 
 ness and finance, as there is today. There was 
 plenty of paper money, such as it was, even 
 after the government specie deposite were with- 
 drawn, and the panic might have been delayed 
 had not congress, in July, 1836, passed a law 
 which prohibited, "wildcat" banking; that is, 
 the issuing of irredeemable paper money. This 
 law came into force just at the time when the 
 government had its specie safe in Washington, 
 and when prices of land and every necessity 
 of life had been inflated to double the amount 
 of all the gold and silver in circulation. Joseph 
 N. Balestier, a resident of the town at the 
 time, has described the plight of Chicago: 
 
 The year 1837 will ever be remembered as 
 the era of protested notes the year of wrath 
 to mercantile, producing, and laboring interests. 
 Misery and despair were stamped on all counte- 
 nances. Broken fortunes, blasted hopes, aye, 
 and blighted reputations, were the legitimate 
 offspring of those pestilential times. The land 
 resounded with the groans of ruined men and 
 sobs of defrauded women. It was a scene of 
 woe and desolation. Trusting to the large sums 
 due him, the land speculator involved himself 
 more deeply until his fate was as pitiable as 
 that of his defrauded dupes. Firms and in- 
 dividuals went into bankruptcy, values melted 
 like snow. Real as well as paper fortunes, 
 vanished; nothing remained but debt and 
 disaster. 
 
 The last act of this financial tragedy now 
 began. People cried out that there was bound- 
 less wealth in the soil of Illinois, that needed 
 only people to dig it out. Under the' popular 
 clamor the Illinois legislature, as did the law- 
 
 making bodies of many states, in the absenor 
 of a general banking law, projected its own 
 banking system, based wholly on state credit. 
 The state needed population; to get population 
 quickly it must build roads, railroads, and 
 canals, and improve the navigation of rivers. 
 To do this it must have money. To get money 
 state bonds were issued and offered for sale. In 
 an act of the Illinois legislature passed in Feb- 
 ruary, 1837, an appropriation of over $10,000,- 
 000 was made for public improvements. 
 
 State bonds to this amount were deposited in 
 the banks. These formed a large part of the 
 capital of the state bank and its branches. It 
 was expected that the improvements would, in 
 tolls and increased taxable value of property, 
 soon bring in money to meet the interest on 
 the bonds and, finally, to pay off the loans as 
 they fell due. In a word, the state had mort- 
 gaged its credit. Unfortunately, the bankrupt 
 public had little money to invest in bonds, and 
 the state 's ability to meet its obligations was 
 doubted. Population did not come in. Between 
 1837 and 1840 emigration and land sales fell 
 off to a small fraction, because of the hard 
 times. 
 
 The value of the state bonds fell away below 
 par and even then found no investors. The 
 bank notes that had been issued on the bonds 
 soon became "wildcat." No one would take 
 them in exchange for specie, and gold and silver 
 went completely out of circulation. 
 
 One Expedient Bred Another. To this "wild- 
 cat ' ' money based on the worthless bonds of 
 Illinois was added "scrip." Now "scrip" is 
 nothing more or less than an unsecured promise 
 to pay. Its value depends wholly on the hon- 
 esty and ability to pay of the person or corpora- 
 tion which issues it. When money was not forth- 
 coming from the sale of state bonds to pay the 
 contractors who were building the railroads and 
 digging the canal, the state issued certificates 
 of indebtedness called "scrip." The con- 
 tractors, in turn, having no cash, issued their 
 "scrip" on the state "scrip" to their laborers. 
 That is, the contractor's promise to pay read 
 something like this: "I promise to pay this 
 'scrip' when the state pays me on its 'scrip.' " 
 The laborers made all their purchases in the 
 towns with this "scrip." It was not long be- 
 fore firm and individuals were issuing "scrip" 
 of their own. The honorable John Wentworth, 
 "Long John," who was editing the Chicago 
 Democrat at the time, has described Chicago's 
 peculiar financial condition in 1837 and 1838: 
 
 The town came to be flooded with little tickets 
 which read: "Good for one loaf of bread;" 
 "good for a shave;" "good for a meal." 
 These certificates of indebtedness passed with- 
 out question, locally, and the people feit no 
 need of real money except when a note fell 
 due at the bank or they wanted postage stamps. 
 It cost twenty-five cents to send a letter to 
 
 57
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 New York and it was felt to be a hardship 
 when the postoffice put up a sign: "No credit; 
 no scrip." Still there were stout defenders of 
 "wildcat" and the government was roundly 
 denounced. Some wag proposed to use Indian 
 'wampum for money until the state had dis- 
 posed of its bonds for real money. Then mer- 
 chants began to over-issue scrip as the state 
 had over-issued bonds. The barber had too 
 many shaves out; the baker more loaves, on 
 paper, then he could deliver. 
 
 President Jackson was gaining wisdom in 
 
 finance at the expense of a long-suffering public. 
 In 1839 he gave the death blow to the state 
 banks by refusing to deposit public money in 
 banks whose notes were not redeemable in 
 specie. The state bank notes of Illinois, based 
 as they were on state bonds, were thus offi- 
 cially declared to be unworthy of public credit. 
 The state bank of Illinois collapsed like a house 
 of cards. For two years Chicago and Illinois 
 had tried every desperate expedient to stave 
 off the panic, but now public a/id private enter- 
 prises and credit went down together in over- 
 whelming ruiu. 
 
 CHAPTER Vin. 
 
 Development of Transportation. (1840-1860.) 
 
 Results of the Panic. The year 1840 found 
 Chicago, which had been incorporated as a city 
 in 1837, stagnant as a pond. Emigration had 
 stopped; a network of unfinished and abandoned 
 railroads covered the state of Illinois. Work 
 on the Illinois and Michigan canal was still 
 going on, on a "scrip" basis, but was to cease 
 altogether with the legal death of the state 
 bank in 1843. With the panic speculators had 
 fled from Chicago like rats from a leaky ship. 
 Land sales had all but stopped. The hotels 
 were emptied of guests and the streets deserted. 
 Business had vanished like smoke, leaving 
 4,000 ambitious, resourceful people stranded 
 amid the wreck of their fortunes and without 
 any outlet for their energies, after four years 
 of feverish activity and intoxicating prosperity. 
 The people were first dazed, then angry, then 
 desperate, at this turn of fortune's wheel. There 
 were fewer than a million people in the state 
 of Illinois, while the bonded state debt was 
 over $6,000,000. To meet the interest taxes 
 must be kept up to boom-day figures, while the 
 value of property had fallen to a fraction of 
 what it had cost. A man might have paid 
 $100,000 for a block of land, half cash, the 
 balance secured by notes. When the financial 
 panic came this land fell to $5,000 in value, 
 while he still owed $50,000 on it and the land 
 continued to be assessed at its cost price. When 
 the outstanding notes fell due he must go into 
 bankruptcy or complete his ruin by meeting 
 them. The state did pass a special bankrupt 
 law to relieve such cases and to give honest 
 men a chance to begin life over again. Many 
 men kept their homes only because no buyers 
 appeared when the property was advertised for 
 sale for delinquent taxes. 
 
 In this desperate state of affairs there arose 
 a cry in the city and all over the state, for 
 repudiation of the public debt to relieve the 
 people of burdensome taxes. A mass-meeting 
 was called in Chicago to urge this measure. 
 Scarcely any one had the courage to resist the 
 popular clamor. All honor then to William B. 
 
 Ogden, who had been elected Chicago's first 
 mayor in 1837, for a speech which, for its effect 
 on the public, should be ranked among the great 
 orations. This speech unfortunately was not 
 preserved, and only its import can be given: 
 
 "No misfortune is so great as personal dis- 
 honor; there is no blot on the escutcheon of a 
 state or a city so ineradicable as repudiation of 
 public debt. Do not dishonor yourselves and 
 our city. Eemember that many a fortress has 
 
 \VILLIAM Ft. OGDEN. 
 Chicago's First Mayor. 
 
 been saved by the courage of the garrison in 
 concealing its weakness. Hard times pass by 
 waiting. Loss of fortune may be repaired by 
 industry and courage, but dishonor is a stum- 
 bling-block to self-respect and the confidence of 
 the world. I have suffered loss with you, but 
 I hope I have lost nothing but my money. ' ' 
 
 Cheers greeted this speech, which strengthened 
 the faint-hearted. They knew Mr. Ogden had 
 courage, honor, resource, confidence in himself 
 and in the future of Chicago. 
 
 58
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Mr. Ogden reminded the people that Chicago's 
 prosperity had been, in a measure, fictitious. 
 It had fattened on what had been brought in 
 by speculators and emigrants. It had bought, 
 bought, bought of the East, and had nothing 
 of its own to sell. The farming land behind 
 Chicago could feed the world, but the farmer 
 fifty miles away did not raise grain because he 
 could not get it to the market. In a few years 
 emigration must begin again, and the farmer 
 must have transportation facilities. He declared 
 in effect: 
 
 "We must build plank roads. That is the 
 business of the city and of the county. 
 
 ' ' We must have the river and harbor im- 
 proved to accommodate more shipping. That is 
 the business of the government. 
 
 "We must finish the canal. The state can- 
 not do it, for so long as it cannot pay the in- 
 terest on the bonds now outstanding it has no 
 credit. We must build that canal ourselves. 
 It will cost only a million or so." 
 
 Here Was the Chicago Spirit. Up again and 
 doing; no time for repining. The truth is that 
 the young city had a group of wonderful men, 
 of which William B. Ogden stood at the head, 
 the most courageous and resourceful. It had 
 the Hon. John Wentworth in Washington, the 
 first congressman ever sent from territory bor- 
 dering on Lake Michigan, and a greater curiosity 
 there than a congressman from the Philippines 
 would be today. Like a veteran law-maker he 
 was battering at the gate of the government to 
 get Chicago harbor and the channel of the Chi- 
 cago and Illinois rivers improved. 
 
 And Chicago, to its lasting gratitude, had that 
 shrewd and honest Scotchman, the private bank- 
 er, George Smith. It was to be 1851 before 
 Illinois was again to establish a new banking 
 system. For ten years business was to be con- 
 ducted with the currency of other states that 
 had established specie payment, and with private 
 issues of banks not authorized to issue money 
 at all. The entire commercial structure rested 
 for a decade largely on the personal honor of 
 a few private bankers, of whom George Smith 
 was a type. 
 
 Mr. Smith represented, in Chicago, the Wis- 
 consin Marine and Fire Insurance company of 
 Milwaukee, which by its charter, was specifially 
 forbidden to engage in banking or to issue bank 
 notes. George Smith did not issue notes, but 
 simply certificates of deposit, which circulated 
 at their face value, because every dollar issued 
 stood for a dollar in gold or silver that had 
 been intrusted to Mr. Smith, and could be ex- 
 changed for specie any day. By 1850, he had 
 $1,000,000 in the certificates in circulation. As 
 one chronicler says: "These illegal bills issued 
 honestly, and honestly redeemed, drove out of 
 circulation the legally issued state bank bills, 
 which the state was unable to redeem." 
 
 It would be impossible here to give a com- 
 
 plete list of the men who pulled Chicago up oat 
 of the Slough of Despair and set her feet se- 
 curely on the road to fortune. Indeed, it was 
 with a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all 
 together, that Chicago's citizens set about the 
 work. Everybody went doggedly at the near- 
 est task to make a living, to get through the 
 hard times, and to get ready for the more 
 prosperous future. Many who were completely 
 ruined went away. Professional men removed 
 to farms they had pre-empted. John Dean Caton, 
 to be a judge on the bench in a few years, was 
 one of these. Broken in fortune and in health, 
 he turned, temporarily, to the plow, cultivating 
 a farm at Plainfield for three years, until health 
 was restored and there was money to be made 
 again in the law business. 
 
 The "Garden City" and 
 How It Grew. Chicago 
 itself began to draw on 
 that old bank, Mother 
 Earth, that never yet re- 
 fused to honor the drafts of 
 labor, as Governor Reynolds 
 has so quaintly _said of Mis- 
 sissippi Bubble days. Mr. 
 Ogden set the example of 
 spending his time of en- 
 forced idleness in improv- 
 ing his depreciated real es- 
 tate, laying sidewalks, 
 building fences, and setting 
 out shade and orchard 
 trees. It did not cost much 
 to live with flour at three 
 dollars a barrel (in boom 
 days it had been twenty- 
 eight), wood at two dollars 
 a cord and board at hotels 
 two dollars a week. A very 
 little money could be made 
 to go a long way if the gar- 
 den were cultivated and the 
 men caught fish and shot game, which was still 
 abundant on the prairie. Men no longer boasted 
 of the rising value of their lots, but of the 
 yield of their orchards and potato patches. In 
 a few years Chicago bloomed like the rose and 
 earned its name, "Garden City." 
 
 In 1841 a thin stream of migration began to 
 trickle through Chicago and the city added one 
 thousand to its population. By 1843 there were 
 7,580 people here. Many men resumed business 
 in smaller stores, with smaller stocks of goods. 
 Caution had been learned, but caution with 
 boldness. Work on the canal had finally ceased, 
 but no sooner were the tools laid down than 
 Mr. Ogden had his plan for resuming work. He 
 proposed that the holders of state bonds, whose 
 money had already been sunk in the canal, 
 should themselves furnish the money to complete 
 the waterway and make it profitable. The re- 
 payment of money so advanced was to be se- 
 cured by the revenues from canal tolls and the 
 
 John L. Wentworth 
 
 (Long John), 
 Chicago's First Con- 
 gressman. 
 
 59
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 sale of canal lots. The first step to be taken 
 was to get the state legislature to authorize 
 such a plan. This was done in the winter of 
 1843 by the passage of a carefully drafted bill. 
 Two years' hard work lay ahead of the Chi- 
 cago promoters of this scheme. Of the $5,000,- 
 000 worth of bonds only $1,000,000 were held in 
 Chicago, the rest being held in New York and 
 London. The Chicago men agreed to furnish 
 their quota, 20 per cent of the sum required for 
 
 MAP SHOWING CHICAGO'S TRANSPORTATION 
 LINES IN 1850. 
 
 the completion of the work. A committee rep- 
 resenting the Chicago, New York, and London 
 interests went over the route of the canal with 
 engineers and expert accountants, examining ex- 
 cavations, levels, locks, dams, and making cal- 
 culations of the work done, and to be done, be- 
 fore a boat could go through. Estimates were 
 made that it would cost $1,600,000 to complete 
 the canal, build pumping works to maintain the 
 water level over the ridge at Summit, and that 
 three years would be required for the work. 
 
 Elaborate reports were drawn up and sub- 
 mitted to the foreign bondholders. After an- 
 other tedious delay and with many misgivings 
 on -the part of the foreign bondholders the re- 
 quired sum was subscribed and work was re- 
 sumed in 1845. While the work progressed 
 through engineering difficulties, sickness among 
 laborers, and strikes, Mr. Ogden was looking 
 about for more worlds to conquer, in the shape 
 of other means of transportation for Chicago. 
 
 Public sympathy had been with the promoters 
 of the canal. Water was still the main depend- 
 ence for transporting goods and people long dis- 
 tances. Chicago business men were entirely sat- 
 
 isfied with the lake route to New York, and in- 
 different to the railway lines that were being 
 pushed westward. When, in the late '40s, the 
 Michigan Central was completed to New Buf- 
 falo, just around the end of Lake Michigan from 
 Chicago, passengers found it convenient in sum- 
 mer to use a combined lake and rail route to 
 New York. The general demand, however, was 
 for the plank road, "the poor man's railroad," 
 free to everybody and running to every farmer 's 
 barn door. 
 
 Grain Growing Waited for Good Roads. The 
 packing business was in a flourishing condition, 
 but grain came in slowly. Why was this? It 
 was because cattle and hogs could be driven in 
 for a hundred or more miles over any kind of 
 road, or none at all, foraging on the way, and at 
 little expense. But wheat and corn could be 
 brought only in wagons. The roads were bad 
 and the journey slow, tedious, and expensive, 
 for food and shelter had to be provided at night 
 for animals and dry goods. Fifty miles was 
 the limit from which grain could be profitably 
 brought to Chicago and supplies carried back. 
 
 The first plank road was laid out on the stage- 
 road route to Brush Hill, a distance of sixteen 
 miles, in 1840. This was the old Indian trail 
 and portage followed by Marquette, to be fol- 
 lowed later by canal and railway lines. The In- 
 dians in their trails laid out our earliest arteries 
 of trade, and expert engineers of today have, in 
 the main, followed their lead. This Southwest- 
 ern plank road was afterward extended to Naper- 
 ville. 
 
 The Northwestern plank road followed the 
 North branch out Milwaukee avenue to Dutch- 
 man's Point and crossed by the old Indian port- 
 age to the Desplaines. The Western plank road 
 ran to Elgin. By 1850 there were nearly ninety 
 miles of plank roads running out of Chicago over 
 which farm wagons could be driven rapidly, at 
 all seasons of the year. In 1848 there were said 
 to have been 70,000 wagon loads of produce 
 brought into Chicago over these roads, an aver- 
 age of two hundred a day for every working day 
 in the year. 
 
 A permanent encampment of farmers, with 
 their horses and caravans, was maintained on 
 the Fort Dearborn reservation lots that had not 
 been sold. This was on the lake shore where 
 the Illinois Central suburban station now stands 
 at the foot of Randolph and Lake streets, and 
 westward to the Rush street bridge. Retail 
 business flourished, for the farmers bought here 
 all their supplies, lumber, hardware, farm tools, 
 and machinery, groceries, dry goods, furniture, 
 wagons, seeds, and salt for stock and the curing 
 of meat. The volume of retail business of Chi- 
 cago in the '40s and early '50s was far in ex- 
 cess of the needs of its own population. Plank 
 roads continued to be built all through the '50s 
 and played an important part in the develop- 
 ment of the city. 
 
 60
 
 THE STOKY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 When, therefore, Mr. Ogden proposed to build 
 a railroad, in 1846, he was greeted with a storm 
 of opposition in Chicago. The newspapers were 
 filled with protests from citizens who declared 
 that railroads would ruin trade, for little towns 
 would spring up along the lines and farmers 
 would no longer come to Chicago. To this argu- 
 ment even the promoters seem to have had no 
 answer ready, for a railroad was an experiment 
 at best, and no one had quite figured out what 
 the consequences of building one were to be. 
 
 VESTIGES OF THE CANAL PORT. 
 
 In 1836, at the height of the boom, a charter 
 had been granted to the Galena and Chicago 
 Union railway company. In the name of the 
 proposed road, Galena had been given priority 
 over Chicago because it was much older and 
 more important. Work was actually begun in 
 Chicago, piles being driven and stringers laid out 
 West Madison street. Grading a roadbed across 
 the low prairie, that was much of the time under 
 water, was not considered feasible. With the 
 coming of the financial panic of 1837 this road, 
 with a dozen others in the state, was abandoned 
 and all but forgotten. 
 
 How Chicago's First Eailway Was Promoted. 
 Mr. Ogden proposed to acquire the charter of 
 this road and to connect Lake Michigan and the 
 Mississippi by rail. In the winter of 1846 a 
 railroad convention was held at Eockford, the 
 halfway station on the proposed line, to effect 
 an organization. William B. Ogden, J. Young 
 Scammon, William H. Brown, and Isaac M. Ar- 
 nold, of Chicago, were there with delegates from 
 Galena, Freeport, Dixon, and Elgin. In the face 
 of bitter opposition from the stage-coach set- 
 tlements, which feared the ruin of the tavern 
 business and markets for horses, the company 
 was organized and directors elected. The char- 
 ter was transferred to the new company and the 
 real work began. 
 
 Mr. Ogden and Mr. Scammon went over the 
 entire route from Chicago to Galena in carriages, 
 investigating conditions and soliciting subscrip- 
 tions to stock. Chicago merchants had so little 
 sympathy with the scheme that they contributed 
 only $20,000 to it. In the country, however, the 
 farmers, both on the plank road and beyond it, 
 received the committee with delight. They knew 
 what it was to haul wheat to Chicago, count 
 their small profit and wonder if. under present 
 
 conditions, all this plowing, sowing, reaping and 
 journeying were worth while. 
 
 Mr. Ogden was in his element, having heart- 
 to-heart talks with pioneers in cabins and mak- 
 ing speeches in crowded log schoolhouses. Farm- 
 ers subscribed for stock, often for only one 
 share, and 'even when compelled to borrow the 
 first installment of $2.50 till after harvest. Farm- 
 ers' wives contributed their butter and egg 
 money to the enterprise. 
 
 Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars' worth 
 of stock was sold to the farmer, of northern 
 Illinois, to be paid for from month to month on 
 the installment plan. Mr. Ogden himself mar- 
 veled at the result, for only two and one-half 
 per cent of all the land tributary to the road 
 was under cultivation. Such courage buoyed 
 him up for his gigantic task. Three hundred 
 and sixty-three thousand dollars' worth of stock 
 was sold all together, and a small loan secured in 
 New York, to add to the first two installments 
 that had been paid in as a working fund. 
 
 With something over $20,000 in the treasury 
 the first grade peg for the road was set near the 
 corner of Kinzie and Halstcd, then the western 
 limits of the city. Although a member of the 
 city council, Mr. Ogden was unable to secure the 
 passage of an ordinance permitting the road to 
 enter the city, such was the opposition to it. 
 
 It did not take much money in those days to 
 build a railroad across the prairies of Illinois; 
 but it took more courage and faith and perse- 
 verance and financial ability to build the first 
 forty miles out of Chicago than it did a genera- 
 tion later to push a railroad to the Pacific Ocean. 
 The work was done with the utmost economy, 
 the bed simply being graded up from dirt dug 
 from ditches at either side. Such things as sid- 
 ings, turn-tables, and station-houses were not to 
 be thought of. 
 
 Once a loan was sought in the East. ' ' A rail- 
 road west of Lake Michigan I Madness!" ex- 
 claimed a New York banker. "Twelve per cent 
 in prospect! I can get seven per cent on safe 
 investments in New York." 
 
 In one way and another the roadbed was 
 graded out to the Desplaines river ten miles to 
 the west. Now came the question of rails and 
 rolling stock. A quantity of old strap rails, two 
 little second-hand passenger cars, six freight 
 cars and two engines, were offered the company 
 for $150,000 on five years' credit if the directors 
 would give their personal notes as security. Mr. 
 George Smith, the Scotch banker, loaned $20,000 
 on Mr. Scammon 's personal note, so little did 
 he believe in the new road, although himself a 
 director in the company and anxious to have 
 tho enterprise succeed. The city council gave 
 grudging permission to lay a temporary track to 
 the North branch so the rolling stock could be 
 conveyed to the road. 
 
 61
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 The First Train out of Chicago: November 
 20, 1848, the board of directors, a number of 
 stockholders, and several editors of city papers, 
 boarded the rough cars for a "flying trip" to 
 the Desplaines river behind what is known to 
 fame as the "Pioneer" engine. On the return 
 trip a wagon-load of wheat was brought to 
 Chicago. 
 
 "PIONEER" ENGINE, 1848. 
 
 A week later, the business men of Chicago 
 were electrified by the announcement that over 
 thirty loads were at the Desplaines river await- 
 ing shipment, and wheat-buyers were informed 
 that they must secure their wheat at Desplaines 
 river instead of at the Eandolph street bridge. 
 In the first year, this road earned $2,000 a month; 
 in the second, $9,000. By January, 1850, the 
 road had been completed to Elgin, forty miles 
 away. It then had sixteen locomotives, forty- 
 one passenger cars, twenty-two baggage cars, 
 860 freight cars, 122 flat cars, 134 gravel cars, 
 and a pay car. Soon the road was paying 10, 
 12 and 16 per cent dividends semi-annually. 
 Before it had got half way to Galena its stock 
 had gone up to 140 and there was very little 
 for sale at any price. 
 
 For the first year passengers got on and off 
 the ears from the open prairie at Kinzie and 
 Halsted streets, where there was simply a shed 
 to shelter the engines. In 1849 the road was 
 permitted to enter the city, and 
 built the first wooden depot at 
 West Kinzie and Canal. In 
 1851 it finished its drawbridge 
 across the North branch and 
 built a depot at Kinzie and 
 Wells, where the Northwestern 
 station stands today. The road 
 was pushed steadily westward, 
 reaching Elgin in 1850, Belvi- 
 dere in 1852, Freeport in 1853, 
 Dixon in 1854 and Galena in 
 1855. This line became the 
 
 nucleus of the great North- 
 
 railway system of OLD GALENA DEPOT. 
 
 To say that Chicago was wild with joy would 
 be putting the fact mildly. This canal, on which 
 Joliet and La Salle had made a report one hun- 
 dred and seventy-five years before, that had been 
 advocated by territorial, state, and national gov- 
 ernments, had required twelve years and $7,000,- 
 000 for its actual construction. The first year 
 demonstrated its usefulness, for it collected 
 $87,000 in tolls or twelve and one-half per cent 
 on the capital invested. Laborers along the line 
 became homesteaders. Land rose in value and 
 immigration rapidly filled up the valley of the 
 Illinois. There was immediate talk of widening 
 and deepening the waterway to a ship-canal so 
 that ocean-going vessels could steam from the 
 Mississippi to London through New York and 
 Montreal. Canada had the Welland canal well 
 under way around Niagara falls, and was dig- 
 ging another around the La Chine rapids in the 
 St. Lawrence. The world was engaged in new 
 solutions of the problems of rapid transportation. 
 The first vessel was to clear from Chicago for 
 Europe in 1856. 
 
 Lake craft had undergone some striking 
 changes to meet the new demands of traffic. Side- 
 wheel steamers were giving place to propellers. 
 By 1850 there were twenty propellers on Lake 
 Michigan, beside schooners, barks, brigs, and 
 side-wheelers. In 1853, a daily line of boats was 
 running to Milwaukee, and weekly trips were 
 made to the Sault Ste. Marie in the season. 
 
 River and harbor improvements, however, 
 were not kept up to the requirements of trade. 
 Small appropriations were doled out by the gov- 
 ernment, work was planned, begun, and left 
 unfinished. Piers rotted and a dangerous sand- 
 bar formed in the channel. A steam dredge was 
 needed to deepen the river for the boats of 
 heavier draft then used. 
 
 western 
 today. 
 
 Illinois and Michigan Canal Opened: On the 
 16th of April, 1848, seven months before the first 
 train ran out of Chicago, the Illinois and Mich- 
 igan canal was formally opened at Lockport. 
 A week later the "General Thornton" came 
 through from New Orleans with a cargo of sugar 
 for Buffalo, where it arrived two weeks sooner 
 than a boat that had made the voyage by way 
 of New York and the Erie canal. 
 
 (At Kinzie and Canal Streets.) 
 
 Congressman Wentworth had exhausted both 
 eloquence and patience in four years' untiring 
 work at Washington. Jackson, the friend of 
 internal improvements, was dead, and Polk car- 
 ried his indifference to the needs of the West so 
 far as to veto appropriations for improvements 
 in Chicago harbor and river. Exasperated by 
 all this Mr. Wentworth organized a monster in- 
 dignation meeting to be held at Chicago.
 
 THE STOKY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 River and Harbor Convention: This was held 
 in July, 1847. Delegates from eighteen out of 
 twenty-nine states were present, and Illinois was 
 represented from thirty-five counties. Among 
 the delegates was Congressman Abraham Lincoln 
 from Springfield, but he took no prominent part 
 in the discussions and gave no evidence of his 
 future greatness. 
 
 An immense tent had been raised on the pub- 
 lic square and 20,000 people listened to the 
 speeches. The convention was a direct and 
 national protest against the attitude of the ad- 
 ministration toward the West. Little came of 
 it; it was five years before an appropriation was 
 secured for Chicago harbor and that was in- 
 adequate. Chicago herself dredged the river, 
 while the government built a new lighthouse and 
 a marine hospital. 
 
 But the convention served to advertise the 
 city widely. From eighteen states leading men 
 had come and spied out the richness of the land. 
 By 1848 Chicago had grown 
 to 20,000 in population, the 
 canal was open, and ten miles 
 of railway were in operation. 
 It no longer seemed like mad- 
 ness to build railroads west of 
 Lake Michigan. The time 
 was ripe for eastern capital- 
 ists to take up seriously the 
 idea of constructing the Illi- 
 nois Central railroad. 
 
 For many years Chicago had 
 realized that its trade was 
 purely local. The government 
 not only favored the East, but 
 the state of Illinois favored 
 Kaskaskia and Galena on the 
 Mississippi, and even St. 
 Louis, rather than the city on 
 the lake. This was natural, 
 for from 1785 to 1835 migra- 
 tion was into and through the 
 southern part of the state, as 
 has been explained before. At 
 the time of the admission of 
 Illinois to the Union, 1818, 
 Kaskaskia was the center of 
 population, which was massed 
 along the Mississippi, the (The' 
 
 Ohio, and the Okaw rivers. It 
 became, therefore, the first capital. Then Van- 
 dalia on the Okaw, was chosen for its central 
 position. Finally Springfield on the Sangamon 
 was selected as the seat of state government, 
 although it was thought to be pretty far north. 
 All of these towns, as well as Galena, had direct 
 water communication with St. Louis. For all 
 purposes of trade they were nearer New Or- 
 leans than Chicago. 
 
 Chicago off Main Artery of Trade. When, 
 therefore, the Illinois "state wagon road was 
 laid out, it ran from Vincennes, Ind., to Cahokia, 
 just below St. Louis. The first plank road from 
 Springfield ran to the Mississippi. Even the 
 
 canal, from the head of navigation on the Illi- 
 nois river to Lake Michigan, was thought of as 
 an outlet to the East for St. Louis and southern 
 Illinois river towns. Kaskaskia and Galena were 
 thought of, and with good cause, as rivals of 
 St. Louis, rather than Chicago. The trade of 
 all but the northeastern corner of Illinois drifted 
 steadily riverward, only eastward-bound through 
 freight, and some local freight, going via Chi- 
 cago, after the canal was opened. 
 
 Chicago knew this and was doing some hard 
 thinking on the question of how it was to get 
 the trade of central Illinois. Among the men 
 here was Stephen A. Douglas, the "Little 
 Giant, " as he was called. He was then repre- 
 senting Illinois in the United States senate, and 
 his associate was Judge Sidney Breese, who has 
 been called the father of the Illinois Central. 
 
 As early as 1839 Judge Breese had conceived 
 the idea of a north and south line that should 
 connect Cairo with Galena. Hara tiraas had 
 
 RUSH STREET BRIDGE TODAY. 
 
 X marks former site of Fort Dearborn.) 
 
 caused the project to be abandoned. To the 
 original scheme, Senator Douglas now added the 
 idea of running the main line to the Illinois 
 river, straight up from Cairo, and then branching 
 to Galena and Chicago. 
 
 The road was to be called the Illinois Central, 
 but the public immediately nicknamed it the 
 ' ' St. Louis Cut Off. ' ' It was instantly apparent 
 that such a railway system would divert trade 
 from the great river town to Cairo, Chicago, and 
 Galena. Upon none of these had St. Louis ever 
 looked as a possible rival. 
 
 63
 
 THE STOEY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Ill Wind to Kaskaskia Blows Good to Chicago: 
 Impetus was probably given to the project by 
 the partial destruction of Kaskaskia. In 1844 
 this historic town had grown to 10,000 in popu- 
 lation, and its people drew wealth from the river 
 trade. The first great flood of the Mississippi 
 swept right across the low-lying town and left 
 it a ruin. Business and wealth fled to St. Louis, 
 and Illinois lost her river metropolis. Flood 
 after flood has rolled over it since, and com- 
 pleted the desolation. There are today a dilapi- 
 dated village on the site and a few historic 
 houses falling to decay, but in any June freshet 
 the last vestige of Illinois' earliest French set- 
 tlement may crumble into the flood. St. Louis, 
 Chicago, and Cairo have profited by Kaskaskia 's 
 destruction. 
 
 In a kind of resentment at this turn of for- 
 tune, southern Illinois turned her eyes and hopes 
 on Cairo. This feeling, in all probability, had 
 something to do with Judge Breese's revival of 
 interest in the Illinois Central road, for Judge 
 Breese was a southern Illinois man, with affec- 
 tion for old Kaskaskia. Douglas and Breese car- 
 ried the whole matter through the United States 
 senate in short order, securing to the Illinois 
 Central railway company a grant of 2,595,000 
 acres, besides a right of way 200 feet wide, in 
 a strip through the middle of the state of Illi- 
 nois. This was the first railroad land grant ever 
 made by the government and established a 
 precedent without which we must have waited 
 a generation or more for our great Pacific rail- 
 roads. 
 
 Illinois Central Railway Begun. The millions 
 needed for this stupendous undertaking of build- 
 ing 700 miles of railway through a sparsely 
 settled territory, were not as difficult to get as 
 the few thousands Mr. Ogden had required for 
 building the first ten miles of the Galena and 
 Chicago Union. The land granted had a re- 
 markable value, and $17,000,000 was borrowed on 
 2,000,000 acres. Mr. Roswell B. Mason was sent 
 out from Bridgeport, Conn., as chief engineer. 
 Fortunately this gentleman, who remained in 
 Chicago and served a term as mayor, has left full 
 details of the conditions under which the great 
 road was built. 
 
 His journey from New York to Chicago, by 
 water and rail, took five days. From Chicago 
 he proceeded to La Salle by packet boat over 
 the canal. Thence he rode in a light wagon, 
 over the route to Cairo, through Bloomington, 
 Clinton, Decatur, Vandalia, Eichview, and Jones- 
 boro. The towns were from twenty-five to sixty 
 miles apart. High water and cholera were both 
 in possession of Cairo, and Mr. Mason's stay was 
 brief since, as he says, "there was a very lively 
 prospect of being drowned." 
 
 Coming back, he returned to Chicago through 
 Urbana and found that, in 128 miles, there was 
 scarcely a settlement, fn just one month he 
 covered 800 miles. - Then he was off to Galena. 
 
 During the summer he mapped the entire road, 
 appointed engineers of construction in the divi- 
 sions, and gave his mind up to the problem of 
 how to get construction materials, food, clothing, 
 shelter, and medicines, to various points along 
 the line. New York, New Orleans, Cincinnati, 
 Pittsburg, St. Louis, and Chicago were drawn 
 upon. Everything was brought to the nearest 
 river points on flatboats. Often materials had to 
 be carried one hundred miles in wagons when 
 there were no roads, and men and teams had to 
 be imported. 
 
 The first part of the Illinois Central to be 
 completed was the section from the Calumet 
 river to Twenty-second street. In 1852 a tem- 
 porary station was built at Twelfth street. This 
 was for the accommodation of the Michigan 
 Central road, which had extended its line around 
 
 JUDGE SIDNEY BREESE. 
 "Father of the Illinois Central." 
 
 the end of the lake and used the Illinois Cen- 
 tral's right of way into Chicago. The Michigan 
 Central was thus the third railroad to run into 
 Chicago, the Lake Shore road preceding it by 
 two months and the Rock Island following it in 
 the autumn of the same year. 
 
 In 1850 the Illinois Central purchased of the 
 government for the sum of $45,000 all that was 
 left of Fort Dearborn reservation, thus securing 
 the site of its present suburban depot at the foot 
 of Eandolph and Lake streets. A few lots were 
 presented by the government to General Beau- 
 bien, who was still living. The old blockhouse 
 and the marine hospital were all of Chicago 's 
 famous fort that was left to the government, and 
 these were soon to be removed. 
 
 And now the railroad was not only to occupy 
 the reservation, but was to lay tracks along the 
 lake from Twelfth street to the north pier. We 
 often ask ourselves today how Chicago ever 
 
 64
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 came to give its front yard and shore line to be 
 disfigured by a railway. This is how it hap- 
 pened. 
 
 From the time the north pier was built in 
 1833, the southward current of the lake began 
 to deposit sand on the upper side, thus gradu- 
 ally extending the shore line north of the river. 
 Sweeping around the end of the pier, an eddy 
 was created south of the river mouth which ate 
 away the shore. A plank facing was made to 
 check the erosion, but the water encroached 
 steadily until it washed what is now Michigan 
 avenue. 
 
 Something had to be done. It was a question 
 of millions to save the shore line. Neither city 
 nor state could undertake the work and the gov- 
 ernment would not. 
 
 At this crisis, the Illinois Central, needing a 
 right of way to its land on the reservation, of- 
 fered to build track on piling, inside a stone crib 
 breakwater, across the shallow water. In 1852 
 
 SOUTH CLARK STREET IN 1857. 
 
 it was empowered by the state legislature to lay 
 tracks four hundred feet east of the west line of 
 Michigan avenue. The road spent $2,000,000 
 on that two-mile stretch of tracks. The shore 
 was saved and with it two miles of frontage on 
 Michigan avenue, now worth millions, and all 
 of the park strip from Randolph to Park row. 
 
 The work was completed in 1857, just as the 
 panic which preceded the Civil war broke over 
 the country. The Illinois Central almost went 
 under, with many other big, new enterprises that 
 were not yet on a secure footing. It was years 
 before it began to reap from the seed sown 
 along our lake front, but from that seed it has 
 now reaped a hundred fold. It has made much 
 land outside its original grant, and this has 
 been the cause of litigation in the courts be- 
 tween the city and the railway. 
 
 CHICAGO IN THE MEXICAN WAR. Although 
 party politics had much to do with the Mexican war, 
 the Democrats favoring it and their opponents claim- 
 ing the war was provoked to help the South extend 
 slavery, when the Democratic president called for 
 50,000 troops to go to Mexico, Chicago responded 
 promptly with two companies under Captain Lyman 
 
 When the track was run from Twelfth street 
 to Randolph, the rails were laid on piles sunk in 
 the shallow water. A lagoon lay between the 
 right of way and Michigan avenue which was 
 not entirely filled up until after the great Chi- 
 cago fire of 1871, when it furnished a convenient 
 dumping ground for the debris of the fire. 
 
 But now, in 1856, having got its tracks laid 
 in the reservation, the Illinois Central station 
 was built at Randolph street. It was of cut 
 stone, five hundred feet long and one hundred 
 and eighty feet wide, one of the wonders of the 
 West. At its north end along the river bank and 
 pier were the great grain elevators. 
 
 By 1856 the Illinois Central reached Cairo and 
 was earning $2,500,000 a year. Emigrants had 
 begun to pour into the railroad lands and the 
 wheat, corn, and live stock of southern Illinois 
 were seeking a market in Chicago. St. Louis had 
 been cut off from the trade of central Illinois, 
 which now sought Chicago and Cairo. 
 
 The story of the building of 
 but two roads is told here, be- 
 cause these two were typical 
 of conditions under which rail- 
 roads were built in the forties 
 and fifties. In the decade be- 
 tween 1848 to 1859, however, 
 the beginnings of ten trunk 
 lines running out of Chicago 
 were made. In 1850 the C., B. 
 & Q. road had ten miles in 
 operation between Aurora and 
 Turner Junction. By 1856 it 
 had reached the Mississippi at 
 Quincy. 
 
 In 1852 the first Michigan 
 Southern train ran into its 
 depot near Gurnee's tannery 
 on the South branch. This 
 road and the Rock Island 
 which was ready for business the same year, 
 caused South Clark street to be built up. The 
 Chicago and Alton reached Joliet in 1857, and 
 the Milwaukee and St. Paul connected our city 
 with Milwaukee in 1854. The Pittsburg, Fort 
 Wayne, and Chicago ran into Chicago in 1856. 
 By 1860 there were eleven trunk lines and 
 twenty branches running into Chicago, aggre- 
 gating 4,736 miles of tracks, with earnings of 
 $20,000,000 a year. The country has never seen 
 another such decade of railroad building. In 
 1857 the work of developing transportation 
 facilities was to receive a check; for the Civil 
 war which was to break out in 1860 cast its 
 shadow of hard times before, in the form of a 
 decline in value of the securities of southern 
 states which circulated largely in the northern 
 states. 
 
 Mower and Captain EHsha Wells. In 1847 another 
 company was formed. In these three companies we 
 find the names of some distinguished citizens, Murray 
 F. Tuley and Charles C. P. Holden being notable. 
 Other companies and scattered enlistments made up 
 Chicago's part of the 6,315 men enlisted from Illi- 
 nois.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 TWENTY YEARS' PROGRESS. 
 
 (1840-1860.) 
 
 Chicago a Squalid Town. To the young per- 
 son of today, who is accustomed to see the af- 
 fairs of even small towns and villages well or- 
 dered, it is hard to realize that 
 Chicago's physical condition re- 
 mained almost as primitive as a 
 disorderly barnyard, long after it 
 had become the metropolis of the 
 Northwest. 
 
 This was due, in part, to its lo- 
 cation on a marshy plain which 
 defied all ordinary methods of 
 drainage and paving. Health 
 laws and practical engineering 
 A FIRE BUCKET, were much less understood than 
 they are today. The idea, too, 
 that the good of one, in civic affairs, is the good 
 of all, had scarcely been heard of. 
 
 Here in Chicago, where growth of every sort 
 has been so rapid, the people would, undoubtedly, 
 have come around to this view earlier, had it not 
 been for the disastrous financial panic of 1837. 
 To talk of borrowing money in the forties for 
 civic improvements, would have been like wav- 
 ing a red rag at a bull. 
 
 There had been so much 
 public and private dishonesty 
 and self-seeking all over the 
 land, in boom days, that every 
 movement forward was eyed 
 suspiciously. The building of 
 the Galena and Chicago Union 
 railroad had been all but made 
 impossible by this feeling. 
 Each division of the city was 
 jealous of the other. The West 
 side naturally wanted to keep 
 the trade of the few farmers 
 on the prairies to the west, 
 and opposed the construction 
 of bridges across the South 
 branch. Farmers from the 
 Wabash river and the south 
 could reach South Water and 
 Lake streets without a bridge. 
 The merchants on the south 
 bank, therefore, viewed with complacency the 
 distress of North side warehouse men after the 
 Dearborn street drawbridge was cut down. North 
 
 side business men were compelled to raise $3,000 
 by subscription among themselves to build the 
 first floating swing bridge at Clark street, in 
 1840. 
 
 Governor Bross, in his reminiscences, de- 
 scribes this as a pontoon or raft bridge, resting 
 on the water, and operated by chains wound 
 on a capstan on the float end. As the level of 
 the town was only about two feet above the 
 water, such a bridge was easily reached by a 
 few steps leading down. By 1845 there were 
 similar bridges at Kinzie, Randolph and Wells. 
 They were described as dangerous nuisances, 
 and were execrated alike by townsmen and ves- 
 sel crews. The banks at either end were mud 
 holes. North side society continued to use the 
 ' ' parlor-car ferry ' ' operated by ' ' Old Bill ' ' at 
 Rush street; for this old salt, from Uncle Sam's 
 navy, had built neat, planked approaches to the 
 river and kept his decks swabbed and ropes 
 coiled. 
 
 The earliest settlers of Chicago dug wells; 
 but iu boom days there was such a large floating 
 population that water carts, which brought up 
 water from the lake in hogsheads, did a thriving 
 
 CHICAGO IN 1853. 
 
 trade. This gave Chicagoans the idea that it 
 was foolish for each householder to dig his own 
 well, when the town had a reservoir four hundred
 
 THE STOEY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 miles long at its feet. The Chicago Hydraulic 
 Company, a private corporation, was formed 
 and built two reservoirs, eighty feet above 
 ground, at Michigan avenue and Lake street. 
 A twenty-five horsepower pump was connected 
 with an iron pipe that was run out one hundred 
 and fifty feet into the lake on wooden crib work. 
 Ihe surplus power was used to turn the ma- 
 chinery of a flour mill. The water was dis- 
 tributed to the South and a portion of the West 
 side through bored logs. As there was no pro- 
 vision against the entrance of solid matter into 
 the pipes, sand, weeds, and minnows swam 
 gaily out at the faucets. This primitive system 
 had to content Chicago until 1857, when the 
 first city waterworks was built at Chicago 
 avenue. 
 
 One of the strongest inducements for early 
 settlers to come into the Northwest territory 
 was the liberal reservation of public lands for 
 school purposes. More than half a century had 
 gone by since 1787, when this provision for pub- 
 lic education was made in the Northwest terri- 
 tory, but public schools were still practically- 
 unknown. The school lands had little value until 
 the country was well settled. In the fifties 
 land in the Illinois Central grant brought only 
 five dollars an acre. 
 
 Chicago's First Schools, In 
 1843 the school trustees of Chi- 
 cago had to report that the 
 $38,000 for which the school 
 block in Chicago had been sold 
 in 1835, had been reduced near- 
 ly one-half through injudicious 
 loans made in boom days. Un- 
 til 1845 Chicago built no struc- 
 ture specifically for school pur- 
 poses, although it owned the 
 two-story frame cottage known 
 as the Eumsey school on the 
 corner of Dearborn and Madi- 
 son, where the Tribune building 
 stands today on land leased 
 from the school board. 
 
 Schools had been held in 
 cabins, storerooms, private 
 houses, the Temple buildings, 
 churches, and in the barracks 
 of the fort after its evacuation. 
 They were in session pretty 
 much all the year with the ex- 
 ception of two weeks' vacation in mid-summer. 
 Wednesday and Saturday afternoons were half- 
 holidays. With a fund of less than $20,000 the 
 income of the trustees was small, and the schools 
 were supported, in the main, by subscription. 
 
 In 1845 the funds must have been materially 
 increased for the city built a $7,500 brick school- 
 house on Madison street opposite where Mc- 
 Vicker's theater stands today. Within three 
 years 864 pupils were enrolled at this school 
 and the Jones, Scammon, and Haven schools 
 
 had been built, for Chicago suddenly ran up to 
 20,000 population. In 1857 there were ten school 
 buildings with 10,636 pupils, beside the high 
 school on Monroe street, and numerous private 
 and church schools. 
 
 There were two things the Chicago school- 
 boys of the forties could not resist, the sight of 
 a prairie schooner from the Wabash, with a load 
 of juicy apples or peaches, and the cry of 
 ' ' fire ! ' ' Fruit was scarce, and a fire was a 
 dramatic entertainment in days when a circus 
 was an event of a lifetime. 
 
 In the early days of Chicago's municipal his- 
 tory, lack of money in the fire department was 
 made up for in zeal, and glory was the pay of 
 the volunteer fire-fighters. To fight fires was a 
 patriotic duty, and a paid force would have been 
 looked upon as ' ' Hessians ' ' were in the Revo- 
 lution. There were bucket brigades, and engine 
 and ladder companies with fanciful names and 
 uniforms. Rivalry was keen and often bitter, 
 certain favored companies being cheered when 
 they appeared on the street. 
 
 Small Boy Furnished Fire Alarm. You may 
 see today, in the Historical society's building 
 on Dearborn avenue, an old leather fire-bucket 
 with a leather strap buckled on for a handle, 
 
 THE RUMSEY SCHOOL, 1844. 
 (Copyright, F. H. Revell Co.) 
 
 such as the "Neptunes" used so effectively as 
 late as 1845. When a fire started some boy 
 would ' ' raise a yell, " as an old settler said to 
 the writer. This animated fire alarm, who seemed 
 all legs and lungs, would rush through the streets 
 shouting "Fire! fire! fire!" All the other boys 
 and the dogs of the town would soon be at his 
 heels. In a moment a veritable pandemonium 
 was created. 
 
 Then from every house and store people 
 rushed into the streets. The fire boys dragged 
 
 67
 
 THE STOEY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 their engines from the sheds and called upon 
 bystanders to help get them to the scene of con- 
 flagration. Any man so rash as to refuse to be 
 turned ii^o a fire-engine horse, was knocked 
 down on the spot and fined afterwards. Hose 
 was coupled on and run down to th river or 
 lake; lamps were displayed in windows to light 
 the way if the fire happened to break out at 
 night, and the leather fire buckets which, by city 
 ordinance, hung in every hallway, were thrown 
 from house doors to the boys, who caught them 
 on the run. 
 
 In five minutes the engine was on the spot, 
 with the firemen on the brakes or pedals, pump- 
 ing up water by man-power. The bucket brigades 
 were lined up and passing continuous streams of 
 leather buckets, hand over hand, from the river 
 to the men on the roof. Salvage bands were 
 busy, as the insurance companies complained, 
 ' ' carrying out feather-beds and smashing pianos 
 to save the casters." The fire was put out, in 
 one way or another, but the unfortunate family 
 usually sat amid a sad wreckage of household 
 goods. 
 
 Buckets disappeared about 1850 because the 
 town had grown too far back from the water 
 supply to make them longer effective, but the 
 man-power engine did not pass away until 1858. 
 The small boy was* superseded if not suppressed 
 as a fire alarm by the bell in the steeple of the 
 Unitarian church and that by the bell in the 
 cupola of the combined courthouse and city hall 
 in 1852. Two disastrous fires in 1857 and 1858 
 proved the inadequacy of the old system and in- 
 surance companies raised the rates on risks in 
 
 THE "LONG JOHN" FIRE ENGINE. 
 
 Chicago. The "Long John" steam fire-engine 
 was purchased and D. J. Sweenie, our famous 
 fire-fighter Chief Sweenie, was given charge. 
 
 Chicago Changes With Changing Times. Many 
 important changes in Chicago date from 1848 
 and 1849. The conditions of trade were altered 
 by the opening of the canal and the completion 
 of the first ten miles of the Galena road. The 
 gold, or "yellow" fever, as it was facetiously 
 called, swept the country, and "forty-niners" 
 on the way to California, outfitted at Chicago, 
 
 buying wagons, harness, saddles, blankets, cloth 
 ing, tools, and such foods as could be preserved 
 during the' long march across the ' ' Great Amer- 
 ican Desert ' ' and the Bocky mountains. 
 
 GEO. M. PULLMAN. 
 
 EDWIN O. GALE. 
 
 Then there was the flood of forty-nine. Situ- 
 ated on a level, with the summit ridge ten miles 
 back and that only fifteen feet above lake level, 
 Chicago did not look for a flood. The winter 
 of forty-nine was remarkable for its heavy 
 snowfalls which lay on the ground until spring. 
 In February all the rivers of the region froze 
 over. In March came a sudden thaw. The 
 snow melted rapidly and, with a report like ar- 
 tillery, the ice broke up in the Desplaines and 
 rushed like an avalanche over the South branch, 
 swept down stream and out to the lake, carry- 
 ing away canal boats, bridges, wharves, piling, 
 and grain-laden vessels that had been tied up at 
 the docks. A chaos of wreckage filled the main 
 river and the bank along South Water street. 
 
 This was a calamity, for spring trade was 
 about to open. In the year before, 70,000 farm 
 wagons had come into Chicago with grain and 
 produce. As it happened, 1848 was the banner 
 year for caravan trade, for the iron horse was 
 now to come easily across prairies where many 
 animals had toiled so long. But Chicago did 
 not realize that this change was to come so soon. 
 Bridges were hastily rebuilt after the flood, but 
 on the improved, center-pier, pivot pattern 
 which is considered such a cumbrous nuisance 
 today. But the bridges then were only two feet 
 above the water. Sand was hauled up from the 
 lake shore to fill in the washed-out streets, and 
 wrecked wharves and buildings along the water 
 front were replaced with better ones. 
 
 The new courthouse and city hall set the 
 standard for better buildings. Governor Key- 
 nolds described the courthouse as "a splendid 
 structure, standing in great majesty and 
 grandeur." In the next four years, 1853-7, 
 $18,000,000 was spent in building operations. 
 With so much money going into building; with 
 the second boom on; with land values rising over 
 night so that real estate agents blushed for the 
 truth which outstripped their bragging stories, 
 Chicago began to consider what could be done 
 with her impossible streets. They not only im- 
 peded business, but they also menaced the public 
 health. 
 
 68
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Chicago's Paving Problem. From the begin- 
 ning, the task of draining, grading, and paving 
 Chicago 's thoroughfares had looked well-nigh 
 hopeless. Everything placed upon them sank a8 
 in a bottomless morass. Fort Dearborn had 
 stood on a rise, ten or twelve feet above the 
 lake level, and a ridge of simalar elevation ran 
 northward across the Kinzie tract. From Mich- 
 igan avenue the slope was so abrupt westward 
 that a deep slough occupied the present line of 
 State street as far south as Adams. An uncer- 
 tain footbridge of logs, laid lengthwise, spanned 
 this slough at Lake street, and Mr. E. O. Gale 
 says in his "Early Chicago Eeminiscences" 
 that the frogs of that slough used to say: "Bet- 
 ter go round! Knee deep!" when venturesome 
 citizens attempted to cross it. 
 
 The busiest part of Chicago lay at the lowest 
 point of the marshy plain, along the river and 
 its branches, but two feet above water level. 
 Those two feet, and, in many places more, were 
 of black muck, or alluvium, deposited by the 
 river, when the lake receded, leaving a bed of 
 sand. In the spring and fall this top dressing 
 of Chicago was wet to the point of saturation. 
 Across the prairie, farm wagons sank to the 
 hubs. In many of Chicago's streets, drays, 
 wagons, and even stage-coaches, might often be 
 seen abandoned in mud holes. An unfailing 
 source of amusement to local wits was the stick- 
 ing up of facetious signs labeled "Man lost 
 here," and "Shortest route to China; this hole 
 goes right through." 
 
 The sand bed and underlying hardpan were 
 below water-level, and served no purpose for 
 drainage. Water was lost only by evaporation 
 from the surface. Everything, except water, 
 was held fast in the reeking soil. Sluicing sim- 
 ply carried waste matter into the river, until 
 that stream, once so blue and limpid and teem- 
 ing with fish, was an open, stagnant sewer. Into 
 it went the refuse of houses, hotels, river vessels, 
 the markets, slaughter houses, tanneries, and the 
 thousand and one abominations that accumulate 
 daily in populous places. 
 
 Temporary expedients had been resorted to 
 to improve the streets and river. As early as 
 1836 certain thoroughfares were dug down in the 
 middle and planked, forming two inclined planes 
 with a gutter in the center. The planks were 
 soon broken by heavy teams, the boards and 
 water flew up in horses' faces, and pitfalls were 
 formed for pedestrians. Then the streets were 
 graded like country roads, with gutters at either 
 side. Sand from the shore was used as a top 
 dressing. This was as beautiful and as de- 
 ceptive as newly fallen snow, for the sand was 
 cut up by the heavy traffic and disappeared in 
 the mud. 
 
 As a third expedient sewers were constructed 
 of three heavy planks formed into a triangular 
 pipe and laid in the middle of the streets on 
 the surface. After filling in around these the 
 
 streets were planked. This plan gave the sew- 
 ers a fall of two feet into the river, and much 
 confidence was felt in it. But that confidence 
 was misplaced for, as the "Gem of the Prairie" 
 says in an issue of 1850: "Water accumulates 
 under this planking and in summer steams up 
 through every crack and seam of the rotting 
 boards and poisons the town." Every summer 
 brought its cholera and every winter its small- 
 pox scare. Cobblestone fared no better the 
 stones -were forced down to hardpan by the 
 traffic and simply swallowed up in the mud. 
 
 A Solution Found. Two things now happened 
 which gave people an idea as to a real solution 
 of the problem. The board of Cook county com- 
 missioners spent $100,000 in draining swamp 
 lands around the city. This work covered terri- 
 tory extending four miles to the west, five to the 
 north, and ten to the south, beyond the limits 
 of the city. Drainage was carried into the Chi- 
 cago and Calumet rivers. The benefit to the city 
 was felt immediately there were a few dry 
 cellars in town. 
 
 It began to dawn on Chicago that, to have a 
 dry, clean, and healthy city, the level must be 
 raised to a height that would permit proper 
 drainage. It took a courageous man to be the 
 first to propose such a thing, for the difficulties 
 and expense were appalling. E. S. Cheese- 
 brough, chief engineer of the newly created 
 sewerage commission, was the man. As all other 
 schemes had been tried and found wanting, Chi- 
 cago had to face the cost and the difficulties of 
 pulling itself up out of the mud. 
 
 A fourteen-foot level, or a total of twelve 
 feet to be filled in was ordered. Property owners 
 were aroused. Owners of large brick blocks 
 saw the streets rising around them, and their 
 first floors changed to sub-basements. The courts 
 sustained the order of the city council. The 
 Chicago Tribune of April 9, 1857, said dole- 
 fully: 
 
 "Every house now standing in Chicago must 
 be raised about the height of the mayor. (Long 
 John Wentworth, measuring 6 feet 7 inches, was 
 mayor at the time.) It is going to be something 
 of a job to raise 1,200 acres to grade, and where 
 are the millions of cubic yards of earth to come 
 from?" 
 
 Where do you suppose it came from? For 
 the streets and sloughs from the bed of the river; 
 for private lots from excavations made for 
 houses, for Chicago's business section was built 
 over pretty solidly as fast .as it grew, and there 
 was not, after all, very much of vacant space 
 to be filled in. And where was the power to 
 come from that was to raise the big, four-story 
 brick blocks in the business district? Well, that 
 came from New York state in the shape of a 
 young man of ideas. 
 
 The Opportunity and the Man. The Tremont 
 house, a four-story structure of brick and stone, 
 was one of the skyscrapers of Chicago in the 
 
 69
 
 THE STOKY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 fifties. As Lake and Clark streets began to 
 climb up, as a result of the grading, the pro- 
 prietors of this hotel simply built steps leading 
 down from the street to the office and dining- 
 room. Visitors from the East got the impres- 
 sion that the Tremont House had sunk of its own 
 weight, and went back home to tell how Chicago 
 was built on a bottomless morass. 
 
 But one day there was a guest from New 
 York who asked for the job of raising the build- 
 ing. 
 
 "How do we know you can do it?" asked 
 the skeptical proprietors. 
 
 ' ' Well, I 've raised some buildings along the 
 line of the Erie canal. I can raise anything if 
 I can get enough jackscrews under it. I guess 
 about 5,000 would do this job." 
 
 "You'll wreck the building." 
 
 "I'll agree to pay for every pane of glass I 
 break. ' ' 
 
 "It'll ruin the house, anyhow. The guests 
 will be scared to death." 
 
 "They won't miss a meal or a wink of sleep." 
 
 "All right, go ahead. "What's your name?" 
 
 "George M. Pullman." 
 
 There, doesn't that thrill you? But the names 
 so famous now didn't thrill any one then. 
 George M. Pullman began, on that job, to make 
 his name. 
 
 He first covered the basement floor of the 
 hotel with heavy timbers. On these he set 
 up his 5,000 jackscrews. Then he turned in 
 1,250 men, one to each set of four screws. At 
 a signal the screws were given a half turn. The 
 building parted from its foundations. Inch by 
 inch it rose in the air, and the foundation was 
 built up as fast as it rose, the business of the 
 hotel going on undisturbed. The story of this 
 unheard-of feat of engineering spread Chicago's 
 fame abroad. Eastern newspapers told how the 
 young giant of the West was "pulling itself 
 up by the boot straps." 
 
 Chicago Gets City Conveniences. The water- 
 works at Chicago avenue were completed in 
 1857, and water and gas pipes and sewers were 
 laid. Macadam and wooden blocks took the 
 place of planks and cobblestones, and stone 
 sidewalks began to replace board walks. Horse 
 cars were run out on State street to Twenty- 
 second, on Madison, and on North Clark. Sub- 
 urban trains were run out to the village of Hyde 
 Park, and omnibuses met the trains. The ceme- 
 tery on Lincoln park site was away out of town. 
 At Oakland, then called Cleaversville, was a 
 factory, a slaughter house, and six dwelling 
 houses, in 1857, on a part of the old Ellis farm. 
 
 Six years before, Mr. Charles Cleaver, a soap 
 and candle-maker, drove out to the Ellis place, 
 which lay between Thirty-fifth and Thirty-ninth 
 streets, on the lake shore, and bought a tract of 
 twenty acres, on which to build a factory. After 
 leaving the Illinois Central depot at Michigan 
 avenue and Twelfth street, he passed but two 
 
 houses until he reached the Cottage in the Grove, 
 a popular resort on Graves' farm at Thirty-first 
 street, from which ' ' Cottage Grove ' ' avenue 
 gets its name. On Lake and Thirty-fifth was 
 the Ellis tavern, the first station out, in stage- 
 coach days, on the road to Detroit. 
 
 How Mr. Cleaver got the brick and stone and 
 lumber out to Thirty-ninth street, to build his 
 factory, is an interesting story in itself. The 
 brick kiln was on the West side, about Twen- 
 tieth street. He ferried the bricks over the 
 South branch on a scow, and then had to build 
 a mile of plank road across the sand ridge, and 
 a 150-foot bridge over the slough that ran past 
 the old Chicago University block. The heavy 
 timbers were loaded on a scow and towed around 
 the lake shore by horses. His workingmen's 
 cottages were mounted, each on two canal boats, 
 lashed together with chains, and towed from 
 above Chicago avenue. Thus was Cleaverville 
 now Oakland begun; and under conditions as 
 difficult all the suburban towns about Chicago 
 were started, many of which have been since 
 absorbed into the city. 
 
 Chicago's Trade Changes and Expands. It 
 was in the fifties that Chicago came into her 
 heritage of trade. For a year or two after the 
 opening of the canal, and the first section of the 
 Galena road, the merchants of Chicago were in a 
 panic over the falling off of the retail trade 
 of the farmers. Fewer caravans came to town 
 with every mile of railroad that was completed. 
 The streets had a deserted look and the stores 
 fewer customers. 
 
 But did Chicago have less trade? Let us see. 
 Along the canal and the Illinois river, and along 
 all the railway lines, country towns sprang up. 
 Each had its dry goods, grocery, and hardware 
 stores, its shoe and blacksmith shops, and per- 
 haps its flour mill. To these points farmers 
 brought their grain to be ground or shipped, 
 bought the supplies they needed, and went back 
 home. With a market only a few miles from 
 his fields, the farmer raised more grain and live 
 stock and began to plant orchards and to keep 
 milch cows and poultry. 
 
 Where a hundred farmers used to come to 
 Chicago to buy in a retail way, their purchases 
 limited by the profits of a wagon load of wheat, 
 there now came one or two country merchants to 
 lay in stocks of goods for the country trade. 
 Wheat came to Chicago by the car load instead 
 of the wagon load, and elevators displaced ware- 
 houses. No more drovers were seen, but every 
 railroad had its stockyards for the unloading 
 and sale of cattle and hogs. Within five years 
 Chicago was transformed from a retail to a 
 wholesale town it became the sales center be- 
 tween the factories of the East and the farms 
 of the Northwest. 
 
 The trade territory of Chicago constantly ex- 
 panded. Like giant feelers after trade, the iron 
 tracks were thrown out over the prairies. Each 
 
 70
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 mile of rails caused the farms to multiply. There 
 were remote settlements on the Great Lakes and 
 the Mississippi, waiting only for the shriek of 
 the locomotive to awaken them to civic life, and 
 to draw them within the circumference of Chi- 
 cago 's trade. Iowa was admitted to the Union 
 in 1846, Wisconsin in 1848, and Minnesota in 
 1858. All of these paid increasing tribute to 
 Chicago, sending her their grain, cattle, and 
 lumber, buying her manufactures and imports. 
 
 St. Louis was the metropolis of the middle 
 Mississippi, with its outlet at New Orleans. 
 The territory of Chicago was clearly the North- 
 west. The next state to be added to her trade 
 must be Nebraska. But Nebraska was not ad- 
 mitted to the Union until 1867, eighteen years 
 after California. 
 
 Progress Stopped by Civil War. Railroad 
 building, commercial expansion, and emigration 
 were brought to a standstill, late in the fifties, 
 by the financial panic which preceded the Civil 
 war. 
 
 By 1850 the division between the North and 
 South had become bitter on the slavery ques- 
 tion. It seemed as if every event fanned the 
 flame the discovery of gold in California and 
 the adoption by that state of a free-soil consti- 
 
 tution; the appearance of Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle 
 Tom's Cabin;" the bloody fight between pro- 
 slavery and free-soil men in Kansas, and John 
 Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry in 1859. 
 
 In 1855 Senator Douglas of Illinois introduced 
 his Kansas-Nebraska bill, by which those two 
 territories, when admitted as states, were to set- 
 tle for themselves whether they should permit 
 slavery. This bill was opposed by every northern 
 Whig and by many northern Democrats. 
 
 Senator Douglas, the "Little Giant," was the 
 most brilliant figure in national political life 
 since Jackson. Winning in personality, fearless, 
 magnetic, a born orator, a shrewd politician, he 
 had easily won every political honor to which 
 
 he had aspired. His nomination by the Demo- 
 cratic party and his election to the presidency 
 in 1860, were looked upon as certain. His most 
 difficult problem faced him now to satisfy the 
 Democrats of the South who were fighting for the 
 extension of slavery, and the Democrats of the 
 North who defended slavery where it existed, but 
 were opposed to its extension. 
 
 Up to this time the newspapers of Chicago 
 can not be said to have figured actively in na- 
 tional issues. But now, not only did the Chicago 
 Tribune, then the most ably edited and success- 
 ful paper in the West, denounce the Kansas- 
 Nebraska bill, but the Journal ant 1 , the Staats- 
 Zeitung did so, too; and Mr. Wentworth's Chi- 
 cago Democrat, a rock-ribbed Jackson organ 
 for twenty years, ranged itself with the free- 
 soil Whigs. Senator Douglas suddenly found him- 
 self with only one defender in the press of his 
 home city, and that was the Times. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln Becomes National Figure. 
 Douglas soon won a hearing by his persuasive 
 eloquence. But his way was strewn with pit- 
 falls. He no longer voiced the thoughts of the 
 people he represented. 
 
 When Douglas went down to Springfield to 
 speak, a long, lean, melancholy looking lawyer, 
 who had been in the State 
 Legislature and in Congress, 
 who was then near 48 and 
 somewhat of a failure in 
 political life, strolled out to 
 the state fair grounds to hear 
 the celebrated orator. As he 
 listened a kind of fire burned 
 in his cavernous eyes as if he 
 would pierce through that glit- 
 tering flood of words to some 
 homely, fixed truth behind 
 them. 
 
 The next day a reply was 
 made to Douglas's speech a 
 reply that awoke the Republi- 
 cans of Illinois, not yet crys- 
 tallized into an organization, 
 to the fact that they had a 
 leader. 
 
 The leader was Abraham 
 Lincoln. 
 
 The Republican party of Illinois was organ- 
 ized in February of 1856. At the state conven- 
 tion held in May, Lincoln spoke again. Of this 
 speech, Joseph Medill, who was present as a 
 delegate, and also as the representative of his 
 paper, the Chicago Tribune, says: 
 
 "I took down a few paragraphs of Lincoln's 
 speech for the first ten minutes, but I became so 
 absorbed in his magnificent oratory that I forgot 
 myself and ceased to take notes, but joined in 
 the clapping and cheering and stamping to the 
 end. I was not scooped, however, for all the 
 newspaper men present had been equally carried 
 away by the excitement and had made no re- 
 port. ' ' 
 
 71
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Lincoln's "Lost Speech" made him famous. 
 Illinois in that year elected a Eepublican gov- 
 ernor, and Abraham Lincoln was spoken of as 
 the successor of Douglas when his second term 
 in the senate should expire. 
 
 There Was No General National Banking Law. 
 Each state had its own system. In nearly all 
 cases the bank notes issued by the states were 
 redeemable in gold or silver, and they circulated 
 freely throughout the country. Large quantities 
 of the bank notes of the Southern states were 
 in circulation in the North. Should the Southern 
 states secede from the Union these notes would 
 be repudiated. The financial sky was darkened 
 by fear of war, and foreign capitalists, espe- 
 cially, were prone to think that when the storm 
 broke it would disrupt the Union. Until 1857 
 desperate efforts were made by business men 
 to keep on their feet, but in September the panic 
 came. In the United States and Canada 5,123 
 firms failed within a short period, with liabilities 
 up to $300,000,000. Every bank in New York 
 suspended payments and only a few in Chicago 
 stood firm. 
 
 STATUE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN LINCOLN PARK, 
 CHICAGO. 
 
 The money in circulation, as in 1837, was dis- 
 credited; and with bank notes falling gold and 
 silver disappeared. In 1858 there was a partial 
 failure of crops, making times still harder. It 
 was just at this juncture that interest in the 
 slavery question was keenest. Conditions of 
 business had become intolerable and they were 
 not to be improved while disruption of the 
 Union remained an ever present danger. 
 
 The Lincoln-Douglas Debates. It was these 
 facts which gave to the Lincoln-Douglas debates 
 their national importance. The country was 
 frantic for some solution of the questions that 
 were to plunge the nation into civil war. Every- 
 body was seeking light. When, therefore, "Lin- 
 coln challenged Senator Douglas to joint debate 
 on the slavery question he could not well refuse. 
 Between August 15 and October 21, 1858, the 
 two spoke at various points throughout Illinois, 
 and the speeches were widely reported. 
 
 To Senator .Douglas the debates were made 
 the occasion of a triumphal tour of the state. He 
 had special cars, whole cabins on river steamers, 
 and the best carriages for himself, his wife, and 
 a party of distinguished Democrats who accom- 
 panied him. Lincoln rode on accommodation or 
 freight trains, on horseback, in farm wagons, 
 and on flatboats. But he was always on time 
 and he got his share of the "fizzle-wigs," as he 
 called bands and torchlight processions. 
 
 Douglas was trapped and cornered at every 
 turn. He employed trickery for which he was 
 condemned by his own friends and party. Illi- 
 nois woke up to the amazing fact that it had 
 exchanged its "Little Giant" for "Honest 
 Abe," the Giant Killer. 
 
 It was in "Long John" Wentworth's Chi- 
 cago Democrat that Lincoln 's name was first sug- 
 gested in Chicago (1858) for the presidency, 
 although the campaign had been opened in a 
 Rock Island paper by agreement made among 
 editors of the state in the office of the Chicago 
 Tribune. It was not until February, 1860, how- 
 ever, that the Tribune came out for Lincoln, and 
 even then William H. Seward, of New York, 
 was the most prominent candidate for the Re- 
 publican nomination. 
 
 A Chicago man, Mr. Norman B. Judd, hap- 
 pened to be a member of the Republican na- 
 tional committee. He succeeded in having Chi- 
 cago selected for the national convention. This, 
 together with the fact that Illinois was now a 
 strong Republican state and certain to again 
 elect a Republican governor, gave Lincoln a 
 tremendous advantage. Eastern men began to 
 talk of giving him second place on the ticket 
 with Seward. 
 
 But Illinois refused to hear of anything but 
 first place for Lincoln. Lincoln pictures, Lincoln 
 stories were sent all over the country. The 
 famous Lincoln rails appeared in the campaign. 
 Western states, whose rail-splitting days were 
 by no means over, began to fall into line for 
 
 this pioneer candidate. 
 
 \ 
 
 72
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 CHICAGO IN WAR DAYS. 
 (1860-1870.) 
 
 The Republican National Convention. In May, 
 1860, while the Republican national convention 
 was in session, the eyes of the entire country 
 were, for the first time, focused on Chicago. 
 
 The Democratic party had split into two 
 bodies. The Southern states rejected Stephen 
 A. Douglas because of certain admissions he had 
 made in the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and nom- 
 inated Breckinridge, of Kentucky, for the presi- 
 dency. Northern Democrats bolted the conven- 
 tion at Charleston and nominated Douglas. With 
 two Democratic candidates in the field, the 
 chances for Republican success were enormously 
 increased. As this state of affairs had been 
 brought about by Lincoln 's shrewdness and elo- 
 quence, Chicago and the West became more than 
 ever determined that Lincoln should have first 
 place on the Republican ticket. 
 
 In the demoralized condition in which Chi- 
 cago was, in 1860, no Eastern city would have 
 
 THE WIGWAM WHERE LINCOLN WAS NOMINATED. 
 
 invited a convention. With 109,000 population 
 and ten railroads, the raw, young city had only 
 begun to pull itself out of the mud. Half the 
 streets were up to the grade of fourteen feet, the 
 rest were down to nearly lake level. Half the 
 buildings stood about on stilts, looking like 
 cranes in a marsh. Many sidewalks reeled along 
 on rotting piles. But Rome was not built in a 
 day, and Chicago felt no shame to be caught in 
 the act of growing. On Michigan avenue were 
 to be seen the beginnings of a magnificent boule- 
 vard. There were no parks as yet, but horse- 
 cars, gas, running water, and daily papers with 
 telegraphic dispatches, were things to speak of 
 with pride. Though hard times had become 
 chronic, and bad crops, a coming election, and 
 
 war clouds darkened the business horizon, every- 
 body was amazingly busy, happy, energetic, and 
 boastful. There was a rousing Chicago welcome 
 for the 40,000 strangers who invaded the city. 
 
 The Wigwam was a mere wooden shed, 180 
 feet by 100 feet, with wooden galleries. But the 
 barn-like interior had been draped with miles 
 of bunting and the platform banked with flow- 
 ers. A cannon had been mounted on the top to 
 announce the nomination of Lincoln. Chicago 
 had grown up in such gay makeshifts and gave 
 not a thought to the flimsiness of the structure 
 in which such a historic deed was to be done. 
 
 On nomination day 20,000 of the common peo- 
 ple of the West, who were giving up a week 
 from tottering business to shout themselves 
 hoarse for Lincoln, packed themselves into the 
 Wigwam and occupied every seat not reserved 
 for delegates. The Seward crowd from New 
 York was marching the streets with noisy dem- 
 onstrations until the last moment. 
 
 Lincoln Nominated for the Presidency. On the 
 first ballot Lincoln got only 102 votes out of 465. 
 Seward was in the lead. On the second, Lincoln 
 gained 67 votes and Seward less than a dozen. 
 On the third there was a stampede to the West- 
 ern candidate, Lincoln polling 231%, with 233 
 necessary to choice. There was a breathless 
 moment, then Ohio came over from Chase to 
 Lincoln. William M. Evarts of New York 
 moved that the nomination be made unanimous. 
 The teller waved his tally sheet in the air but 
 no one heard the name he announced, for the 
 West let out a shout which recalled the war- 
 whoop of the Pottawatomies. 
 
 At the same instant the gunner on top of the 
 Wigwam fired his cannon. The explosion threat- 
 ened to demolish the building, but its echoes 
 were drowned in the whoops and yells from 
 solid acres of voters in the street. Then one 
 hundred guns were fired from the roof of the 
 Tremont House, Lincoln's headquarters, steam- 
 boats, locomotives and factories opened their 
 whistles, and every bell in town joined in the 
 jubilee. The day and night were given up to 
 wild merry-making. 
 
 From that time until November, Chicago was 
 in the hottest of the campaign. But men grew 
 sober as the election approached. Lincoln was 
 to be elected, as you know, but in fifteen states 
 he was not to get an electoral vote and, in ten, 
 not a popular vote. In South Carolina the leg- 
 islature was in special session with the avowed 
 intention of seceding from the Union should 
 Lincoln be elected. 
 
 73
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 In December South Carolina set up an inde- 
 pendent government as a sovereign state. By 
 February 1 the entire line of Gulf states had 
 proclaimed secession, the Confederate States of 
 America had been organized, Jefferson Davis 
 elected president, and customs duties were being 
 collected by the Confederacy in Charleston, Sa- 
 vannah, Mobile, New Orleans, and Galveston. 
 
 This was the situation when Lincoln went 
 under guard to Washington and was inaugu- 
 rated March 4, 1861, president of a disrupted 
 Union, with General Scott in command of an 
 army of troops in Washington to prevent his 
 threatened assassination. On the 13th of April 
 Fort Sumter was bombarded. 
 
 Beginning of the Civil War. A pall of grief 
 and dismay hung over Chicago as over the en- 
 tire country. It was Saturday. Sunday lay be 
 tween the city and action. And Sunday was one 
 of those beautiful, cloudless spring days, warm 
 as June, with an azure sky reflected in a 
 sapphire lake and just enough breeze to float Old 
 Glory. By one accord every bit of bunting was 
 hung out, a silent pledge of devotion to the 
 Union. Stands of colors were over church doors 
 and altars. Congregations sang "America," 
 and ministers said: "It is time to pray with 
 muskets to preserve the Union." 
 
 But Chicago had no definite idea of what part 
 it could take in the war. Even in 1860, with 
 but 109,000 people, Chicago was a cosmopolitan 
 city. Work on the western railroads in .the fif- 
 
 In an American crisis it was uncertain how 
 these foreign elements of the population would 
 act. In January the Germans sent a sword to 
 Major Anderson, and the Bohemians and Hun- 
 garians voluntarily took the oath of allegiance 
 to the Union at a mass meeting in Metropolitan 
 hall. After the fall of Fort Sumter, all these 
 nationalities joined the Lumbard brothers, 
 famous campaign singers, in singing George F. 
 Boot's new song, "The First Gun Is Fired! May 
 God Defend the Eight. ' ' Later they shouldered 
 their muskets and marched to the front with 
 native-born Americans. 
 
 When, however, on Monday, President Lin- 
 coln called upon Governor Yates of Illinois for 
 six regiments, not a man in Chicago was 
 equipped to march. Where, now, in this crisis, 
 were the Zouave Cadets and Light Dragoons, the 
 famous militia companies which, in the late fif- 
 ties, had dashed out of the old armory at 
 Adams and Market, ridden off to tournaments, 
 and come back with prizes! The Chicago Zou- 
 aves, which had been drilled by that martinet 
 of twenty-two, Elmer Ellsworth, had been the 
 finest military company in the United States. 
 
 COL. MULLIGAN. 
 
 LIEUT. ELMER ELLS- GEN. BENJAMIN J. SWEET. 
 
 WORTH. CHICAGO WAE HEKOES. 
 
 CAPT. DAVID P. BREMNER. 
 
 ties brought thousands of Irish emigrants who 
 had been driven from the Emerald Isle by the 
 great famine of 1847. Germans, Swedes, and 
 Norwegians were pouring into Wisconsin and 
 Minnesota to take up the farming lands. Many 
 of these dropped out of the migrating bands at 
 Milwaukee and Chicago, and there were Poles, 
 Bohemians, Hungarians, and Greeks, many of 
 whom were political exiles. The Irish had al- 
 ready pre-empted "Archey Eoad, " Archer ave- 
 nue, and the Germans, the North side west of 
 Clark street. The West side had all the tongues 
 of Babel. 
 
 That company was now disbanded. Its old com- 
 mander went to Springfield to study law with 
 Lincoln and had formed one of the President 's 
 guard to Washington. On the first call to arms 
 he had gone to New York city to take com- 
 mand of a company of firemen. Chicago had lost 
 Elmer Ellsworth, but his Zouave Cadets were the 
 first to be reorganized and to offer their serv- 
 ices to the country. 
 
 By the 18th Chicago's Quota Was Full. A 
 Swedish company, organized too late to be ac- 
 cepted, joined a regiment in Wisconsin. The 
 Irish brigade, a day too late, fretted and fumed 
 
 74
 
 THE STOEY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 because they were declined. Colonel Mulligan 
 went in person to Washington. In three days 
 he telegraphed back: "Irish brigade accepted 
 as an independent regiment for service during 
 war. Drill without ceasing. Coining on first 
 train. Whoop 'er up, boys!" 
 
 That was typical of the war spirit of Chicago. 
 Within three weeks thirty-eight companies, num- 
 
 _j Thlrt^Flnrt 
 
 n 
 
 DIAGRAM OF GROUND OCCUPIED BY CAMP DOUGLAS. 
 
 bering 3,500 men, were ready for the field, and 
 Chicago banks had offered Governor Yates $500,- 
 000 pending the meeting of the legislature. Thir- 
 teen companies had gone to Cairo to protect the 
 frontier of Illinois from Kentucky and Mis- 
 souri. 
 
 The Irish brigade was recruiting and drilling 
 in Kent's brewery. Every member of it was an 
 old soldier and bore the scars of battle won in 
 foreign wars. Many incidents of the swearing 
 
 in of this famous body of 
 
 troops have become historic. 
 
 One man who presented himself 
 
 had lost two fingers and was 
 
 about to be rejected. 
 
 "If I lost me arrums I could 
 
 pull a trigger wid me toes," he 
 
 declared. 
 
 One had a broken collar bone 
 
 but was accepted as soon as he 
 
 got out of the hospital. There 
 
 were men who had fought in 
 
 Greece, Italy, and India, and 
 
 against the Indians on the 
 
 Western plains. Lieutenant Cos- 
 grove wore a medal won in the 
 
 Crimea. He was saluted by the 
 
 recruiting officer and passed 
 
 without a question. The Irish 
 
 brigade became famous even 
 
 before it won new distinction 
 
 in Missouri under Fremont. 
 Before any fighting at all had been done by 
 
 Chicago companies, Elm'er Ellsworth was brought 
 
 home to be buried. When the war was only ten 
 
 weeks old he had been shot while pulling down 
 
 a confederate flag at Alexandria, Virginia the 
 
 first Union officer to fall in that four years' 
 
 conflict. His was a national funeral for, only 
 
 three vears before, he had drilled his smart 
 
 Zouaves in every city from Chicago to New 
 York. 
 
 By June Chicago 's soldier boys were scat- 
 tered far and wide. They were in camp at 
 Springfield and Cairo, with Fremont in Missouri, 
 and with the Army of the Potomac. At Lexing- 
 ton, Mo., the Irish brigade suffered frightful 
 losses and covered itself with glory. Many a 
 brave boy was brought back dead or wounded. 
 Within twenty-four hours Chicago was on the 
 battlefield with doctors, nurses, hospital supplies, 
 and money. The Sanitary commission was 
 formed as were also relief societies to care for 
 the widows and orphans of soldiers. Women 
 began to sew, knit, tear bandages, and scrape 
 old linen for lint to dress wounds. (Today there 
 is an antiseptic cotton prepared for dressing 
 wounds.) The most prominent men in Chicago 
 served in the Sanitary commission without pay. 
 Before the end of the year aid societies all over 
 the Northwest were pouring contributions into 
 Chicago. Later the ladies of Chicago netted 
 $86,000 from the first great sanitary fair. 
 
 Five weary months passed, and then came the 
 battle of Fort Donelson, in February, 1862. And 
 now the war was to be brought to Chicago. 
 
 Prisoners at Camp Douglas. In the summer 
 of 1861 Camp Douglas, Chicago, had been 
 opened as a training ground to receive troops 
 from the Northwest. This military camp lay 
 west of Cottage Grove avenue between Thirty- 
 first and Thirty-third streets, running back to 
 Forest avenue. The tract was all prairie. There 
 
 ATTEMPT OF PRISONERS TO ESCAPE FROM CAMP DOUGLAS. 
 
 were no streets laid out there at that time ex- 
 cept Cottage Grove avenue. The street car line 
 stopped at Thirty-first. The only house on the 
 tract was that of Henry Graves on what is now 
 Graves' place. The old Chicago university, then 
 only recently opened, overlooked the camp from 
 the south. In the waste land east, to be known 
 afterward as Douglas square, Stephen A. Doug- 
 
 75
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 las was soon to lie at rest and his counterpart 
 in bronze was to rise on a lofty marble shaft and 
 look out over the lake. 
 
 There were drilling, hur- 
 rahing and -beating of 
 drums in the summer of 
 1861 at Camp Douglas, and 
 crowds of brave women and 
 wondering children came to 
 say good-bye to the boys in 
 blue. Sometimes the tents 
 dotted the prairie back to 
 State street and spread to 
 the village of Cleaverville 
 at Thirty-ninth street. 
 
 When recruiting came to 
 an end, temporarily, the 
 camp was turned over to 
 the general government. 
 After the battle of Fort 
 Donelson, the officer in com- 
 mand was ordered from 
 Washington to prepare to 
 receive 9,000 prisoners. 
 
 It was in the depth of 
 winter and the weather was 
 bitterly cold when they ar- 
 rived in Chicago. Wind, 
 snow, and ice held high 
 i carnival at Camp Douglas. 
 'There was no hospital, no 
 drainage, not even enough 
 rough barracks to shelter 
 those suffering strangers from the sunny South. 
 When they marched from the railway station 
 through the frozen streets, with broken shoes and 
 butternut cotton clothing their misery touched 
 all hearts. Imprisonment at Camp Douglas was a 
 sentence of death for many of them. Spared by 
 the bullet, they were to fall victim to pneu- 
 monia, rheumatism, typhoid, and camp fever. 
 
 There were rough and ready Texans, languid, 
 half-French Louisianians, fiery Kentu-?kians, 
 proud Virginians among them. The officers were 
 attended by devoted slaves. One master was 
 seen to put his own plaid about the shoulders of 
 a shivering negro. The next morning the Tribune 
 called for relief for these prisoners, saying: 
 ''These men will be our countrymen again. The 
 memory of this conflict will be effaced. ' ' 
 
 Blue and Gray Sleep Together. It is good to 
 be able to record today when the memory of that 
 conflict is effaced, that a wagon-load of blankets, 
 flannels, and medicines, with doctors and nurses, 
 went out to Camp Douglas before noon. Within 
 a week the camp was enlarged. 
 
 In the next eight months 30,OQO troops were 
 equipped, and 17,000 prisoners and 8,000 paroled 
 Union soldiers were cared for in Camp Douglas. 
 In the summer time a cloud of dust lay over 
 Cottage Grove avenue from the constant pass- 
 ing of military wagons. 
 The processions did not stop at the camp, but 
 
 A CONFEDERATE 
 SOLDIER. 
 
 continued southward over the old Vincennes road 
 to the country graveyard now Oakwoods ceme- 
 tery at Sixty-seventh street. Sometimes a 
 blue coat, sometimes a gray, sometimes both, 
 were in the wagon, side by side, all differences 
 forgotten in death. Today you may see at 
 Oakwoods a monument which Chicago raised in 
 1895 in honor of the 6,000 Confederate soldiers 
 who died at Camp Douglas. 
 
 In camp, prison, hospital, in graves, and on 
 the march, Chicago boys were scattered all over 
 the South. They were on the firing line of a 
 dozen great battles. The Nineteenth Illinois 
 infantry, "the glorious old Nineteenth" it is 
 called today, that enrolled 1,500 men and mus- 
 tered out 500 at the end of the war was first 
 on Missionary Eidge, on which culminated the 
 famous series of battle around Chattanooga, 
 Tennessee. At the battle of Stone Mills in 1864 
 Colonel Mulligan fell with these words on his 
 lips: "Lay me down and save the flag, boys." 
 The Irish brigade marched on, under a new 
 leader, and prepared the way for Sheridan in 
 the Shenandoah. 
 
 The year 1864 was a dark one for Chicago and 
 the entire country. As the war receded, interest 
 in it lessened in the North. Gold was held at 
 2.85 that is, a greenback dollar was worth less 
 than forty cents in gold. The South was fight- 
 ing desperately, and foreign nations were pre- 
 dicting success for the Confederacy and final 
 disruption of the Union. 
 
 The Assassination of Lincoln. Lincoln was 
 reflected. General Lee surrendered at Appo- 
 mattox. President Lincoln went with four com- 
 panions and a guard of ten marines into Rich- 
 mond, the capital of the Confederacy. The war 
 was over, the Union had been preserved. On 
 returning to Washington on the fourth anniver- 
 sary of the fall of Fort Sumter, President Lin- 
 coln was assassinated at Ford's theater. 
 
 "Now he belongs to the ages," intoned the 
 solemn voice of Secretary Stanton in the death 
 
 LINCOLN HOUSE AT SPRINGFIELD, ILL. 
 
 chamber. The country was plunged in grief too 
 deep for anger. The South deplored the tragedy 
 no less than the North, as indeed it might, for 
 
 76
 
 THE STORY OP CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 the South had lost a large-hearted and power- 
 ful friend. 
 
 But to Chicago and the West the grief was not 
 only for the great leader and the embodied con- 
 science and power of the reunited nation. It was 
 also for the man, the friend and neighbor. Ten 
 years ago the writer had an interview with 
 Lincoln's cousin, Dennis Hanks, then ninety 
 years old, and now dead, in his home in Charles- 
 ton, 111. He told how the news of Lincoln's 
 tragic death was received in the West. 
 
 "I heered it in this way. I was settin' in 
 my shop peggin ' away at a shoe, when a man 
 
 
 THE LAKE FRONT BEFORE THE FIRE. 
 
 came in, and said: 'Denny, Honest Abe's dead! ' 
 " 'Old Abe dead?' I kep' sayin' to myself. 
 I went out to the farm to see Sairy (Lincoln's 
 stepmother), who lived there all alone, and said, 
 ' Grandmother, Abe 's dead. ' ' Yes, I know, ' 
 says she. 'I've been awaitin' fur it. I knowed 
 they'd kill him,' and she never asked how it 
 happened. A body'd a thought the earth stopped 
 whirlin* fur a few days the way everybody 
 went on. Even here in Charleston it was like a 
 black cloud had covered the sun. 
 
 "It was different with me who had knowed 
 him as a danglin ', lathy, awkward boy, full of 
 fun and stories and kindness, so big and strong 
 and gentle with everything weak and helpless 
 to think of him lyin' there dead. 
 
 "Why, we stopped in the streets, strong men, 
 and cried when he was bein' brought home to 
 Springfield. There wasn 't any tradin ' done 
 scarcely. I can't believe it yit. There won't 
 be another man like Abe Lincoln this side o' 
 Judgment day. He didn't know how to be mean, 
 to do a mean thing, or think a mean thought. 
 
 When God made Abe Lincoln He made him 
 good. ' ' 
 
 Lincoln belongs to the ages, but he belonged 
 peculiarly to the West. Chicago wore public 
 mourning until after he had lain in state here, 
 for thousands who had known him in life to 
 gaze once more on his beloved features, and 
 until he had been laid away at Springfield. 
 
 When Johnny Comes Marching Home. Then 
 it welcomed home the boys in blue. Of the 20,000 
 who had marched from Chicago to remain in the 
 ranks until peace was declared, only half were 
 mustered out. 
 
 ^ Camp Douglas was aban- 
 doned. The high board fence 
 was torn down, the prairie 
 was criss-crossed by streets, 
 and the blocks were cut up 
 into lots. Stephen A. Douglas 
 arose in .bronze on Douglas 
 square. A grocery store was 
 built on Cottage Grove ave- 
 nue, and a hotel and livery 
 stable on the corner of Thirty- 
 first street. The street car 
 line was extended to Hyde 
 Park village, at Thirty-ninth 
 street. Soldiers went back be- 
 hind desks and counters and 
 into factories. 
 
 All the works of peace went 
 on. Water was let into the 
 first tunnel from the crib in 
 1867. Lincoln park was cre- 
 ated out of the old bury- 
 ing ground beyond North avenue, and the north 
 park commission was created. A clearing house 
 for banks was established; the river was tun- 
 neled for car lines at Washington and La Salle 
 streets; the south end of Goose Island was 
 dredged out of the river at the forks to make 
 room for shipping; the high grade level was es- 
 tablished in all downtown streets; the Union 
 stock yards cleared the railroad yards of cattle. 
 So far as could be foreseen Chicago had en- 
 tered another decade of growth. By the govern- 
 ment census of 1870 it had a population of 298,- 
 977. In spite of the war it had trebled in size in 
 ten years. Like a boy too early come into for- 
 tune, Chicago was dizzy from its sense of power. 
 In the business center were solid blocks of 
 brick and stone, but when it was pointed out by 
 newspapers and insurance companies that the 
 hundreds of acres of pine buildings which sur- 
 rounded these invited the destruction of the 
 city, Chicago laughed and went on its reckless, 
 energetic, wealth-making way, heedless of its 
 over-present danger. 
 
 77
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 CHICAGO BEFORE THE GREAT FIRE. 
 (1870-1871.) 
 
 Chicago Continues to Grow. 
 In 1871, six years after the 
 close of the war, Chicago 
 ranked as the fifth city in 
 the United States. In one 
 decade it had trebled in pop- 
 ulation and its wealth had 
 increased twenty fold. It 
 was now the metropolis of 
 the northwest with 334,000 
 people. As a city it was 
 marked by amazing energy, 
 incredible achievement and 
 boundless conceit. No dis- 
 aster or failure had tem- 
 pered its self satisfaction. 
 
 Eastern cities had suf- 
 LAMP FOUND IN fered financially because of 
 
 O'LEARY'S BARN. the fal1 in P rieeS at the 
 
 close of the war, but Chicago scarcely felt the 
 depression at all, for the drop in values was 
 more than made up by the increased volume 
 of trade. The Union Pacific railway had been 
 completed in 1869, thus adding the mining states 
 to Chicago's trade territory. 
 
 Emigrants again poured through the gateway, 
 and to an enormously expanded West. Illinois, 
 Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota sent millions 
 of bushels of wheat and corn through Chicago. 
 Nebraska was added to the ranching country. 
 Northern Wisconsin and Michigan were one vast 
 lumber camp, filled with the sound of the wood- 
 man's ax and the buzz of the sawmill. On 
 every stream the floating logs descended to some 
 lake port in the spring. Western Iowa, Ne- 
 braska, and Kansas were still ranch country, 
 growing stock on the prairies for Chicago 's in- 
 satiable packing houses. But miners were push- 
 ing into Colorado, and stock-raisers into the 
 Great American Desert, across which railways 
 were weaving their magic shuttles of trade. 
 
 Immediately behind Chicago were quarries of 
 building stone; and coal mines in operation for 
 a generation were furnishing fuel for the mul- 
 tiplying railways and factories. Cheap fuel, 
 cheap water, cheap transportation, for the lake 
 traffic kept down railway rates, and its unrivaled 
 situation, where it must receive with one hand 
 and distribute with the other, had caused Chicago 
 to forge to the front with a rapidity which 
 amazed the world. 
 
 It now had thirteen trunk lines of railways 
 and 10,000 miles of tracks contributing to its 
 trade. One hundred and twenty passenger and 
 as many freight trains arrived every day, and 
 13,000 vessels in a season. There were seventeen 
 elevators with a capacity of 12,000,000 bushels 
 of grain whose value circulated on the streets 
 as warehouses' receipts. There were twenty- 
 five banks with $35,000,000 on deposit. The 
 manufactures of Chicago had reached the enor- 
 mous sum of $76,000,000 annually; 55,000,000 
 bushels of grain passed through this port and 
 $40,000,000 worth of packing house products 
 were exported. The value of all property was 
 near $600,000,000, on which $6,000,000 was col- 
 lected in taxes. 
 
 These figures were astounding for a city only 
 one generation old. In the East men gasped 
 at Chicago's breathless pace, and in Europe 
 this mushroom metropolis was frankly spoken of 
 as the eighth wonder of the world. A corre- 
 spondent of the London Daily News in 1870, de- 
 scribed Chicago as "like some uproarious Rot- 
 terdam, with its ugly, foul, crowded river and 
 rakish, swarming bridges; but with certain 
 streets, avenues, shops, hotels, warehouses, 
 churches, and theaters, that rival those of Old 
 World capitals. Michigan avenue, where her 
 merchant princes live in Eastern splendor, is a 
 sort of Piccadilly with a lake instead of a park 
 under its drawing room windows, while th; 1 
 north shore residence district has all the spa- 
 ciousness and repose of an old aristocracy. ' ' 
 
 Let us see, now, what this rich, busy, noisy, 
 boastful, luxurious, reckless city was like, in the 
 summer of 1871, when a hundred new inhabit- 
 ants were whirled into its maelstrom of money- 
 making every day. 
 
 For the fourth time the city limits had been 
 extended. They were then at Fullerton avenue, 
 Crawford avenue, and Thirty-ninth street. Then, 
 as now, for administrative purposes, Chicago was 
 divided into South, West, and North divisions, 
 the boundaries defined by the river and .its 
 branches. Its area was approximately thirty-six 
 square miles, but a large percentage of the area 
 was unimproved prairie land, while one-third of 
 the wealth was crowded upon one-tenth of the 
 area in the heart of the city. The business dis- 
 trict was concentrated in the South division, be- 
 tween Adams street, State street, and the river. 
 
 A great number of people habitually walked to 
 and from their places of business, to chureh, and 
 
 78
 
 THE STOEY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 to evening entertainments. The finest residences 
 were only a few blocks from the shops and thea- 
 ters, and the workingman's cottage and cowshed 
 were next door to the factory which employed 
 him. It was estimated that 200,000 people 
 passed every day over the twenty-seven bridges 
 which spanned the river. 
 
 The river and its branches scarcely separated 
 the divisions of the city, for they were crowded 
 with shipping. The vessels were of wood with 
 forests of rigging aloft, cargoes of lumber on 
 deck, and grain or coal in the holds. At inter- 
 vals of two or three blocks were center pivot 
 bridges, constructed of timbers and iron and 
 swung on wooden piling. Lining both banks of 
 the river and its branches, from North avenue 
 to Twelfth street, were enormous grain elevators, 
 lumber yards, coal yards, factories, railroad 
 yards with rolling stock on the tracks, round- 
 houses, depots, breweries, tan yards, warehouses, 
 gas works, and livery stables. In among these, 
 on both sides of the river and beyond them in 
 the West division, were acres of little frame 
 cottages, barns, cowsheds, and fences, inter- 
 spersed with business streets where, if the build- 
 ings were of brick, the walls were thin, the par- 
 titions of pine, and the roofs of tar and felt. 
 
 Chicago Courted Disaster. Inside the fire 
 limits half the buildings were of wood, built 
 before the fire limits were established; but the 
 limits were so constricted as to be a farce. On 
 the South side the line Straggled from Twenty- 
 second street and the lake, to Adams and the 
 
 rX-FIRE CHIEF DEN- FIRE CHIEF WILI.- 
 
 NIS J. SWEENIE. IAM MUSHAM. 
 
 TWO OP CHICAGO'S FAMOUS FIKE 
 FIGHTERS. 
 
 river. On the North it ran from the river along 
 Illinois to Wells, and thence north to Chicago 
 avenue, while on the West side it embraced only 
 the small territory between the Lake and Madi- 
 son, and west to Halsted! 
 
 Around the concentrated wealjth of the city 
 was thus legally drawn a cordon of kindling- 
 wood, while great wedges of pine buildings were 
 thrust into the very heart of Chicago. Decay- 
 ing wooden shanties and towering pine tenements 
 flanked marble and iron palaces. Rows of rotten 
 rookeries lurked in the rear of business blocks. 
 The law was constantly violated. Landlords re- 
 sisted in court the destruction of condemned 
 
 buildings, and filled their fire-traps with the 
 refuse of the city's population. Ignorance, in- 
 difference, and crime were thus made guardians 
 of the safety of the public and its property, 
 and the people seemed to have no appreciation 
 of this ever-present menace. 
 
 Below Adams street, near Fifth avenue, with- 
 in a block of magnificent depots, hotels, and the 
 business palaces of La Salle and Monroe, was a 
 plague spot known as Conley's Patch. It was a 
 region densely covered with old wooden tene- 
 ments, hovels, and saloons, and occupied by a 
 class of people constantly under the surveillance 
 of the police. Between Conley's Patch and the 
 river were the gas works and a tar and felt-roof- 
 ing works. 
 
 From La Salle and Adams to the lake and the 
 main river were solid blocks of brick, stone, iron, 
 and marble, and many of them supposed to be 
 fire-proof. Here were all the great retail stores, 
 the office buildings, the government building, 
 courthouse, banks, theaters, and hotels. On the 
 North side, the old Kinzie addition, east of State 
 street and north of Illinois to the city limits, 
 kept its character of thirty years before as a 
 fine residence district. The houses were mostly 
 frame, but were large and set in spacious 
 grounds, and were occupied by people of wealth 
 and culture, who had treasures to guard. Often 
 there were no more than four such houses in a 
 block, and each was surrounded by elm trees, 
 stables, and green houses. The water works and 
 a brewery, on Chicago avenue and the lake shore, 
 ivero the only breaks in this social seclusion. 
 
 From Clark street west to the river and be- 
 yond it, to. the West side prairie, was a sharp 
 contrast. Frail buildings were crowded up to 
 the factories, lumber and coal yards, and the 
 railroad yards that lined the river. 
 
 Chicago all "Sham and Shingles." With the 
 few exceptions even the best buildings every- 
 where were less substantial than they seemed. 
 Buildings were put up without any regard to 
 durability, health, or safety. Sudden and over- 
 whelming prosperity seemed to have killed the 
 ordinary sense of precaution. ''Walls were run 
 up," if the Chicago Tribune of the issue of 
 September 10, 1871, is to be believed, "a hun- 
 dred feet high and but a single brick in thick- 
 ness." These structures were partitioned, 
 floored, and fitted with pine; a roof of tar and 
 felt was put on, and a heavy wooden or sheet 
 iron cornice was run around the top and painted 
 to simulate stone. "There were miles of such 
 fire traps, pleasing to the eye, looking substan- 
 tial, but all sham and shingles." 
 
 Not only stores and warehouses but factories 
 and hotels where, if a fire broke out at night, the 
 inmates could scarce hope to escape, were built 
 after this fashion, as well as churches and thea- 
 ters. Such buildings frequently tumbled down ; 
 cornices fell of their own weight. A spark on 
 a roof flooded one with flames in an instant; the 
 
 79
 
 THE STOEY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 fragile framework snapped, the marble veneering 
 peeled away, the cornices became flaming fire- 
 brands to carry destruction to neighboring build- 
 ings. ' ' Chicago was a city of everlasting pine, 
 shingles, shams, veneers, stucco, and putty," to 
 quote the Tribune again. And the people were 
 content with these gay shells, filled them with 
 luxurious appointments, sheltered their loved 
 ones, and went out of them into the roaring 
 streets to coin money. If one burned the insur- 
 ance would very nearly build another one as bad. 
 
 Chicago Had Need to be Vigilant. And yet 
 Chicago lay in such a position as to awake in her 
 citizens unusual vigilance. On a flat prairie it 
 was open to all the winds of heaven. Wind was 
 always blowing, either from the inland sea at its 
 feet, or across the plains at its back, so that it 
 had already won the nick-name of "The Windy 
 City. ' ' The winds from the east were usually 
 wet, and fires originating near the lake rarely 
 spread westward. The prevailing summer winds, 
 coming from the southwest, were dry and hot, 
 and, in the path of the sirocco, was a four-mile 
 line of pine buildings and vast stores of inflam- 
 mable materials under tar roofs and in open 
 yards. The shipping and bridges gave a clear 
 right of way for fire across the river. For 
 years Chicago had invited destruction. All that 
 was required were a long dry season, a gale of 
 wind from the southwest, and an exhausted fire 
 department. 
 
 All of these things happened separately many 
 times. On the 8th of October, 1871, they hap- 
 pened all together. Two of the conditions for 
 a great fire in Chicago had been present for 
 three months. The summer of 1871 was un- 
 usually dry and hot. In Chicago a drenching 
 rain of 1^ inches fell on the evening of July 
 3. During the next fourteen weeks, up to the 
 night of October 9, only one inch fell. The 
 average for the season is about ten inches. 
 
 The Drought of '71. In this long period of 
 heat and drought, the middle West and North- 
 west lay sweltering in the sun and gasping in 
 the shade. On the western prairies of Iowa and 
 Nebraska the ranches burned down. Rivers and 
 wells went dry and cattle perished of thirst. 
 The leaves of trees shriveled up and dropped in 
 midsummer. Sunstrokes were reported daily. By 
 September sparks from locomotives kindled fires 
 on the prairies, in corn fields, and in the pine 
 forests to the north. Day after day these fires 
 increased in number and extent. Thousands of 
 acres were burned over, including farmsteads 
 and villages. 
 
 More than a hundred villages, 600 farms with 
 stock and machinery, saw-mills, flour mills, and 
 lumber camps -went up in flames. The total loss 
 of life in these western fires was 1,400, and of 
 property $11,000,000, aside from the losses from 
 the great Chicago fire. The forest and prairie 
 fires gradually drew nearer Chicago. The flames 
 swept the railway lines, and many a train crew 
 
 came in blackened and smelling of smoke and 
 with tales of running a gauntlet of fire in some 
 belt of timber or across a blazing cornfield. 
 Almost daily, refugees from burned-out districts 
 arrived. 
 
 Then large towns in the lumber districts be- 
 gan to go. On the same night as the fire at 
 Chicago, Peshtigo, Wis., a town of 2,000, that 
 had grown up around the saw mills established 
 by William B. Ogden, of Chicago, and which 
 stood on a stream in the heart of a forest of 
 oaks, pines and tamaracks, was swept by a for- 
 est fire. Eight hundred people perished. The 
 loss of $3,000,000 fell on Mr. Ogden, who sus- 
 tained an equal loss in Chicago. 
 
 Of Chicago's 60,000 buildings 40,000 were of 
 wood. Out of these the hot winds had sucked 
 every atom of moisture. Paint blistered, shin- 
 gles curled up in the sun, and weather boarding 
 started from the nails. By the last week in 
 September small fires were frequent, especially 
 on the West Side. They started in sheds, hay 
 lofts, in defective chimneys and in the piles 
 of inflammable materials which were allowed 
 to accumulate in the alleys. Every factory 
 chimney, kitchen fire, kerosene lamp, locomotive 
 smokestack, tugboat and steamer became a 
 menace. Conditions favored the incendiary who, 
 in order to rob houses or to elude the police, 
 did not hesitate to start a blaze. 
 
 _r 
 
 THE FIRE OF SATURDAY NIGHT, OCT. 7. 
 
 (Shaded portion shows district burned over.) 
 
 Thirty Fires in One Week. In a warehouse 
 at State and Sixteenth streets there was a half 
 million dollar fire on September 30 that was be- 
 lieved to have been of incendiary origin. With- 
 in the next six days the fire department was 
 called out twenty-nine times. The fires were 
 mostly on the West Side, and as they were al- 
 ways discovered and put out promptly when a 
 fire alarm was rung and the engines clanged 
 through the streets everybody said, " It 's only a 
 fire on the West Side." 
 
 But the third condition for a great destruc- 
 tive fire in Chicago was rapidly approaching. 
 The fire department was becoming exhausted 
 by its constant fight with flames. 
 
 The drought and heat ran on unbroken into 
 October. The scorching wind still blew steadily 
 
 80
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 out of the southwest, and the sun was like a 
 burning-glass overhead. In the courthouse tower 
 the watchman never relaxed his vigilance. In 
 all the 175 churches of Chicago prayers were 
 offered up for rain; the 55,000 children enrolled 
 in the Sunday schools learned to ask for rain 
 as the greatest boon that could be granted to 
 a parched and smouldering earth. 
 
 And then came the fire- of Saturday night, 
 October 7. This would have been known in his- 
 tory as the Great Chicago Fire had it not been 
 sunk into insignificance by the overwhelming 
 horror of Sunday night. 
 
 The fire of Saturday night struck consterna- 
 tion to the heart of Chicago, for it was exactly 
 placed to be a menace to the city. It started 
 in a planing mill on South Canal street, between 
 Adams and Van Buren, only a block from the 
 river, with its crowded shipping, and between 
 two bridges. 
 
 The Fire of Saturday Night. The building 
 was a brick shell with tar roof, filled with shav- 
 ings and planed lumber. Almost before the 
 first engine reached it it collapsed. A paper box 
 factory stood behind it, a row of frame cottages 
 and another flimsy factory to the north. The 
 rest of the block was covered with frame sheds 
 and lumber piles. A strong wind was blowing 
 from the south. Within twenty minutes after 
 the first alarm was turned in, the four blocks 
 bounded by Van Buren, Adams, Clinton street 
 and the river were ablaze, with their frame 
 tenements, lumber, coal and wood yards, rail- 
 way sheds and the rolling stock of the Pennsyl- 
 vania lines. 
 
 The wooden viaduct leading to the Adams 
 street bridge took fire. The open space below 
 formed such a draft that the flames leaped up 
 with a frightful roar and threatened to cross 
 the river. The bridges were turned and tug- 
 boats pulled the shipping out of danger. On 
 three sides firemen bombarded the flames with 
 a dozen lines of hose. Citizens turned in by 
 hundreds and tore down a line of frame shanties 
 to save the Union depot and an enormous grain 
 elevator that stood by the Adams street bridge. 
 On the river front nothing could be done but 
 let the fire burn itself out. The lack of fire- 
 boats was felt to be a calamity if not a civic 
 crime. 
 
 Glowing cinders drifted on the wind. Blocks 
 away to the north and east people were on their 
 roofs drenching the shingles and stamping out 
 firebrands. All night and until late the next 
 day the fire department used all its resources 
 to extinguish the smouldering piles of lumber 
 and coal long after the fire had ceased to be a 
 pyrotechnic display. No such fire had ever be- 
 fore visited Chicago. In two hours four entire 
 blocks had been burnt over and $750,000 worth 
 of property destroyed. 
 
 It was 4 o'clock Sunday afternoon when the 
 fire boys, after eighteen hours of fire fighting, 
 turned into their quarters to rest, some of the 
 
 engines disabled, some hose burned and many 
 men half-blinded by fire and smoke. The en- 
 tire department was exhausted but not demoral- 
 ized. In less than six hours these civic soldiers 
 were to line up again in the front of battle 
 to fight for the life of Chicago. 
 
 The wind had died down, with only now and 
 then a fitful gust from the south. Sunday 
 evening was warm. Unusual numbers went to 
 church. The guests at the hotels promenaded 
 on Michigan avenue in holiday attire. Family 
 circles gathered for a quiet Sabbath evening 
 on lawns and porches. The Germans thronged 
 their beer gardens to listen to the music of 
 bands. 
 
 To many working people who toil all the week 
 Sunday evening is the occasion for social gath- 
 erings in private houses. Thus it happened that 
 at 137 De Koven street a family named Mc- 
 Laughlin was celebrating the arrival of a rela- 
 tive from Ireland. The McLaughlins lived in 
 the front rooms of a double cottage which they 
 rented from Patrick O'Leary, their landlord 
 living in the rear rooms. 
 
 HOUSE NOW STANDING AT 137 DE KOVEN STREET. 
 
 The Historic Home of the O'Learys. No one 
 in the city, perhaps, felt greater relief when the 
 fire of Saturday night waa got under control 
 than did Mr. and Mrs. O'Leary, for their home 
 and all their earthly possessions were contained 
 on this lot at 137 De Koven street, which was 
 only four blocks south of the burned district. 
 On the back end of the lot was a large stable, 
 which sheltered a horse, six cows and a calf. 
 Mrs. O 'Leary supplied her neighbors with milk. 
 
 The block was a typical one, covered with 
 small frame buildings, the lots separated by 
 board fences, the alleys cluttered with dry 
 refuse and lined with sheds and barns. The 
 fire of Saturday night had made Mrs. O'Leary 
 unusually cautious. By 5 o 'clock she had milked 
 
 81
 
 THE STOEY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 and fed her cows. At 7 she had fed the horse 
 in the alley and put him into the barn. She 
 declared afterward that the work was all fin- 
 ished and the stable locked for the night be- 
 fore dark, and that she had not had a lamp 
 near the barn. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. O'Leary went to bed at 8:30. 
 Two neighbors dropped in during the evening 
 and saw them there. They also heard the sound 
 of a fiddle in the McLaughlin part of the cot- 
 tage and remarked that the young people 
 seemed to be having a good time. One theory 
 that was held as to the origin of the fire was 
 that this party, wanting milk for a punch or 
 an oyster stew, induced Mrs. O 'Leary to go to 
 
 THE PUBLIC SQUARE BEFORE THE FIRE, 
 
 the barn to milk a cow again. This was vigor- 
 ously denied by Mrs. O'Leary. Had she done 
 so, and had the cow kicked over the lamp, she 
 would have immediately alarmed the neighbor- 
 hood in frantic efforts to save her property. 
 
 The other theory is that the young people at 
 the McLaughlins concluded, just for fun, as 
 many such a prank has been done thoughtlessly, 
 to help themselves from Mrs. O 'Leary 's cow. 
 The lateness of the hour and the strangeness 
 of the milkmaid may have ruffled the temper of 
 the cow, and she resented the liberty by kicking 
 the lamp over. Every member of the Mc- 
 Laughlin family denied having been in the barn 
 for any purpose. The visitor could just as 
 easily have been any other neighbor, or even 3 
 deliberate thief from a distance. That some 
 one entered the barn was proved, for when the 
 fire broke out the door was found unlocked, and 
 in the ruins was found an overturned and 
 broken common glass lamp that had held a pint 
 of kerosene. 
 
 The Great Chicago Fire is Kindled. Whoever 
 did the mischief was evidently not anxious to 
 publish the fact. About 9 o 'clock James Dalton, 
 who lived in a frame cottage the next door 
 
 north, heard a woman scream. The sound came 
 from the O 'Leary premises. Ten minutes later 
 members of his family saw fire bursting from 
 the O'Leary stable. 
 
 Two other neighbors saw it almost at the same 
 moment and hastened to arouse the O'Learys 
 and to try to rescue the animals. In the con- 
 fusion no alarm was sent in, for in an instant 
 the barn was blazing as well as the board 
 fences and the refuse in the alley. In five 
 minutes the Dalton house was afire and the fam- 
 ily was fleeing for life. The O'Learys had 
 rushed from their bed and were half -crazed by 
 their misfortune. The people at the McLaughlin 
 party fled in terror. 
 
 Everyone in the neighbor- 
 hood seemed to think the fire 
 started as early as 9 o 'clock. 
 This must have been an error, 
 for it burned with extraor- 
 dinary rapidity, yet it was not 
 seen from any of the three 
 engine houses nearby. It was 
 9:28 when it was sighted by 
 the watchman in the court- 
 house tower. Even then the 
 blaze looked so small that the 
 watchman could not make out 
 its locality. He called down 
 to the fire alarm telegraph 
 operator to call up box 342. 
 This box was at Halsted and 
 Canalport, a mile southwest 
 of the fire. Three engines 
 that were nearer thus did not 
 get the first call. 
 
 The "Little Giant" hose 
 truck from No. 6, under Foreman William 
 Musham, was first on the scene. He laid a line 
 of hose across the O 'Leary lot and soon had a 
 stream of water on the fire. By that time two 
 other barns, three sheds and the Dalton house 
 were burning. Had three or four effective en- 
 gines been on the ground at that time the fire 
 might have been controlled, for only a light 
 breeze was blowing out of the south. 
 
 But for nearly thirty minutes the Little Giant 
 battled with the flames alone. No. 5, which ar- 
 rived next, was partly disabled, so that its fire 
 had to be raked out of the box. The foreman 
 of No. 5 had been on continuous duty for sev- 
 erty-two hours and was nearly blind from 
 smoke. When a general alarm was sent in at 
 10 o'clock the fire had reached Taylor street, 
 and presented all the difficulties of the fire of 
 the night before. 
 
 It was 10 o'clock when the courthouse bell 
 pealed out its solemn note of warning. For 
 four hours it was to boom above all the noises 
 of that awful night. People who heard it toll 
 across the doomed city hear it now in their 
 dreams, although a whole generation has passed 
 away. 
 
 82
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Great Chicago Fire, October 8 and 9, 1871. 
 
 At the boom of the courthouse bell people all 
 over the city sprang from their beds and rushed 
 into the streets, for the bell was used only to 
 sound a general alarm. 
 
 From every engine house the machines raced 
 through the streets with clanging gongs and 
 pounding hoofs. The wind from the south sud- 
 denly whipped around to the southwest and 
 stiffened to a gale. The western sky was lit up 
 by a glare that illuminated the entire city. The 
 fire was speeding toward the river, as it had 
 done the night before, licking up the little 
 wooden buildings as if they were so many pack- 
 ing cases. The direction of the wind was 
 marked by a drift of glowing cinders over the 
 business district in the South division. Still 
 no alarm was felt that the fire would cross the 
 river. It had been as bad the night before, and 
 the fire department had got it under control. 
 
 Suddenly the flames shot up the steeple of a 
 church on Clinton street; then a sulphurous sheet 
 of flame enveloped a match factory; a planing 
 mill became a crimson cube. 
 
 Then the Panic Began. 
 On ' the West Side people 
 were fleeing across the 
 bridges or to the prairies 
 for safety, carrying every- 
 thing imaginable, from 
 babies to beds. As far 
 away as Halsted street . 
 were frantic mothers, cry-| 
 ing children, and raving" 
 men. All the tongues of 
 Babel were let loose in 
 maddened cries. Furniture, 
 express wagons and drays 
 blockaded the streets. All 
 the little homes to the west 
 of the fire opened to re- 
 ceive refugees. 
 
 The fire kept pace with 
 the rising wind. Taylor, 
 Forquer, Ewing and Polk 
 
 streets were reached successively and passed. 
 Towering skyward a hundred feet, the army of 
 flames raced to the river. Burning brands were 
 hurled through the air. As early as 10:30 
 brands kindled blazes on the courthouse cupola 
 at Randolph and Clark, and the watchman put 
 them out with hand grenades. 
 
 The fire ran north in two columns, covering 
 
 two blocks in v/idth, the eastern column in ad- 
 vance. Planing mills, chair factories, lumber 
 yards, railroad shops and rolling stock all fed 
 the flames, innumerable sheds, fences, plank 
 walks and cottages furnishing the kindling wood. 
 So rapidly did the fire leap forward that the 
 fire boys conducted a gallant retreat, running 
 one minute, facing about for another charge 
 the next. No. 14 fire engine was surrounded 
 by flames. The firemen abandoned it with its 
 hose and fled for their lives. 
 
 In Van Buren street another engine was 
 abandoned. At the end of the Van Buren street 
 bridge, which had been swung open, stood a 
 grain elevator, sided and roofed with iron. 
 Spectators who crowded the bridges above 
 Adams street did not think the elevator could 
 possibly burn, but, after only a moment's re- 
 sistance, the flames engulfed it. It became a 
 tower of fire, the thin iron casing running 
 molten from the top. 
 
 But now the fire must surely burn itself out, 
 the people thought, for it had reached the four 
 
 MAP OF BUKNKD UISTKICT. 
 
 The tire began at extreme southwest corner and swept diagonally across 
 city to water works. Line shows route taken. 
 
 blocks burned over the night before. A black- 
 ened chasm nearly a thousand feet square lay 
 along the river front between the fire and fur- 
 ther food for the flames. To the horror of all 
 who looked, long banners and pennants of flames 
 streamed out on the gale, spanned the space 
 with one vaulting leap, and fell on the elevator 
 and depot at Adams street. 
 
 83
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 .Now Came a Eace for Life. Across the Madi- 
 son and Randolph street bridges and through 
 the Washington street tunnel hundreds fled. The 
 west bank of the South branch was walled with 
 fire for a mile, and it was believed that the 
 flames would sweep along the North branch 
 to the city limits, wiping out the entire river 
 front of the West division. 
 
 The courthouse bell kept up its solemn toll- 
 ing. It was heard at intervals above the roar 
 of the gale, the clang of the fire engines, the 
 whistle of tugboats that were darting about on 
 errands of mercy to the big vessels in the South 
 branch, and the confused cries that filled the 
 streets. 
 
 Fascinated by the splendor of that awful con- 
 flagration, a sea of people watched it from 
 housetops on the North and South Sides. No 
 one thought it could possibly cross the river 
 even yet, although the blazing rigging of ves- 
 sels could be seen, and silhouetted upon the glare 
 were groups of men on the east bank wetting 
 down roofs and stamping out fire branda which 
 iell thick and fast. 
 
 It was 11:30. The fire had been burning some- 
 what over two hours. The wind veered a little 
 more to the westward, turned raw and chill, 
 and increased its speed. Spectators shivered in 
 their thin summer garments. The wall of fire 
 along the west bank bent eastward on the gale 
 until it almost arched the water. Far ahead of 
 the flames burning brands were hurled through 
 the air. 
 
 A huge blazing cornice was hurled across the 
 river and fell on the new $80,000 Parmalee 
 stables at Jackson and Franklin, and the pro- 
 prietors, who had been on guard for an hour, 
 fled for their lives. In an instant the building 
 was engulfed in flames. A little later a brand 
 shot like an incandescent meteor through a win- 
 dow of the Powell roofing works near the east 
 end of the Adams street bridge. This building 
 was filled with tar and felt and it was flanked 
 by the gas works and Conley's Patch, with its 
 acres of frame tenements. 
 
 The engines were all at work on the West 
 Side, but at the call of the courthouse bell and 
 telegraph alarm they coiled up their hose and 
 cleft a way across blazing bridges and through 
 flying people to meet and fight the new peril 
 on the South Side. 
 
 Twelve o'clock struck! The mayor, Roswell 
 B. Mason, arrived at the courthouse to direct 
 the work of trying to save the city from de- 
 struction. With a shock like an earthquake the 
 huge reservoir at the gas works exploded. Aa 
 if a dam had broken, floods of flame fell across 
 the doomed city. 
 
 The Fire at Midnight. With the explosion of 
 the gas works reservoir the pile of bituminous 
 coal in the yards took fire, and Conley's Patch, 
 that criminal-infested nest of wooden tenements 
 which filled the rest of the block, was blazing. 
 To the crowds of refugees from the West Side 
 
 was now added the worst and most dangerous 
 element of Chicago 's population, let loose to 
 prey on the helpless victims of the great ca- 
 lamity. The drunkard impeded the progress of 
 the flying, the pickpocket plied his trade in the 
 indescribable jam and confusion, the thief broke 
 into houses and stores for loot, the brute 
 trampled his neighbors under foot. 
 
 The gas works had been destroyed but no gas 
 was needed. The flames supplied light for fran- 
 tic work and flight. From the solid mass of 
 fire three long fingers of flame shot out, one 
 stretching eastward along the south side of 
 Monroe street, one northward among the fac- 
 tories and lumber yards along the east bank 
 of the river, and between these was a longer 
 and stronger one which streamed on the gale 
 diagonally across blocks northeastward. To 
 those who watched the fire from a height on 
 the South Side, at 12 o'clock, it looked like the 
 
 RUINS OF THE COURTHOUSE. 
 
 lurid foot and talons of some enormous bird 
 of jN^ey clutching at the vitals of the city. 
 
 In fifteen minutes the claws had widened and 
 lengthened. The spaces between were webbed 
 with connecting fires, and long brands were 
 hurled ahead by the southwest gale. The air 
 was like a furnace, and it was filled with a 
 rain of fire. Glowing cinders and sparks fanned 
 to incandescence by the wind fell in a torrent 
 on roofs of houses and on fleeing people a mile 
 in advance of the flames. 
 
 With the speed of an express train the south- 
 ern line of fire raced down Monroe street to 
 another block of tenements. So quickly was 
 this inflammable quarter engulfed that many, 
 roused from a midnight sleep, must have per- 
 ished. Scarcely one of the poor foreigners who 
 lived there escaped with more than life. Peo- 
 
 84
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 pie were seen leaping from roofs and windows. 
 Children were thrown down to firemen, who 
 tried to raise ladders through those billows of 
 flames. 
 
 One witness to this awful scene has compared 
 the march of the flames to an army in three 
 divisions. The main column, running diagonal- 
 ly from Adams and Franklin to State and South 
 Water, took the strongholds of the city, one 
 after the other. On either side it was flanked 
 by columns which destroyed the demoralized 
 remnants and devastated outlying districts. 
 "Single Uhlans," or lance-armed cavalry, skir- 
 mished here and there, far in front of the solid 
 infantry. Then small detachments cut off weak 
 outlying forces. Hot battles were fought around 
 every big business citadel. When these suc- 
 cumbed the main body of the fire marched up 
 and swept over the field." 
 
 A Maddened Babel of Sound rose from the 
 heart of the city. The streets were filled with 
 suffocating crimson smoke, shot with glittering 
 sparks. Between the streets were solid blocks 
 of rustling flames, in which timbers could be 
 heard to crack, marble veneering to snap, and 
 lofty walls of brick and stone to fall with 
 thunderous reverberations. Now and then stores 
 of oil or chemicals exploded with an awful 
 crash that drowned the shrieks of imprisoned 
 people, the screaming of frightened horses, the 
 howling of dogs, the shouts of firemen and ex- 
 pressmen who raced their teams through the jam 
 of pedestrians, the panting of engines and the 
 mournful boom of the great courthouse bell that 
 tolled the passing moments of Chicago's life. 
 
 People were flying eastward to the lake front 
 and northward across the river, over the bridges 
 and through the dark tunnel. The vacant space 
 along the lake front was crowded with refugees 
 and goods of every description. From Dearborn 
 street east and south to Twelfth street the roofs 
 of houses and stores were covered with des- 
 perate workers who, with hose attached to hy- 
 drants, were drenching carpets and blankets and 
 putting out falling brands. It was very early 
 seen that the business district of the South Side 
 west of Dearborn was doomed. The Field and 
 Leiter building at State and Washington streets 
 and other great retail houses had steam pumps, 
 which kept them drenched. Hour after hour 
 water laved the roofs and sides of these white 
 marble structures. In the glare of the fire they 
 looked like colossal fountains enveloped in glit- 
 tering spray. 
 
 When Mayor Mason reached the courthouse 
 shortly after 12 o'clock to direct the work of 
 fighting the fire the flames were only two blocks 
 to the southwest, and watchmen in the cupola 
 were putting out blazing brands with hand 
 grenades. Isolated buildings on Kandolph and 
 Lake, west of Fifth avenue, were burning. The 
 hot blast was tearing off signs and blowing over 
 sheds. Awnings flashed up and vanished. 
 
 Brands, cinders and squares of blazing felt from 
 roofs sailed through the air to spread destruc- 
 tion. 
 
 But Mayor Mason sat in his office and tele- 
 graphed for help to other cities; directed that 
 buildings should be blown up along the line of 
 the fire; gave the order to release the prisoners 
 in the jail in the basement of the courthouse and 
 to remove them to the Chicago avenue station; 
 started city teams to the warehouses of the 
 Hazard Powder Company, seven miles out, Tor 
 explosives. For two hours, until the bell crashed 
 to the basement, and he had to fly for his life, 
 the mayor remained at his post. 
 
 Heroes of the Fire. Chicago was full of men 
 who considered duty first and personal safety 
 afterward. When it was seen that the fire must 
 soon reach the splendid line of banking and in- 
 surance houses on La Salle street, business men 
 and their employes poured into the threatened 
 area, already like a furnace, from every part 
 of the city. They forced their way across the 
 bridges, through black tunnels, where the only 
 guide was the constant cry, "Keep to the 
 right," and through the indescribable jam of 
 the streets. They entered smouldering bank, of- 
 fice and store, placed valuables in vaults, or, if 
 there was no vault, emptying the contents of 
 
 MAYOR ROSWELL 
 MASON. 
 
 GEN. P. H. SHERIDAN. 
 
 safes into trunks and boxes and carrying them 
 to the streets, for glowing iron safes had been 
 seen to fall with crashing walls. 
 
 Expressmen demanded $10, $50, then $1,000 a 
 load. This last price was actually paid by a 
 banker who thus saved a trunk containing $600,- 
 000 in greenbacks, which he got off safely to 
 Milwaukee. 
 
 By the light of the fire clerks sorted the mail 
 in the postoffice, locked it in bags and got it 
 over to Dearborn park, on the lake front. Print- 
 ers set type and locked up forms, determined 
 to get out one more issue of a paper. Along 
 Wabash and Michigan avenues homes were 
 emptied of elegant furnishings, which were 
 dragged to the lake front. 
 
 Every instant the noise, heat, terror, con- 
 fusion and frightful jam in the streets increased. 
 Twenty thousand people had been made home- 
 less, other thousands ruined. Families had be- 
 
 85
 
 THE STOEY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 come separated, children lost and the weak 
 trampled under foot. Invalids were dying of 
 exposure to wind, heat and suffocating smoke. 
 Tumult and uproar, ruin and despair, death and 
 disaster filled the hours of sleep. 
 
 Swiftly the fire traveled with the wind. A 
 little after 2 o'clock it crossed State street 
 bridge to ravage the North division. The main 
 column made straight for the courthouse. The 
 right column had turned at Dearborn street, 
 baffled by the Government and Tribune build- 
 ings, and had run back to Van Buren and the 
 river. 
 
 The main and left columns were converging 
 toward Madison and La Salle. Scarcely twenty 
 minutes elapsed from the burning of the Grand 
 Pacific hotel, which then covered an entire 
 block, before every intervening building on La 
 Salle was blazing, and the fire had laid siege 
 to the half-million-dollar marble Chamber of 
 Commerce, occupied by the Board of Trade, at 
 La Salle and Washington. 
 
 Fight Fire With Fire. Here at half past 1 
 o'clock the fire department blew up the build- 
 ing of the Merchants' Insurance Company. On 
 the explosion a broad black chasm opened. The 
 flames swung across it like an athlete and fell 
 on the banking and insurance houses beyond. 
 
 The fire was now behind the courthouse and 
 had reached its climax on the South Side. A 
 hundred huge buildings were burning at once. 
 Six-story stone, iron and brick structures were 
 consumed in five minutes by the watch. The 
 marble was burned to lime, the stone fused, the 
 iron sheathing ran molten and iron columns were 
 twisted into fantastic and glowing serpents that 
 writhed in the air. 
 
 In nearly every street the flames entered the 
 rear of a row of buildings simultaneously. In 
 five minutes the front windows reddened. An 
 instant later the whole block was engulfed and 
 sheets of flame separated from the mass to roll 
 over the next block. 
 
 At 1:30 a great blazing timber from a La 
 Salle street block was hurled on the wooden 
 dome of the stone courthouse. Instantly the 
 flames seemed to leap from every window of 
 the tower. The watchmen were singed as they 
 ran down the stairs. In the midst of the flames, 
 as the walls burned away, the great bell, which 
 weighed half a ton and measured seven feet 
 across, could be seen as it continued to toll, for 
 it was operated by machinery, until its supports 
 were destroyed and it crashed to the basement 
 at 2:05 a. m. 
 
 When Mayor Mason reached the exit, five min- 
 utes later, La Salle street was one long furnace 
 for ' a solid mile. Washington and Randolph 
 were blazing from the river to Clark. North 
 on Clark he raced with flame and falling brands 
 to South Water, where he was comparatively 
 safe. He lived at Michigan avenue and Twelfth 
 street. How he was to get home was a serious 
 question. He tried the tunnel at La Salle, but 
 
 found it filled with struggling humanity in dan- 
 ger of suffocation from the smoke. He finally 
 crossed the bridge at Wells street and walked 
 east on Michigan to recross the river at the 
 Bush street bridge. 
 
 North Side residence streets, before the fire, 
 were shaded by great elm trees. Cinders had 
 fallen among the drifted autumn leaves and lit- 
 tle fires were skurrying along before the gale, 
 blowing up into alleys and between fence 
 pickets. This looked ominous to the mayor, but 
 he observed that the people everywhere were 
 putting out these incipient blazes and did not 
 seem to be alarmed, and he hurried on. But 
 looking back from Rush street bridge he saw a 
 big livery stable at the north end of the State 
 street bridge burst into flames. 
 
 The Fire Had Crossed to the North Division! 
 It was then about 2:30. In the incredibly short 
 space of two hours and a half the fire had cut 
 a swath across the city, from Adams and Frank- 
 lin, to State and South Water, half a mile wide, 
 and had crossed the river to the North division. 
 Long before the flames had worked eastward 
 of State on the south bank of the river, the 
 flames reached and destroyed the water works 
 at Chicago avenue. Once the water supply was 
 shut off the fire could proceed to complete the 
 destruction of the city. 
 
 The character of the buildings along the north 
 bank of the river caused the fire to attain, a 
 frightful speed. North of the bridge at State 
 street was a wooden viaduct on trestle work. 
 A long low freight depot and train of oil cars 
 lay to the west. To the east was Wright 's 
 livery stable with a flat roof of tar and felt. 
 Rows of cheap frame boarding houses lined the 
 cross streets and wooden sheds the alleys. A 
 line 150 yards long on the north bank of the 
 river was soon ablaze. Within thirty minutes 
 the fire had reached Cass street, half a mile to 
 the northeast. 
 
 After crossing Illinois street the flames were 
 in the very heart of the north shore residence 
 district, where they progressed as fast as a 
 man could run. Many business men who had 
 been at their offices on the South Side ran on 
 the first alarm, but reached their homes only 
 to find them ablaze and their families gone 
 into the wild night of terror, where none were 
 to find shelter and few safety. 
 
 Here in this district were picket fences, board 
 walks, shrubbery and shade trees, dry and leaf- 
 less, stables, conservatories and houses with 
 large light verandas, balconies, bays and cupo- 
 las. It was touch and go with fire, with such 
 decorative material and spacious ways for the 
 wind to revel in. Those who prepared to fly 
 as soon as the fire crossed the river were able 
 to get out their horses and carriages, bury some 
 silver and precious articles, and escape with 
 the family pictures and a trunk full of cloth- 
 ing to the West Side.
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Few did this, however. Far too many were 
 possessed by the fatal delusion that their homes 
 could not burn. Women and children were sent 
 on ahead while the men remained behind to try 
 
 THE KEKFOOT BLOCK. 
 
 First building erected after the fire. 
 
 to save the house or furniture. In this way 
 families became separated, for those left be- 
 hind were compelled to fly to the strip of va- 
 cant ground on the lake shore, while the fire 
 drove the ones sent on from their latest refuge. 
 
 The Home Guard. A typical instance of the 
 heroic efforts made to save many of the rich 
 and beautiful homes of the North Side is that 
 made by Dr. Isaac N. Arnold. His home occu- 
 pied the entire block bounded by Erie, Huron, 
 Pine (now Lincoln Park boulevard) and Rush. 
 The grounds were filled with beautiful shrub- 
 bery and were shaded by tall elm trees. A dense 
 hedge of lilacs gave seclusion to the place. Wild 
 grapes, Virginia creepers and bittersweet draped 
 the spacious verandas. There were stables and 
 greenhouses, and a fountain capped by the pre- 
 historic Waubansia stone with its carved Indian 
 face. 
 
 Here this ex-congressman and man of wealth, 
 leisure and culture, the friend and biographer of 
 Lincoln, lived in a home enriched by a well- 
 stocked library, fine pictures and the accumu- 
 lated souvenirs of travel. He determined to save 
 it if he could. He sent his wife and little girl 
 northward to the home of a married daughter, 
 which was also in the course of a few hours 
 to be overtaken by the flames. With two other 
 daughters and a son all school children and 
 
 the servants he remained to fight the fire. 
 
 Carpets, hangings and blankets were spread 
 over roofs and verandas and for two hours that 
 gallant little band put out with water from two 
 hydrants every blaze that started. The contest 
 grew hotter as the flames swept past on their 
 way to the water works. There was a sea .of 
 fire to the south and west. Then it appeared 
 on the north. A torrent of cinders, sparks and 
 brands fell over them. Twenty times blazes 
 started on the roof, the verandas, the barn, in 
 the trees, and among the drifted leaves on the 
 lawn. 
 
 The burning of the water works shut off the 
 r'ipply of water. Only then, with fire starting 
 
 RUINS OF FIELD & LETTER BUILDING. 
 
 in a dozen places, did Dr. Arnold gather his 
 little garrison about him and plan how to cut 
 their way out. There was only one avenue of 
 escape open and that was toward the Jake.
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 The Ruined City. 
 (October 9 to 15, 1871.) 
 
 The fire, in cutting diagonally across from 
 the State street bridge to Chicago avenue and 
 the lake, forced refugees into a vacant space 
 between Illinois and Superior, east of St. Glair. 
 There were just forty acres in this tract, which 
 was known locally as "The Sands." To the 
 north of it were Lill 's enormous brewery and the 
 water works both to be in flames shortly after 
 3 o'clock a, m. Westward were blocks of blaz- 
 ing houses. To the south lay acres of planing 
 mills and lumber yards along the north bank 
 of the river. 
 
 The Purgatory on "The Sands." "The 
 Sands" were to be surrounded on al! sides 
 but one by fire. The whole forty acres very 
 early became an inconceivable jam of human 
 beings, animals, trunks, boxes, household furni- 
 ture, and the contents of stores. Houses of 
 wealth and of poverty and haunts of ignorance 
 and vice were emptied on "The Sands" to share 
 the horrors of the inferno. 
 
 From the first the air was like a blast from 
 a furnace and thick with suffocating smoke. 
 Torrents of sparks and cinders rained down. 
 The throngs, maddened by suffering and despair, 
 took refuge in the water, mothers covering the 
 heads of children with wet handkerchiefs. 
 Fathers buried their wives and children in the 
 wet sand along the shores, leaving openings for 
 breathing and keeping the mounds drenched. 
 They stood themselves up to the neck in the 
 cold lake with w.t coats over their heads and 
 their backs to the fire. 
 
 Hour after hour thousands stood under that 
 storm of fire. They saw the water works burn 
 and knew the whole north shore was doomed to 
 destruction, as the flames raced up the lake 
 shore to the cemeteries and to Lincoln park, 
 which were also filled with refugees from far- 
 ther north. 
 
 While the heat on "The Sands" was still ter- 
 rific fram the fire to the west and north, the 
 lumber piles, planing mills, and elevators along 
 the river to the south began to burn. Every- 
 body on that gridiron of sand, covered with 
 bonfires of household goods, rushed into the 
 lake. All stood up to the neck in the water and 
 dipped their heads under to cool them. Infants 
 and invalids died of suffocation. From 5 o'clock 
 to 10 in the morning they stood there. Then 
 they staggered up the beach and dragged them- 
 
 selves to the shelter of a stone wall that ran 
 eastward along Superior street to the lake. The 
 heat there was great enough to dry clothing. 
 Some when dry caught fire. Many were nearly 
 blind from the heat and smoke. Scarcely one 
 had not lost some loved one as well as home 
 and property. They were all to live until night- 
 fall, many until another daybreak, before they 
 could seek food or shelter. 
 
 Early in the dawn the refugees on ' ' The 
 Sands," in Lincoln park, on the prairies to the 
 west, and the lake front on the South Side, 
 heard explosions from the south. No one knew 
 their meaning, but the whole lake shore district 
 south of the river seemed to be in flames. The 
 fire, spreading from the river bank, down which 
 it had eaten slowly, gained new strength among 
 the elevators and big warehouses around the 
 Illinois Central depot. 
 
 Fire Begins Again on South Side. The fire 
 was then to the north and east of Field and 
 Leiter's big retail store on State and Washing- 
 ton. Up to this time Michigan, Wabash and 
 State streets had escaped the flames except 
 along the river bank, and the Tribune block 
 at Dearborn and Madison had successfully stood 
 three assaults and prevented the fire from pro- 
 gressing north or east of that point. 
 
 Field and Leiter's was the key to the retail 
 district of State street, and as the elevators and 
 depot of the Illinois Central at Randolph caught 
 fire efforts were redoubled around the white 
 marble dry goods palace. The fire engines could 
 do nothing, for there was now no water in the 
 mains, but the steam pumps of the building 
 brought up water directly from the lake and 
 kept the block drenched. Just at dawn a blaz- 
 ing section of a roof was dropped on the pump- 
 ing works, disabling them. 
 
 Destruction of Business Center Completed. 
 Despair seized the hearts of the refugees on the 
 lake front as the noble edifice was wrapped in 
 flames. Wild with terror, they abandoned treas- 
 ures they had guarded all that terrible night 
 and fled southward before the flames should 
 overtake them. As if it could not come on fast 
 enough, it was reinforced by a new fire in Dear- 
 born street. 
 
 At Dearborn and Jackson the flames had 
 burned down to embers. The engines, standing 
 about in the streets, could have pnt these out 
 had there been any water in the mains. At* 7 
 o'clock in the morning a sudden gust of wind 
 
 88
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 fanned these embers to white heat and then 
 hurled them upon housetops along Dearborn and 
 Monroe. The seven-story Palmer house was 
 soon in flames. The fire ran rapidly northward 
 to McVicker's theater, on Madison. The iron 
 shutters of the Tribune building, already sprung 
 by the heat, gave way. When the flames gained 
 entrance the superheated air seemed to explode. 
 Having wiped everything out on Dearborn 
 street, this fire joined forces with the other on 
 State street. In a kind of despair, stores and 
 residences were emptied of their contents into 
 Dearborn park and upon the lake front. Own- 
 ers stood by in dull apathy and saw their do- 
 mestic and business homes vanish in flames. 
 The fire was working southward against the 
 wind, and progressing slowly, but below Harri- 
 son street were acres of pine cottages and tene- 
 ments. With a 400-mile-long reservoir of water 
 at her feet Chicago was helpless! Fatigue, ter- 
 ror, despair, ruin, and the reign of lawlessness, 
 
 a crimson ball through the pall of smoke which 
 hung over the lake. As the wind freshened the 
 tumult increased on the shore. Islands of fire 
 still rose out of that sea of ruins to north and 
 west. By noon the fire on the South Side had 
 burned itself out, but there was no escape to 
 the west across those smouldering blocks except 
 by making a long detour to the Twelfth street 
 bridge. 
 
 On the North Side, after following along the 
 shore to Lincoln park and the cemeteries, where 
 thousands had found refuge, the fire had seem- 
 ingly burned itself out. It was 10 o'clock Mon- 
 day morning when a fresh fire broke out at 
 Dearborn and Ontario from scattered embers of 
 buildings that had been destroyed six hours be- 
 fore. 
 
 Burning of the North Division. Running 
 straight up Dearborn this fire quickly swept 
 away what remained of the fine residence dis- 
 trict, sent refugees flying from Washington 
 
 (Copyright, Geo. J. Klein.) 
 
 HEART OF CHICAGO AFTER THE FIRE. 
 
 Looking North Up Dearborn and Clark Streets from Harrison. 
 
 which ran on unchecked, aroused in the homeless 
 people a kind of madness. The throngs swarm- 
 ing in Michigan avenue, south of the fire, strug- 
 gled for air, space, safety. But so closely were 
 fugitives massed together that to progress one 
 block required half an hour. 
 
 Sheridan to the Rescue. It was then that 
 General Sheridan, having got a supply of pow- 
 der, began to blow up buildings in Harrison and 
 Congress streets. The gorge of humanity in 
 Michigan avenue stopped in horror when the 
 first detonation came up from the south, until 
 policemen checked the panic by shouting the 
 good news that powder was being used to stop 
 the flames. 
 
 When the morning sun came up it looked like 
 
 square, the churches and spacious homes, and 
 started bonfires in the piles of household goods 
 in the cemeteries and Lincoln park. Then it 
 burned up Clark and La Salle and was soon in 
 the thickly tenanted district which bordered the 
 lumber yards and factories along the North 
 branch. 
 
 The harrowing scenes of the night before 
 were repeated and multiplied, for practically the 
 entire North division was to burn out by night- 
 fall. Flight was eastward, as well as west 
 and north, for the lake shore district had been 
 destroyed and fire could no longer pursue there. 
 But the greatest number tried to reach the 
 West Side over Chicago avenue. In thirty min- 
 utes that wide thoroughfare was gorged with 
 
 89
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 human beings, vehicles and loads of goods. But 
 the flames approached and Chicago avenue was 
 emptied. The refugees now fled to Division 
 street, where there was soon a frightful jam. 
 
 Division street, too, became impassable and 
 the scene was repeated in North avenue. On 
 the West Side many refugees found shelter in 
 the cars of the Northwestern Eailway company 
 that had been rolled to the outlying switches 
 for safety. Many camped on the prairie and 
 sat there, shelterless, hungry, and thirsty, gaz- 
 ing across the river at the acres of flames that 
 were sweeping to the city limits. Other thou- 
 sands were in the woods of Lake View, far 
 beyond the last straggling house of the city. 
 
 Perilous Journey Up the River. About 4 
 o'clock Monday afternoon, Dr. Isaac N. Arnold, 
 who, with his children and servants, had de- 
 fended his beautiful home so valiantly, went on 
 a tugboat up the river through the burned dis- 
 trict. He had escaped with his children from 
 that purgatory on "The Sands" in a rowboat, 
 which he found tied to Mr. Ogden 's private pier, 
 to the lighthouse at the end of the government 
 pier. In the midst of the water, far out in the 
 harbor, the little company in the lighthouse had 
 fought fire on the pier when the elevators and 
 Illinois Central depot burned. 
 
 At 4 o'clock Monday afternoon, Dr. Arnold 
 chartered a tugboat to go up through the burned 
 district, so he could search for his wife and 
 little girl. All the bridges had been burned 
 to the forks, and their twisted wrecks had fallen 
 in the river. Warehouses, stores, docks, ele- 
 vators and lumber yards were still burning 
 along both banks of the main stream. With the 
 women and children shut up in the little deck 
 house, the men lying on their faces, and with 
 hose drenching her deck and sides, the tug 
 steamed up to the forks of the river. It picked 
 its way through the debris of bridges and shot 
 past hot and crumbling walls, from which 
 loosened bricks fell hissing into the water. 
 After a perilous half hour the passengers were 
 landed on the west side. 
 
 This family had been fifteen hours without 
 shelter and twenty-six without food. Another 
 twenty-four hours was to pass before Mrs. Ar- 
 nold and the little girl were to be found safe 
 in a West side suburb. It was but a typical 
 experience of a family in the Great Chicago 
 Fire. Happy was the family that could gather 
 all its loved ones about a new hearth in the 
 humblest home. 
 
 The civilized world stood aghast, appalled by 
 the figures presented by this most destructive 
 fire of modern times. A total of 2,124 acres, or 
 three and one-half square miles, had been burned 
 over, 18,000 buildings destroyed, 100,000 people 
 made homeless and nearly $200,000,000 in prop- 
 erty wiped out. The total loss of life was esti- 
 mated at 250, but numbers in poor foreign and 
 in the criminal quarters must also have perished. 
 
 The gale had acted like a blow pipe in a fur- 
 
 nace, creating inflammable gases that filled 
 buildings and caused them literally to explode 
 and melt as soon as the flames touched them. 
 The fire had thus extended at the rate of sixty- 
 five acres an hour, and at its height, when in 
 the heart of the city, destroyed property at the 
 rate of $100,000 a minute. The fires of London 
 and Moscow were eclipsed. The burning of 
 Rome in Nero 's time was the only historic fire 
 comparable to it. 
 
 The area burned over had been equalled in 
 other fires, but never till then had the very 
 heart of a city been stopped in its beating. On 
 the West side were still homes for two-thirds of 
 the people, and there were railroads, factories, 
 retail stores, churches, schools, elevators, and 
 a few lumber and coal yards. But there were 
 no banks, hotels, depots, newspaper offices, in- 
 surance company offices, or public buildings. 
 Even the evidence of ownership of real estate 
 had been destroyed in the courthouse records, 
 and money on deposit in the banks, it was 
 thought, must all have been destroyed. The 
 capital of insurance companies had in many in- 
 stances vanished in the flames. Chicago seemed 
 paralyzed by a blow on her heart. 
 
 Fire Makes Clean Sweep. In the entire burned 
 district only four buildings remained standing. 
 The Lind block at Lake and Market on the 
 river bank escaped because it was comparative- 
 ly isolated. The Hixon block at La Salle and 
 Monroe was an unfinished structure of stone and 
 brick, and had not roof or wood work in it to 
 ignite, or closed spaces in which gas could ac- 
 cumulate. In the North division a small cottage 
 on Lincoln place was saved by its owner, and 
 the house of Mahon D. Ogden, which stood on 
 the site of the Newberry library of today, fac- 
 ing Washington square, was preserved by its 
 park frontage, and by just such heroic measures 
 as had failed to save the Arnold house. 
 
 Except for some poor shanties near the bridges, 
 the cottage, the Ogden house, and a conservatory 
 on the McGagg grounds, not a building was left 
 in the North division in a space three miles long. 
 A few scattered ruins of churches and ranks of 
 leafless trees stood stark above the general level, 
 but the entire division had the appearance of the 
 original prairie after a fire has burned dff the 
 grass. Sidewalks, fences, and shrubbery had 
 disappeared. The streets looked like embank- 
 ments across the flats. Thirty-six hours before, 
 75,000 people had lived on this desolate waste. 
 Chimneys and brick work had tumbled into base- 
 ment excavations, filling them up to the level 
 of the prairie. 
 
 Spectators View the Ruins. On the 14th of 
 October, a week after the fire, a heavy rain 
 storm set in. Some of the more picturesque and 
 dangerous ruins in the heart of the city wero 
 blown down. Sunday was bright and cool. A 
 week had p'assed; the homeless had been shelter- 
 ed and fed, families united, order restored, money 
 
 90
 
 THE STOKY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 had been found safe in bank vaults, a good half 
 of the insurance would be paid. Already Chi- 
 v-'jigo had taken heart of grace. Its people could 
 come and look upon the devastation wrought by 
 the fire. Until long after nightfall the crowds 
 filed through nameless streets that were lit up 
 only by the light of the moon. The ruins, black- 
 ened by smoke and washed by rain, had a look 
 as of hoary age. 
 
 "A Heart for Any Fate." But the word 
 finis had not been written to the history of 
 Chicago. Instead a new chapter was begun, 
 with such faith, courage, and energy as to amaze 
 the world, which not only looked on and ap- 
 plauded but lent a helping hand. The fire was 
 a shock that seemed to galvanize Chicago's 
 citizens into action rather than to stun them. 
 
 How bereft and ruined men could think and 
 plan and work systematically and effectively, 
 during the first chaotic days following the great 
 calamity, was a marvel such as the world has 
 never witnessed since. But having witnessed it, 
 it knows what civilization stands for. Cen- 
 turies of mental and moral training had fitted 
 the people of Chicago to meet the emergency. 
 All through the horrors of Sunday night there 
 were cool heads, courageous hearts, devotion to 
 duty, and self-sacrifice standing out clearly and 
 to some degree controlling that brief carnival of 
 suffering, madness, and wild disorder. 
 
 On Monday, while the fire was still burning, 
 these same men turned, with more than their 
 old-time vigor, to the pressing work at hand. 
 They fed, sheltered, and protected Chicago's 
 100,000 homeless people, and they resumed busi- 
 ness, thus giving work and renewed hope to the 
 destitute. 
 
 Mayor Mason's home at Michigan avenue and 
 Twelfth street was not to be destroyed, but he 
 did not know that. When the fire broke out 
 afresh at Dearborn and State streets at seven 
 o'clock Monday morning, he sent his family to a 
 southern suburb and organized a police force to 
 keep the jam of people in Michigan avenue 
 moving southward without haste or panic. He, 
 himself, worked with General Sheridan in direct- 
 ing the blowing up of buildings in Harrison and 
 Congress streets. 
 
 It was here, with the fire checked on the South 
 side, that he was found by a messenger at noon. 
 He had been on duty since midnight, but he 
 went at once to preside over a meeting of the 
 city council to be held in the Congregational 
 church at Washington and Ann streets on the 
 West side. 
 
 Relief for Refugees. As early as eight o 'clock 
 in the morning two members of the council had 
 secured an open buggy and made a tour along 
 the edge of the burned district. From the lake 
 shore at Twelfth street, they drove west to 
 Halsted and then north. The entire southern 
 and western line of the fire and far out on the 
 prairie was covered with an indescribable mass 
 
 of people, camping beside what goods they had 
 saved. Children had already begun to cry from 
 hunger and thirst, and their parents were dazed 
 and distracted by the calamity. There were 
 thousands of invalids, injured and temporarily 
 insane people, and lost children who must be 
 cared for immediately. 
 
 But it was along the North branch, west of 
 the acres of flames that were sweeping to the 
 city limits, and northward in the woods of Lake 
 View that the numbers of people and their 
 sufferings were most appalling. Seventy-five 
 thousand had lived in the North division, which 
 was utterly destroyed by nightfall. 
 
 All day long refugees swarmed across the 
 remaining bridges and swelled the numbers on 
 the prairie. The fate of other thousands on 
 "The Sands," in Lincoln Park and the lake 
 shore cemeteries could not be learned until the 
 fire died out at Fullerton avenue. But it was 
 known that many who could be reached must 
 perish within twenty-four hours if relief were 
 not brought. 
 
 The mere enumeration of things done officially 
 that Monday afternoon, while the fire was still 
 raging, to relieve suffering, restore order, and 
 insure the safety of property, takes the breath. 
 
 Chicago Knows What to Do and Does It. 
 The Congregational church became the mayor's 
 office, the council chamber, and the headquarters 
 for police and relief work. Until pumps could 
 get water into the mains again, the lighting of 
 fires and lamps was forbidden. A volunteer 
 guard was organized to patrol the streets to 
 enforce this order and to see that saloons were 
 not opened. Then 5,000 special policemen were 
 sworn in to work among the refugees and to 
 distribute relief. One proud boy, who had a 
 printing press in a barn near the church, ran 
 off the police badges on strips of muslin. So- 
 ciety belles fed the press and inked the rollers. 
 
 Green Street church was turned into a huge 
 kitchen for the boiling of coffee. The bakeries 
 were ordered to deliver all the bread in stock 
 to the city relief authorities. Every wagon and 
 driver that could be captured was impressed into 
 the service of the city. Some were sent out 
 to bring in the injured and lost children, while 
 others distributed bread, coffee, and water. 
 Private houses were thrown wide open to shelter 
 the homeless; churches, schoolhouses, and the 
 boat houses in the West side parks were turned 
 into hospitals. 
 
 By two o'clock news of the relief plans had 
 spread everywhere and helpers came in preach- 
 ers without churches, merchants without busi- 
 ness houses, ladies without homes, teachers with- 
 out schools, doctors without offices. The rail- 
 road companies offered free transportation to 
 those with friends in other places who could 
 care for them. Most of the depots had been 
 burned, and men, women, and children in scanty 
 garb, and covered with ashes and soot, con- 
 
 91
 
 gregated at improvised prairie stations, where 
 bread and coffee booths had been set up. Ee- 
 freshed and cheered, they boarded the trains. 
 Fifteen thousand people thus left Chicago Mon- 
 day night, while the sky above the North divi- 
 sion was still red with the reflection of blazing 
 lumber yards and coal piles. 
 
 By four o'clock telegrams offering supplies 
 began to come in. At six, the first relief trains 
 arrived. Every village and city within a radius 
 of seventy-five miles sent help that first night. 
 
 Fire Bandied World-Wide Sympathy. All over 
 the world people had picked up their news- 
 papers at the breakfast table to read: "Chicago 
 is burning up. ' ' Within ten hours carloads of 
 cooked food were in Chicago, and whole train- 
 loads of food, clothing, medicine, money, shelter 
 tents, troops, and fire engines were to arrive 
 before dawn Tuesday morning. Every hour the 
 circle of sympathy widened until it reached the 
 shores of foreign lands. Individuals, societies, 
 churches, cities, governments poured in contribu- 
 
 tions. The outpouring of supplies and money 
 was unparalleled in the history of the world. 
 In all, there were $5,000,000 in money and goods 
 sent to Chicago within a few weeks. It seemed 
 as if every spark of that terrible storm of fire 
 had kindled sympathy and generosity in some 
 human breast. 
 
 All night long, and for another forty-eight 
 hours, relief was kept up from the churches. A 
 lost-and-found committee with 2,000 private ve- 
 hicles rapidly united the scattered members of 
 families. , Army tents were put up. Eailroad 
 locomotives were furnishing power to factory 
 pumps, and water was got into the mains. 
 Small frame cottages were being erected out 
 of the relief funds to shelter the poor for the 
 winter. Wages were being paid to working men. 
 By the end of the first week the emergency was 
 over, and the relief work was put into the hands 
 of the Eelief and Aid Society. Chicago could 
 then consider how she was to begin over again 
 to restore the lost labor of thirty years. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Phoenix City. 
 (1871 to 1893.) 
 
 As a matter of fact the rebuilding of Chicago 
 had begun again before it was known whether 
 any insurance would be paid, or any money in 
 banks and vaults had escaped destruction, or 
 title to real estate could be re-established. All 
 the records covering every inch of real estate in 
 Chicago and Cook county had been burned up 
 with the tax lists, in the courthouse and city 
 hall, thus destroying evidence of ownership and 
 the public revenues at one blow, for, until titles 
 to property could again be made a matter of 
 record, tax levies could not be collected. This 
 double blow, it would seem, was enough to 
 paralyze business. 
 
 Victory Out of Defeat. Do you remember that 
 earlier in this history LaSalle, the "undespair- 
 ing Norman," was spoken of as the prototype of 
 Chicago spirit? When utter disaster threatened 
 his work of years and his future plans, he did 
 not admit himself defeated. Necessity bred in 
 him new energy. He dared any combination of 
 mischance and malice to work his ruin. 
 
 Chicago was undaunted by its unparalleled 
 disaster. At noon, Monday, a man was seen to 
 pick up and drop bricks from a heap of smould- 
 ering debris in Dearborn street. When asked 
 by a policeman what he was doing in that dan- 
 gerous neighborhood, he replied that he was test- 
 ing the bricks to see how soon they would be 
 eool enough to begin rebuilding. 
 
 Such stories as this were telegraphed all over 
 the country. Many visitors rushed to Chicago, 
 
 under the impression that, if they delayed a 
 week, they would not see the ruins. As a mat- 
 ter of fact, within less than three years every 
 trace of the great calamity had vanished, and 
 there had risen a greater city on the ruins. To 
 appreciate what this means, it may be recalled 
 that London required thirty years for its rebuild- 
 ing after the great fire of 1666. 
 
 The newspapers of Chicago did not waste an 
 hour in resuming business. When McVicker's 
 theater took fire the staff and the printers of 
 The Tribune company fled. Before noon, Mr. 
 Medill had bought a small job office at 15 
 Canal street. Printers were soon at the eases 
 and reporters were out getting up an account 
 of the fire that had still many hours to burn. 
 The business manager borrowed money of friends 
 to buy four heating stoves. The night before 
 the Tribune's check would have been good for 
 $100,000. On Monday, credit was refused for 
 $64. Business was thus suddenly brought down 
 to the most primitive cash basis. 
 
 Between three and four in the afternoon peo- 
 ple began to drop in with advertisements for 
 lost friends, and a little money was taken in 
 over a dry-goods box counter. On Wednesday 
 morning the Tribune was out with a five-column 
 account of the fire, and a ringing editorial on 
 "Chicago must and shall be rebuilt." 
 
 How Business Sprang From the Ashes. The 
 very first place of business erected amid the 
 ruins was put up by Mr. William D. Kerfoot, 
 the well-known real estate man. He lost every 
 dollar by the fire, yet on Tuesday he put up a 
 
 QO
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 
 
 12x16 shanty of rough lumber, in front of his 
 old block on Washington, between Dearborn and 
 Clark streets. A signboard across the top was 
 labelled, "Kerfoot Block." 
 
 The building stood on the sidewalk for ten 
 days, when, the ruins having cooled, the pro- 
 prietor was required to move it back to the 
 building line. Mr. Kerfoot's enterprise and 
 pluck revived courage in more fearful souls. His 
 office became a sort of bureau of general in- 
 formation. 
 
 There was no lack of business even before the 
 fire had stopped burning. Cars laden with coal, 
 grain, lumber, and live stock and vessels with 
 iron ore and merchandise arrived in their usual 
 numbers on Monday, although all of them could 
 not discharge their cargoes. Only five of the 
 seventeen elevators had been burned; the West 
 side had lost only a few yards, factories, and 
 mills, while the stock yards were far outside the 
 burned district. The lake was here and the 
 railroads. Traffic could not well be diverted to 
 other points for lack of facilities. And there 
 were 300,000 people here, trained in all the com- 
 plicated business of the place. The forests, 
 farms, and mines were to continue to send their 
 contributions to trade, and the country, east and 
 west, was waiting for orders to be filled. Busi- 
 ness fairly trod on men's hee'ls. Nothing was 
 lacking but the machinery to handle it. It was 
 amazing what makeshifts were used to serve the 
 purpose temporarily. 
 
 Legislation to the Rescue. The state legisla- 
 ture met and passed the Burned-Record law, 
 which permitted the recording of private deeds 
 and abstracts of title. Nearly $3,000,000 were 
 donated the city from the state treasury to save 
 Chicago from civic bankruptcy. The fire and 
 police forces were maintained, the interest on 
 bonds paid, and the work of repairing water- 
 works and rebuilding bridges and a city hall 
 was begun. The bank vaults were opened and 
 money and securities found intact, so that with- 
 in ten days the banks resumed payment. Only 
 fifty-seven out of 341 insurance companies failed 
 because of the fire, and $46,000,000 out of the 
 total $88,000,000 insurance carried was paid. 
 With this as a nucleus, rebuilding was begun. 
 
 But best of all was the good will of the East 
 and the loyalty of the West. Within ten days 
 telegrams began to arrive from New York im- 
 porters and wholesalers, saying: "I suppose 
 you are burned out. Order what you need and 
 pay when you can. We want your trade." 
 Notes were renewed and credit extended. Chi- 
 cago 's business men were thus saved from bank- 
 ruptcy and enabled to make a fresh start. Their 
 reputation for honest dealing proved to be cap- 
 ital a thing for future business men to re- 
 member. 
 
 Pluck and energy formed the rest of their 
 capital. Many country merchants in the West 
 who had always sent East for their stocks of 
 
 goods came to Chicago to see the ruins, and con- 
 cluded to give their orders to the unconquered 
 city by the lake. Thus, from the ashes, arose a 
 commerce far surpassing in volume, and in ter- 
 ritorial extent, the business of the lost city. 
 
 Within twenty days after the fire a long row 
 of wholesale houses reared their pine fronts along 
 the park strip on Michigan avenue, from Ran- 
 dolph to Twelfth, on land leased by the city for 
 a year. Thousands of teams were at work re- 
 moving the debris of the fire and dumping it in 
 the lagoon between the Illinois Central tracks 
 and the breakwater. Within six weeks 212 per- 
 manent stone, brick, and iron structures, with a 
 frontage of three and one-half miles, were in 
 course of erection. By October, 1872, $45,000,- 
 000 had gone into building operations in the 
 burned district. 
 
 Fire Taught Its Lesson. Visitors came from 
 every quarter of the globe to see 10,000 struc- 
 tures going up at once, with 100,000 workmen 
 plying their tools, and thousands of teams haul- 
 ing away debris and unloading construction 
 materials. As the city grew by day and night 
 it was seen that the calamity had taught its 
 lesson. Joseph Medill had been elected mayor 
 on a ' tfire-proof ' ' reform ticket, and the fire 
 department had been reorganized, the fire limits 
 had .been extended. Every building that wenj; 
 up was larger, stronger, and better constructed 
 than^the one it replaced. The depots were larger 
 and more centrally located, the* theaters, hoteis, 
 and business houses were built after the best 
 knowledge of fire-proof construction of that 
 day. Wooden mansard and tar-felt roofs were 
 not permitted. Iron fronts were abandoned 
 and iron columns and beams were enclosed in 
 brick work and cement. 
 
 The business district itself was expanded east- 
 ward to Michigan avenue and southward to 
 Jackson. Different lines of business sought com- 
 mon centers for the convenience of customers 
 and proprietors. 
 
 In the West division factories and business 
 houses, built under strict laws, replaced the 
 cottages and lumber yards that had been de- 
 stroyed. In the fine residence district of the 
 North side, land had become so valuable that 
 the lawns were built over. A dozen or more 
 tall, narrow houses occupied the place of one 
 spacious mansion. 
 
 In the building of these dwelling houses the 
 boulevard system of Paris was adopted that 
 is, blocks of residences were of one general style 
 of construction and interior arrangements. Even 
 yet you may see, along the older avenues, rows 
 of these English basement houses, of two and 
 three stories and the high stoop, each occupying 
 twenty-five feet of frontage. 
 
 93
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 In down-town streets, business blocks of the 
 seventies may be recognized by their round- 
 arched windows and heavy cornices. None are 
 over eight stories in height, and most of them 
 five or six. Highly ornate these buildings were, 
 with thick walls, as is attested by the heavy 
 window moldings enough masonry in them to 
 build a sky-scraper of today. 
 
 The Panic of 1873. Before the work of rebuild- 
 ing Chicago was fairly completed a financial 
 panic swept the country for the third time in 
 Chicago 's civic history of forty years. The 
 hard times of 1837 were due to a vacillating pub- 
 lic policy on the banking system; in 1857 they 
 were due to the fall of the securities of Southern 
 states in circulation in the North, because of 
 the coming war. In 1873 the financial panic was 
 precipitated by the retirement of ' ' greenbacks. ' ' 
 
 During the war the government issued legal 
 tender notes to the extent of $450,000,000. These, 
 being printed in a bright green ink, were known 
 popularly as greenbacks. The issue of so much 
 paper money, with nothing but the credit of 
 the government behind it, caused it to fall in 
 value, especially in the dark days of 1864, when 
 foreign nations believed and hoped that the 
 
 JOSEPH MEDILt, 
 
 Editor The Tribune 
 
 and "Fire Proof" 
 
 Mayor. 
 
 W. L. B. JENNY. 
 Inventor of Sky- 
 scraper. 
 
 Union was to be disrupted. The greenback dol- 
 lar fell to thirty-eight cents in gold. At the 
 end of the war the credit of the nation was so 
 far improved that the paper dollar rose to 
 sixty cents in value. By 1870 it had risen to 
 ninety cents. There it remained for five years, 
 after which time it rose slowly until, in 1878, 
 it was on a par with gold. This was because 
 the government was paying off its war debt and 
 meeting the interest on bonds promptly. Pub- 
 lic credit was completely restored. 
 
 In the meantime three things had happened 
 to disturb the money system of the country and 
 to bring on hard times. Congress had passed 
 a law making interest on bonds payable in coin 
 in order to improve the credit of the country. It 
 had also stopped the coinage of the silver dol- 
 lar, which was, at that time, worth more as 
 bullion than a gold dollar. The silver party 
 which sprang up a few years later called this 
 the crime of '73. Third, the Republicans pro- 
 
 posed to retire the ' ' greenbacks ' ' altogether and 
 restore specie payments. All these disturbances 
 of the money system unsettled business for five 
 years, or until things were again on a permanent 
 basis. 
 
 From 1873 to 1879 was a time of panic, bitter 
 political fights, and business depression. Hard 
 times seemed to settle like a pall that was never 
 to be lifted. It was 1878 before the silver dollar 
 was restored to circulation, and in January, 1879, 
 specie payments were resumed under the Sher- 
 man act of 1875. In October, 1874, Chicago had 
 another fire that destroyed eight hundred build- 
 ings, valued at $3,000,000. Fire, hard times, 
 mobs of the unemployed, constant agitation of 
 the money question, and then fire again, damp- 
 ened even the spirit of Chicago. 
 
 On the morning of January 2, 1879, salutes 
 were fired and the stars and stripes run up on 
 postoffices, custom houses, and banks to announce 
 that all government notes were redeemable in 
 gold. "For the first time in seventeen years," 
 says one authority, "customers, on entering 
 banks, saw stacks and rolls of gold which could 
 be had in exchange for greenbacks. ' ' This imme- 
 diately restored confidence, for every dollar in 
 circulation went to par with gold. The country 
 entered upon fourteen years of good times. 
 
 Chicago Began to Build Again. In 1880, in 
 spite of nine years of most discouraging draw- 
 backs, it had grown to a half million in popula- 
 tion and was the fourth city in the United 
 States. The burned districts of seventy-one and 
 seventy-four had been entirely rebuilt, and bet- 
 ter than before. The municipal debt had been 
 reduced. Miles of streets had been paved, the 
 sewerage system extended, a new lake tunnel 
 supplied the city with deep water, the telephone 
 was applied to police administration, the tele- 
 graph wires were put underground, electric light- 
 ing was adopted for the streets, and thirty-two 
 swing bridges spanned the river. 
 
 The new era of good times and phenomenal 
 growth was heralded by the building of a $4,000,- 
 000 city hall. For twelve years Chicago con- 
 ducted its civic business in the "Old Kookery" 
 at La Salle and Adams. From 1880 to 1890 Chi- 
 cago 's industries, number of laborers employed, 
 wages paid, and value of products increased 
 threefold. Its territory expanded also. By the 
 vote of the people the villages of Hyde Park 
 and the Town of Lake (Englewood) below 39th 
 street, Lake View above Fullerton avenue on the 
 north, and Cicero on the west, with a number of 
 smaller suburbs, became a part of Chicago. 
 These "villages" had long become, in all but 
 a legal sense, a part of Chicago. They now 
 added over 200,000 to the population of the 
 city. 
 
 When building began again early in the 
 eighties it took on a new character. The busi- 
 ness district had become uncomfortably crowded, 
 but it refused to expand. General lines of busi- 
 
 94
 
 THE STOEY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 ness could not go north or west of the river 
 without losing trade. The business center had 
 expanded eastward to Michigan avenue. South- 
 ward it refused to go below Adams until 1885. 
 
 In that year the Board of Trade put up a 
 magnificent new building on Jackson street, fac- 
 ing La Salle. Office buildings for bankers, bro- 
 kers, and insurance companies sprang up in its 
 neighborhood. South Clark street to Van Buren 
 became a center for railway general offices, and 
 Dearborn street filled up with publishing and 
 printing houses. On State, Wabash, and Michi- 
 gan retail dealers refused to go south^ of Adams. 
 Even today, when the city has grown to 2,000,- 
 000 in population, the retail shopping district 
 extends only to Congress. 
 
 But room had to be made for Chicago's grow- 
 ing business. Keuts of office and store rooms 
 went up to impossible figures, and property own- 
 
 XEW YORK LIFE BUILDING IN COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION. 
 
 ers knew that buildings of twice the prevailing 
 heights of six and eight stories could be filled 
 to the roofs. But such buildings were thought 
 to be impossible. Before 1885, no business build- 
 ing had been erected anywhere in the world 
 over eight stories in height. There were lofty 
 castles and cathedrals, but these were built 
 where foundations could be spread underground 
 to carry the enormous weight of the superstruc- 
 ture. A city building must stand on its own 
 frontage and depth. 
 
 It had been determined by civil engineers long 
 before that Chicago's hardpan, which is not 
 rock but a thick bed of soft compressible clay, 
 will support only 3,000 pounds to the square 
 foot. Masonry is extremely heavy, and eight 
 stories was the limit in height to which brick 
 
 and stone buildings could be raised. When, in 
 1885, the Home Insurance company proposed to 
 put up a new building in the office district of La 
 Salle street, it was aware that three or four 
 times as many small, well-lighted offices as had 
 ever been built on a space similar to the site it 
 owned could be rented. The directors of the 
 company called in an architect of wide reputa- 
 tion, Mr. W. L. B. Jenney, and presented the 
 problem to him. 
 
 The First "Sky - Scraper" Was Asked For! 
 When an occasion offered, Chicago never yet 
 failed to produce the man. To fulfill the require- 
 ments, every method of construction in use 
 would have to be abandoned. Iron had, by this 
 time, come to be used very largely in bridge and 
 trestle building, replacing masonry and timber 
 work, at a saving of weight and increase of 
 strength. It occurred to Mr. Jenney that a tall 
 building might be erected on a skeleton frame of 
 structural iron. 
 
 It took faith, both on the part of the archi- 
 tect who faced possible failure and ridicule, and 
 on the part of capitalists who were venturing a 
 big sum of money in an experiment. A con- 
 tinuous bed of concrete was laid on the hard- 
 pan, and in this was set a grillage of railroad 
 iron, to form the foundation. Cast-iron columns 
 were embedded in this and connected at the top 
 with beams and girders of iron. A few steel 
 beams were used, the first structural steel ever 
 cast in America. Bolted to the columns were 
 iron brackets on which rested the lintels of win- 
 dows and doors. Slowly the iron -skeleton rose, 
 each part riveted and bolted in place like bridge- 
 work. 
 
 To see such a building going up today is a 
 common enough sight, for every city in the land 
 has its sky-scrapers. But in 1885 capitalists, 
 architects, owners of iron and steel works, and 
 trades unions watched the construction of tju> 
 Home Insurance company's building in Chicago, 
 with hope, incredulity, and, finally, delight, for 
 it was to revolutionize municipal architecture, 
 enormously increase the value of land in the 
 heart of cities, bring vast orders to steel mills, 
 and offer another probable field for skilled work- 
 manship. 
 
 When the masonry work was begun it was 
 seen that brick, iron, stone, and fireclay were to 
 be used as mere curtains, let down around the 
 framework, fireproofing it, and -encasing it in 
 every part like flesh on the bones of the human 
 body. The strength lay in the iron. The weiglit 
 of the masonry used in each story was carried 
 on its own columns and girders. At last it was 
 ,l one the tallest, lightest, strongest, most com- 
 modious building ever erected on a similar space 
 in the world. Chicago had begun to expand up 
 ward and the world was the richer by a new 
 method of building to be known as the "Chicago 
 Construction. ' '
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The World's Fair. 
 
 Had the four hundredth anniversary of the 
 discovery of America fallen in 1882 instead of 
 1892, Chicago would not have had the World's 
 Fair, and the world would have been much the 
 poorer. 
 
 The seventies, you will remember, were marked 
 by hard times. Chicago managed to get its 
 burned district rebuilt when the panic of sev- 
 enty-three swept the country. It was seventy- 
 nine before the money questions which grew out 
 of the Civil war were settled, and the eighties 
 had opened before active building was resumed. 
 
 In 1885 began an era of soaring ambition for 
 Chicago. Business in every line expanded to 
 undreamed-of proportions; the city itself began 
 to expand upward in the first of the sky-scrapers. 
 In this era of good times it occurred to many, 
 in all sections of the country, that the momen- 
 tous voyage of Columbus should be commemo- 
 rated in some fitting manner. It was the general 
 sentiment that the old world, whence the ex- 
 plorer came, should be invited to make another 
 voyage to the western hemisphere to discover 
 what marvelous things nad been accomplished 
 in a continent that lay undreamed of at a time 
 when Europe had grown old and weary. 
 
 There was no pattern upon which to model 
 such a celebration. National fairs for barter 
 and sale had been held for centuries, but so 
 jealously were secrets of manufacture guarded, 
 up to very recent times, that many were still 
 unconvinced that even selfish interests are best 
 served by a free interchange of knowledge. 
 
 Paris Exposition Furnished Model. France 
 broke down the barriers and inaugurated the 
 
 1889. The merchant mind of the world compre- 
 hended the opportunity. Those of the United 
 States were eager applicants for space. Elec- 
 tricity was used for lighting and power. Skele- 
 ton steel -construction, first put to the test in 
 Chicago in 1885, was exemplified in the Eiffel 
 tower. 
 
 Chicago, heady with success, drawn only re- 
 cently into international prominence, had her 
 
 THE "GOLDEN DOOR" TO THE TRANSPORTATION BUILDING. 
 
 international exhibition of art, industry, trade, 
 and science on the Champs de Mars, Paris, in 
 
 MAIN PORTICO OF FINE ARTS BUILDING. 
 
 imagination fired. All at once the country was 
 aware that Chicago was proposing to hold a 
 World's Columbian Exposition and to eclipse 
 Paris. What was $8,000,000, anyway? A mere 
 bagatelle! No doubt Chicago could eclipse Paris 
 in mere size, was said in derision by the Eastern 
 press. But Chicago had grown up and waxed 
 fat and acquired a thick skin under the gibes 
 of the "effete East," and it cared nothing for 
 them. In 1890 this inland metropolis was to 
 have 1,000,000 people. Chicago in its own opin- 
 ion was the most stupendous development on 
 Columbus' continent. The world should be 
 asked to come to see it, and Chicago promised 
 to give the world its money's worth. 
 
 The old task of booming the city was done 
 with the ease of long familiarity. The country 
 had been flooded with letters, circulars, news- 
 paper articles, and public speeches. New York, 
 St. Louis, and the city of Washington appeared 
 as rivals for the honor, but they were foredoomed 
 to failure, for Chicago went to Congress with 
 a $5,000,000 pledge from the people, attesting 
 its ability to finance the World's Fair. It was 
 April, 1890, before Congress passed the act of 
 authority, and late in December before the Presi- 
 dent announced the World's Columbian Exposi- 
 tion to the world and invited the participation 
 of foreign nations.
 
 THE STOEY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Details of construction were improved upon in 
 each successive building of the sky-scraper type. 
 The continuous foundation gave place to piers of 
 concrete and grillage of steel rails. Steel took 
 the place of iron in the superstructure, and red- 
 hot rivets were found superior to bolts in join- 
 ing the parts. Greater rigidity was secured to 
 the framework, a matter of immense importance 
 
 SECOND TRIBUNE BUILDING. 
 Type of architecture of '70s. 
 
 when you consider the constant jar of the city 
 streets and the enormous wind pressure to which 
 tall buildings are subjected in Chicago. With 
 the sky-scraper, too, was developed a simpler 
 style. Heavy window moldings and cornices dis- 
 appeared. Interior courts gave air and light; 
 greater cleanliness was secured by the use of 
 marble, tile, mosaic, hardwood, and ornamental 
 iron and bronze work in interior finish. Eleva- 
 tors were improved to meet the new demands, 
 and also heating and lighting plants. Business 
 was conducted under vastly better conditions. 
 
 A notable sky-scraper is the Masonic Temple 
 at State and Kandolph. To the apex of the 
 roof it stands 302 feet above ground and is 
 twenty stories high. Chicago now has many of 
 these huge buildings in the business center. 
 Michigan avenue above Congress presents a 
 frontage of a solid quarter of a mile of them. 
 One can stand back on Grant park and get a 
 proper perspective to this cliff-like line of tower- 
 ing granite which does not then seem out of pro- 
 portion to its surroundings. 
 
 But we can seldom get the proper perspective 
 to a sky-scraper. Seen from the pavement imme- 
 diately below or from across an ordinary street, 
 proportion and detail are alike lost in the im- 
 mense height. From time immemorial men have 
 dreamed of a city beautiful, in which grace and 
 art should not be sacrificed utterly to utility. 
 Artists lifted their hands in despair at sight of 
 the sky-scraper. It was condemned as hope- 
 lessly ugly in itself, and disfiguring to a city. 
 Chicago had given precious little thought to 
 beauty in architecture, although it prided itself 
 on its parks and boulevards and the splendor of 
 its private residences and public buildings. But 
 the time was coming when the city by the lake 
 should redeem its reputation for pure commer- 
 cialism. 
 
 The Sky-Scraper Beautiful! When the Wom- 
 an's Christian Temperance Union concluded to 
 erect the Temple building, something was wanted 
 that should express the beauty and grace of 
 woman and of the work of the W. C. T. U., as 
 well as to return large interest on the invest- 
 ment. The commission was given to an artist 
 builder, John W. Eoot. He had a spacious corner 
 site on which to build, where round towers could 
 break the lines of wall, a great recessed door 
 could be wreathed about with carving, windows 
 could be clustered, and moldings break up the 
 great height so the eye could climb, by easy 
 steps, to a roof of gables, dormers, cones, and 
 finials that should "soar, singing to the sky." 
 Seen from across the street, or from the pave- 
 ment immediately below, this is so beautiful a 
 building as to have silenced all criticism on the 
 impossibility of the sky-scraper as a work of art. 
 
 Chicago had to wait long for the development 
 of its artistic side. Of the sixty years of its 
 incorporated life, twenty were spent down in 
 the mud, in dirt, disorder, and disease. Twenty 
 more had gone by in something more of comfort, 
 in much splendor of marble, veneering, paint, 
 stucco, and gliding; but "sham and shingles" 
 carried their reproach of commercialism and es- 
 sential vulgarity. The fire had taught Chicago 'a 
 people to turn to the solid and enduring, in build- 
 ings as in life, for there was a spiritual as well 
 as a civic lesson in the Great Fire. 
 
 But the immediate material consequences of 
 the calamity had to be repaired and practically 
 forgotten in a greater prosperity before Chicago 
 could learn that a good and useful thing is the 
 more good and useful by being made beautiful. 
 
 ENTRANCE HALL, CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 BUILDING. 
 
 The mantel is built of marble from Nixon building 
 and ruined Illinois Central Depot. 
 
 Chicago's artistic sense seemed to blossom all 
 at once. The city by the lake had amazed the 
 world by its achievements in numerical and civic 
 growth, commerce, and the industrial arts. Now, 
 in 1893, it was to amaze the world by building 
 the World's Columbian Exposition, which, for 
 all time, is to rise in men's memories as "The 
 Dream City." 
 
 97
 
 THE STOEY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Chicago and tne Northwest were jubilant. 
 
 The choice and treatment of a site were left 
 to a landscape gardener Frederick Law Olm- 
 stead. The bluffy, wooded region along the north 
 shore would have suited the purpose of the artist 
 better, but the question of transportation com- 
 pelled him to select a tract on the lake shore 
 below Fifty-seventh street. Twenty years before 
 he had been called upon by the city to decide 
 how this 666 acres of sand ridges and marsh, 
 with a frontage of two miles along the lake, 
 could best be converted into a park. The entire 
 tract was formed of three sandbars which lay 
 parellel to each other and to the shore. The 
 outer sandbar was still submerged, with a shal- 
 low lagoon behind it. The two inner bars had 
 been long above water, and the separating lagoon 
 had been filled in to form a marsh. On the 
 ridges were growths of low oaks, scantily nour- 
 ished and distorted by gales. The tract was al- 
 most exactly in the condition in which Father 
 Marquette had found the entire Chicago plain 
 over two hundred years before. It looked hope- 
 less. 
 
 His plan involved a reversal of nature's proc- 
 ess the restoration of the lagoons by digging 
 out the marsh and the use of the excavated ma- 
 terial to build up and enrich the sandbars. So 
 Venice had been built on sandbars and hum- 
 mocks, and given her water streets. 
 
 Through a broad canal cut across 
 the outer sandbar the water of 
 Lake Michigan was let into the 
 lagoons, and the canal itself 
 formed a water court or vestibule 
 to the Exposition. The outer bar 
 was built up to form a beach and 
 esplanade, the second turned into a 1 
 wooded island, and the third filled 
 out to the bordering street, Stony 
 Island avenue. 
 
 Presently there was an army of 
 workmen on the fair grounds, ex- 
 cavating, walling, laying pipes, and 
 burying wires. The island rose 
 out of the trenches, prairies were 
 robbed of soil to cover the sterile 
 sand; Distant swamps, of water 
 plants ; forests, of trees. The outer 
 bar was built up and paved, the 
 long driveway graded and macad- 
 amized, the building sites terraced. The enormous 
 work of simply turning that dreary waste of sand 
 and marsh into a beautiful site to be built upon, 
 all in two short years, can never be estimated. 
 
 The White City Was Growing on Paper. Ten 
 of the most capable architects of the country had 
 been called together, and were told, as one writer 
 says: "Bring all your dreams of a city beauti 
 ful. Remember the best work of races which 
 have built before; all of religious, royal, and 
 national life. From them devise a symbol of 
 the power and aspirations of today. The fair at 
 Paris expressed all that the /world had done, up 
 to date. Show us that, and also give us a vision 
 
 of what the world would do if all its dreams 
 could come true. ' ' 
 
 In the end these men, who knew the achieve- 
 ments of the past and the ideals above all sordid 
 gain of the present, declared that the Greeks had 
 thought best of all nations in architecture and 
 plastic arts. The World's Fair was to be classic 
 ivory-white, like weathered marble, such as 
 Greece might have built on the low ./Egean coast. 
 The word went abroad that the World 's Fair was 
 to be a beautiful creation. The plan was pub- 
 lished far and wide. 
 
 West Is Loyal to Chicago. Western states, 
 knowing of old that Chicago always performed 
 more than it promised, made appropriations and 
 applied for building space. Eastern states fol- 
 lowed, and the nations of the Old World. Each 
 was ashamed to be niggardly in the face of this 
 opulent city that had sprung up a thousand miles 
 from the sea, and that now cried its wares in 
 every port and capital of the world. In all, 
 $13,000,000 were appropriated for over eighty 
 state and governmental buildings and exhibits. 
 Chicago alone was to spend $20,000,000. 
 
 Then concessions were asked for, the side-show 
 adjuncts which no exposition could hope or find 
 it advisable to escape. The mile-long park 
 strip to the west of the fair grounds was con- 
 verted into the Midway Plaisance, with its un- 
 
 THE COURT OP HONOR. 
 
 forgetable medley of the bizarre, the amusing, 
 the instructive, and the. frankly mercenary. 
 
 The proposal to hold a world's congress auxil- 
 iary was the last astonishing development of an 
 enterprise that had already expanded beyond the 
 limits of all human achievements. Chicago pro- 
 posed to show not only the material but the 
 intellectual and moral progress of the world. 
 The dedication ceremonies were held on the 21st 
 of October, 1892. Its grand procession and cere- 
 monial program were conducted with dignity. 
 Mrs. Potter Palmer made the first speech ever 
 delivered by a woman on such an occasion, with
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 the ease and grace of a princess, accustomed to 
 laying corner-stones and dedicating hospitals. A 
 Chicago poetess, Miss Harriet Monroe, read an 
 ode of flawless form, dignity of theme, and 
 beauty of expression. 
 
 The Manufactures building, in which the cere- 
 mony of dedication took place, was big the big- 
 gest building ever erected. Visitors were awed 
 by the 1,100 acres of forest that had been cut 
 down to build it, the weight of a single truss, 
 the forty carloads of glass in the roof, the 
 cathedrals that could be set down in it, the 
 armies that could be mobilized on its floor, the 
 millions of dollars' worth of exhibits that were 
 to find room on its floor and gallery. The Eiffel 
 tower was forgotten in the tremendous engineer- 
 ing feats displayed by that monstrous building 
 that stretched like the wall of an ancient city 
 between the esplanade and the lagoon. 
 
 The Fair in Embryo. The aspect of the Fair, 
 as a whole, was forbidding. Enormous buildings 
 enclosed in scaffolding sprawled over vast areas 
 of muddy ridges separated by muddier ponds. 
 A waste of gray water combed along an unkempt 
 beach; winter was closing in on chaos. Outside 
 the grounds miles of railroad tracks were being 
 elevated, and street crossings lowered. Ten 
 miles of electric elevated road were being built 
 from the heart of the city to the fair grounds, 
 and surface lines were being extended by the 
 trolley. Miles upon miles of streets were being 
 laid out across wild prairies, piped, sewered, 
 wired, graded, paved, and lined with hotels, 
 stores, dwelling houses, and booths. A hundred 
 thousand workmen were busy making a mush- 
 room metropolis out of a residence suburb, and 
 building, inside of six miles of high board fence, 
 a city that was to exist for six months and then 
 vanish from the face of the earth. 
 
 In May, 1893, Chicago was ready for the quar- 
 ter of a million guests who witnessed the open- 
 ing of the Fair when President Cleveland touched 
 the electric button which started the great Allis 
 engine. The flags of the United States and Spain 
 were run up, a salute of artillery was fired, 
 whistles blew, and a quarter of a million people 
 cheered. 
 
 The "Vvorld's Fair was a university, if by that 
 is meant the presentation of all the arts and 
 sciences. The nations of the world were brought 
 together in their historical, social, and industrial 
 aspects. Other civilizations, achievements, aspi- 
 rations, ideals, were contrasted with our own. 
 Inside the buildings were 65,000 separate exhib- 
 its, valued at $15,000,000, and representing every 
 field of art and industry. 
 
 Thousands, millions, in the Great West had 
 never seen a beautiful building, a marble statue, 
 a painting on canvas, a bit of porcelain, a yard 
 of fabric that delighted the touch, or heard a 
 strain of classic music or had a vision of beauti- 
 ful pleasure grounds. And then to experience 
 these things all at once as they did at the World 's 
 Fair! The delight of the people was written on 
 happy countenances. One of the most marked 
 characteristics of the crowds was the quiet pleas- 
 ure of the people. 
 
 Financially the World's Fair was a failure. 
 The expenditures exceeded the receipts. Every 
 stockholder lost money on the venture, but none 
 has ever been heard to regret the investment. 
 The memory of it is a possession that was cheap 
 at any cost. For the first time in Chicago 's his- 
 tory the balance was written on the wrong side 
 of the ledger, but she has made the world her 
 debtor, and challenged it to give all the people 
 a more perfect vision of delight than the World's 
 Columbian Exposition. 
 
 THE QUADRIGA ON fllK PERISTYLE. 
 
 Columbus' Triumphal Entry Into the New World.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Labor and Bight. 
 
 The man who is employed by the day and 
 must stay where his work is, is handicapped 
 when he comes into competition with the one 
 whose time is his own and who has the means 
 and power to gather information where it will 
 be to his advantage. If the capitalist is a fair 
 man and not controlled in his actions by other 
 capitalists who are not fair, he will do justice 
 in his employment of labor. If he is a grasping 
 man, one of the sort to grind the face of the 
 poor, his workmen are at a disadvantage in 
 dealing with him. It is a comparatively easy 
 thing to turn off men, to import new ones, or to 
 close the works for a time to compel labor to 
 accept unfair terms. 
 
 The tendency among employers and capital- 
 ists to plan together and take advantage where 
 possible, has made it necessary and expedient 
 for labor to unite and make demands for what 
 is right and fair. In Chicago, as a commercial 
 and industrial center, combinations of capital 
 and combinations of labor have found wide 
 fields for operation. To say that the work on 
 either side has been entirely fair and honorable 
 in all details is to ignore the truth. While hu- 
 man beings subject to pride, passion, prejudice 
 and thirst for power are the agencies which com- 
 bine, we cannot expect the golden rule to be the 
 sole guide. 
 
 Where a story can be told, whether true or 
 false, regarding the dealings of the other side, 
 the telling of it is sure to arouse such hatred 
 and desire to get even that unfair means will 
 be employed unless there is great virtue in the 
 acting, side. 
 
 Then, too, in all deliberative bodies the push- 
 ing, strenuous man who acts quickly and some- 
 times with violence, often forges to the front 
 and becomes the agent or mouthpiece of the or- 
 ganiz^tion, and it is made to do what he chooses 
 rather than what the whole body of men would 
 choose, if acting as a pure democracy. 
 
 It is no more than might be expected if we 
 find that men identified with labor have been 
 more zealous to carry their point than to main- 
 tain the laws of the land. It is not surprising 
 to find that capitalists who have felt their su- 
 periority of position, education and opportunity 
 in life should so combine against labor as to 
 cause unnecessary hardships and wrongs at 
 times when they have felt able to do so and 
 escape the just punishment which should follow 
 such conduct. 
 
 It is easy for the man of position, accus- 
 
 tomed to giving orders and having his will car- 
 ried out, to feel bitter resentment when a la- 
 borer makes a demand of him and accompanies 
 it with a threat. Without stopping to consider 
 deeply, he says, I feed these men; I give them 
 their work; they would starve but for me; I 
 will take no orders from them; they may accept 
 what I offer or starve. He does not like a de- 
 mand or threat from the man in rough clothing. 
 
 It is easy for the man who toils to form a 
 prejudice against the rich in general. He sees 
 his wages cut at times when it seems to him 
 entirely unnecessary. At times he discovers the 
 facts and they show that the cut has been 
 prompted solely by greed on the part of the rich 
 man. While taking the wages his employer doles 
 out to him, the man may readily acquire the 
 habit of hating employers generally on account 
 of what he has seen and on account of other 
 things which he has reason to suspect, but can- 
 not prove. 
 
 When two classes of people, both large and im- 
 portant to a community, come into conflict, and 
 bitterness is provoked by injustice, deceit, lying, 
 trickery and suspicion, the bitterness is liable 
 to break out in such a conflict as will bring 
 suffering' upon the entire community, and those 
 who are on neither side will suffer with those 
 who contend. 
 
 This has always been the case in human af- 
 fairs and it will continue until we all respect 
 our laws and elect officials who have such in- 
 tegrity as to win entire confidence. We shall 
 need to be a very superior people in order to do 
 justice by each other at all times. We shall 
 need to have a thoroughly honest government in 
 order to get justice at all times for ourselves 
 or give it to our neighbors. 
 
 But respect for law and right is growing in our 
 midst, and one of the great deeds of the nine- 
 teenth century was the working out of certain 
 ideas which make for peace and right; and that 
 working out was largely done in the heart of 
 the country during the years following the 
 World's Fair. It will be profitable to us to look 
 carefully into the history of labor and capital 
 in those years and see where we stand now as 
 a people in comparison with where we stood be- 
 fore that time. Much has been cleared up in 
 the last quarter of a century of organized ef- 
 fort. 
 
 More than ever the people of the United 
 States believe today in right. They desire jus- 
 tice. It is characteristic of every man to desire 
 fair dealing. But where his pocketbook seems 
 
 100
 
 THE STOEY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 to be hurt by justice he is liable to wish an 
 exception to be made. Every employer wants 
 all workmen well paid, but if he cannot make 
 the per cent he sets his mind on by paying fair 
 wages he is inclined to wish in this case that the 
 wage question may stand aside. 
 
 If we were all entirely honest labor might 
 come to capital and say, We will work for you 
 nnd take whatever you think is right after you 
 figure out the profits. But we have not yet 
 found out how to secure that honesty in all man- 
 kind. As we get nearer to it, strife will pass 
 away from our midst. But as things are we 
 must have organization of capital and organi- 
 zation of labor, and each must make the best 
 bargain it can, each must strive for favoring 
 laws, and each must learn to operate within the 
 law. The nearer we can come to the golden 
 rule the better for all concerned, but there will 
 be loss for the side that depends too much upon 
 it. Suspicion and guilt will arouse strife for 
 some years yet, but whatever can be done to 
 strengthen regard for law and order and to keep 
 the statutes just will make life more secure and 
 living wages more certain. 
 
 The Pullman Strike. The Pullman Car Com- 
 pany, now the Pullman Company, operates a 
 plant near Chicago. The town is called Pull- 
 man and is one of the sights of industrial Chi- 
 cago. This company has contracts with the rail- 
 roads to draw its cars. The railroads charge 
 fares for riding and the Pullman Company 
 charges other fares for space in its cars. The 
 use of these cars saves the railroads great ex- 
 pense for cars, as many passengers prefer to pay 
 the extra cost and ride in them. 
 
 Slack business in 1894 cut off the need of new 
 cars, and the Pullman Company considered shut- 
 ting down the plant and building nothing that 
 year. As the town was established on account 
 of the car shops, it was thought unwise to shut 
 
 down entirely and let the population become 
 scattered, for that would make it more difficult 
 in the future to induce men to locate there, and 
 the demand for skilled help the next year might 
 be met with great difficulty. 
 
 It was to the interest of the company to run 
 at least on part time. It was to the interest 
 of those owning their homes to do whatever 
 might be for the good of the town and the com- 
 pany. So the company and the men considered 
 the question of running the works with cut 
 wages for the men and no profit for the com- 
 pany. It was agreed upon and work continued. 
 
 But by May it was evident that the workmen 
 were severely pinched, for some of them had 
 their wages cut almost fifty per cent. Dissat- 
 isfaction arose and the company was requested 
 to restore the old wages. Declaring that it was 
 impossible to do 'this, the company refused to 
 give any increase. The statement was given 
 out that the company was running at an actual 
 loss in order to accommodate the men, and if 
 they would- not continue under that arrange- 
 ment until times should be better the works 
 would be shut down. 
 
 Eight here was the place where integrity and 
 confidence might have prevented great loss and 
 hardship. If the integrity of Abraham Lincoln 
 had been possessed by the company's officials and 
 had been recognized by the workmen, so that 
 they could believe the statement that the com- 
 pany was losing money, the men would have 
 continued. But they doubted the company's 
 word. They believed the statement was put out 
 merely to grind labor to the earth. They felt 
 that the time had come for united labor to show 
 its power. 
 
 The strike was declared on May 11, 1894. More 
 than half the workmen quit; 3,000 men were at 
 once absent from their shops and the company 
 closed its doors.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 The Government Supreme. 
 
 Eugene V. Debs was president of the newly 
 formed American Eailway union, a body of 
 workmen intended to embrace all railway em- 
 ployees acting together. This great body at once 
 took charge of matters and declared a boycott 
 of all Pullman cars. This order forbade engi- 
 neers, brakemen and switchmen from handling 
 Pullman cars on any road anywhere. At the 
 same time the union demanded that the Pull- 
 man company submit the dispute to arbitration. 
 The company replied that there was nothing to 
 arbitrate, as the question was merely one of 
 whether the company should operate its own 
 works or not. So the boycott was declared on 
 all Pullman cars, June 26, to begin on the Illi- 
 nois Central and to extend over the whole coun- 
 try. All companies persisting in handling the 
 cars were notified that their employees would 
 strike and an intimation was given that all 
 the trades in the country would be called out 
 if necessary to bring the Pullman company to 
 the terms proposed by the union. 
 
 Now the railway companies were under con- 
 tract to draw the cars and heavy penalties were 
 to be paid in case of failure. They had noth- 
 ing to do with the building of cars, and they 
 reasoned that they could not pay fines on their 
 contracts at the demand of unions in a matter 
 in which they were not directly active. On 
 June 29, President Debs declared a boycott on 
 the twenty-two roads centering in Chicago, and 
 ordered the calling out of all the men working 
 on them as rapidly as possible through action 
 in the local unions. This blocked all transpor- 
 tation. No freight, no passengers and no mail 
 could be moved. 
 
 Although some of these roads did not use Pull- 
 man cars, their officers had joined the Chicago 
 General Managers' Association, and so were 
 hostile to the American Railway union. The 
 strike extended rapidly. The men were urged 
 not to interfere with property rights, but sym- 
 pathizers thought violence was allowable. 
 
 Rioting began. Trains were blocked, upset and 
 deprived of their crews by those who boldly 
 boarded them and beat the non-union men who 
 were hindering labor in its fight for life. In 
 Chicago famine was at hand, for many kinds of 
 supplies could not be had. There was plenty in 
 the country, but no means of getting it to town. 
 
 The destruction of railway property became 
 so alarming that the companies asked the city 
 and county authorities to protect them. It is the 
 
 business of the government to protect property. 
 If a mob destroys property the government must 
 make it good. But the strikers thought nothing 
 of that; they merely did their utmost to cripple 
 the railway service, regardless of law or the 
 rights of persons or property. Governor Altgeld 
 sent troops to Chicago after the local authorities 
 were unable to meet the situation with any ef- 
 fective control. But the militia in many in- 
 stances were more in sympathy with the mobs 
 than with the authorities. They were looked 
 upon by the strikers as their neighbors, who 
 would not hurt them under any circumstances, 
 and so the rapine went on in the face of the 
 militia. All attempts to conciliate or overawe 
 the rioters failed. 
 
 It is the duty of the government to carry the 
 mails. Whatever interferes with the running 
 of the most obscure mail cart, mail boat, or mail 
 car comes directly into contact with the United 
 States government. In a sense the man who 
 stops a mail cart is a rebel and a traitor and 
 must answer for his crime. This was known 
 to the leaders of the labor forces, but it was 
 thought that, as the unions were not warring 
 against the government and the stopping of the 
 mails was but an indirect incident of the con- 
 flict, the government might not draw the line 
 according to the strict letter of the law. 
 
 The general government is also bound to pro- 
 tect the great lines of interstate commerce. Tie- 
 ing up trains loaded for distant states became 
 a matter for the general government to attend 
 to. The attorney-general acted. A federal writ 
 was issued forbidding all persons in northern 
 Illinois from interfering with the mail convey- 
 ance or with interstate railroad commerce. Lead- 
 ers were therefore arrested and the grand jury 
 was summoned to find indictments against Pres- 
 ident Debs and others who were acting with 
 him. 
 
 President Cleveland was appealed to when the 
 militia of Illinois could not protect life and 
 property in Chicago. He sent a large force of 
 cavalry, artillery and infantry to the scene at 
 once. Governor Altgeld remonstrated by tele- 
 gram, but instead of recalling the military 
 forces President Cleveland sent more to Chicago. 
 The troops came into contact with a mob of 
 20,000, largely foreigners whose wrongs in tho 
 old country put them naturally against the gov- 
 ernment and in sympathy with any movement 
 which favored the laboring man. 
 
 Trains were ditched, cars standing idle were 
 
 102
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 overturned for pure mischief, everything per- 
 taining to railway operation was subject to such 
 destruction as could be contrived against it by 
 those who looked at it as an enemy to the cause 
 of labor. President Cleveland ordered more 
 troops to the vicinity and declared that, as the 
 Constitution made it clearly his duty to put down 
 disturbances and arrest lawbreakers, he would 
 put the entire United States army into action 
 if necessary. The law must be obeyed. He saw 
 no other alternative. Those who broke the laws 
 were to him criminals. He would put down vio- 
 lence and crime. 
 
 This was a surprise to many, who had hoped 
 the federal government would do as the state 
 troops had done, and make a show of defense 
 without really stopping lawlessness. When it 
 was seen that the soldiers carried cartridges 
 loaded to kill and that there was no question 
 that when ordered to fire they would shoot to 
 kill, it became evident that rioting could not 
 win rights. 
 
 The sympathy which the strike had at first 
 from those who wished labor better things was 
 diminished when stories of riotous conduct went 
 over the wires. The safety of our country lies 
 in the law-abiding character of its citizens. Un- 
 less our laws are ooeyed we can have no coun- 
 try. Nothing opens the way for anarchy or des- 
 potism so surely as a loose idea regarding the 
 majesty of the law. The people of Chicago who 
 were compelled to remain in their homes for 
 some days because it was dangerous to go upon 
 the streets in the ordinary course of business, 
 soon felt the pressure of lawlessness and de- 
 manded a restoration of law and order first and 
 the consideration of the rights of individuals 
 afterwards. 
 
 President Debs was sentenced to six months' 
 imprisonment and others for half as long a 
 term. Forty-three officials of the unions were 
 
 thus made to feel the immediate necessity of 
 obeying the laws of the United States. Many 
 thought this was too severe. Especially was this 
 belief strong among those who saw that the 
 convictions were had without jury trial. This 
 act of the court was regarded by many as a 
 menace to the liberty of the people quite as 
 distinct as was the breaking of the laws by 
 those condemned. 
 
 The strike failed. And yet it was not a com- 
 plete failure. It made clear that labor can or- 
 ganize and that it has rights and that employers 
 ought to consider the condition of their em- 
 ployees as carefully as they do the profit and loss 
 account in their ledgers. It set people thinking 
 along new lines. It exhibited the value of hon- 
 esty and truth between man and man by show- 
 ing the disaster which may follow wrong and 
 the suspicion of wrong. 
 
 President Debs declared that he had learned 
 that strikes are repugnant to the feelings of so- 
 ciety at large. He said that as long as he 
 should live he would never again participate as 
 an official in any strike, for that is not the 
 proper method of righting wrongs. The appeal 
 should be made to the people at the polls and 
 not by striking at commerce or industry. 
 
 And so we must look to the ballot for relief. 
 We also begin to feel that looking to the ballot 
 does not mean simply carrying an election by 
 any means, fair or foul, but by securing just leg- 
 islation and an honest execution of the laws. 
 Out of all the suffering and loss of the great 
 strike we have come with both sides guilty. 
 Wrong has been done mutually. But we have 
 learned that the American people will support 
 what they believe to be right. . When all our 
 boys and girls grow up to be fair men and wom- 
 en, speaking the truth and acting out the right, 
 we shall be out of the reach of all industrial 
 despotism and all danger of violation of the law. 
 
 103
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Looking It Over. 
 
 One of the best ways of getting a good idea 
 of a city is to take a look at it. If your means 
 permit you to vise an automobile for the pur- 
 pose, you need no advice from the writer as to 
 how to see the finer parts of Chicago. But 
 when you have seen the finer parts you have 
 -iot seen Chicago, and so it will be best to devote 
 2, little time, in imagination, at least, to a few 
 trips through other parts of the city where the 
 automobile is not likely to run and where the 
 people who make up a large part of this teem- 
 ing hive of industry and exploit live or do their 
 work. 
 
 A Trolley Ride. Take a Clark street car at 
 the corner of Randolph and go north along 
 Clark street to Lincoln park. You will skirt this 
 magnificent breathing place for some distance 
 and gain a fine view of one of our greatest 
 municipal benefactions. Transfer to 
 Belmont avenue and go directly west 
 to Milwaukee avenue, a distance of 
 eight miles, all for 5 cents, and occu- 
 pying about an hour's time, and you 
 pass Riverview park, which is a fine 
 example of what a Chicago amuse- 
 ment park is like, with its many in- 
 genious attractions, at a place where 
 ihe scene is naturally as beautiful 
 as one could well desire. 
 
 Paying another nickel on the Mil- 
 waukee avenue line, your expenses 
 cor this three-hour trip are met, and 
 you pass Logan square and take a 
 transfer to Western avenue to go to 
 Twenty-sixth street. You get a view 
 of a large stone quarry, a soap fac- 
 tory and several churches, pass un- 
 der four elevated railways, and see 
 a large number of factories of all 
 sorts and sizes. If you do not yield 
 to the temptation to get off at Madi- 
 son street to enter Garfield park, you will soon 
 notice the big roundhouse of the Burlington road 
 with its great network of tracks, and when near 
 Twenty-sixth street you will see the bridge over 
 the Drainage canal, a short distance to the 
 south, and right before you will loom up the 
 buildings of the International Harvester Com- 
 pany, one of the greatest farm implement fac- 
 tories in the world. 
 
 The McCormick Evening Technical school for 
 workmen who wish to rise is a notable object, 
 which is worthy of mention when considering 
 Chicago. A men's club is maintained here for 
 the benefit of employees socially and educa- 
 tionally. A little to the west is the John Worthy 
 school for boys, the place where young crim- 
 inals are cared for, partly by the board of edu- 
 cation and partly by the city. Adjoining it is 
 the Bridewell, which reminds us that where 
 over two millions of people live near each other 
 they are always in danger of depredations from 
 evil disposed ones in their midst. Chicago puts 
 some of its criminals here for terms of specified 
 days in the hope that they may see the error 
 of their ways and avoid the road leading to the 
 penitentiary. Transferring to the Blue Island 
 avenue car, you return to the heart of the city, 
 passing by the lumber district and through sev- 
 eral foreign cities with unspeakable names over 
 
 LUMBER DISTRICT. 
 
 Copyright, American Book Co. 
 
 the places of business, all of which are part and 
 parcel of the city we are studying in detail. 
 
 A Pickle Farm. If you prefer to see how 
 Chicago raises things from the soil, take a Lin- 
 coln avenue car at Monroe and Dearborn streets 
 and go to Rosehill, seven miles away, but with- 
 in the' city limits. While the round trip will 
 cost but ten cents and require but two hours' 
 
 104
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 time, it will be time and money well spent. 
 When the things of the city seem to have dis- 
 appeared on the way look for the Budlong pickle 
 farm. It was established in 1859 and formerly 
 put to soak 100,000 bushels of cucumbers each 
 year. But when the crops became too good a 
 thing Dame Nature stepped in and put a stop to 
 pickle raising there. She gave the pickles a 
 disease which made it necessary to cultivate 
 them elsewhere, and now pickles are raised in 
 detached patches in the country a hundred miles 
 or so away from the seat of the blight. 
 
 But the farm is occupied profitably with rais- 
 ing every kind of garden truck which can be 
 persuaded to grow, most of it going to city ta- 
 bles, but some shipped to distant points in the 
 United States and Canada. This farm gives 
 employment to about 2,000 hands in the busy 
 season and affords healthful and remunerative 
 employment to those who toil in the city during 
 the winter and can get out to the pickle farm 
 for air and ready money when work is slack 
 in town and the city is stifling with dust and 
 heat in its crowded quarters. 
 
 dovoted to the finest garden work you can find 
 in America, and it is a mercy that so many of 
 the inmates may find in it the joy of an occu- 
 pation which has the strongest power to correct 
 their infirmities. 
 
 The fountain at the entrance and the stately 
 trees which invite the traveler make one feel 
 that the county has done a noble thing in its 
 endeavors to make the lives of these unfortu- 
 nates as cheerful as possible. Many of the pa- 
 tients are out on the grass after performing 
 their several duties about the place, and those 
 who cannot be trusted with freedom are per- 
 mitted to range about porches so inclosed and 
 protected as to provide perfect safety. There 
 are in this great family some 4,000 persons, ten 
 per cent of whom are attendants, office employ- 
 ees, etc. On Tuesdays visitors are supplied with 
 attendants, who go through the buildings with 
 all who wish to see everything, and the de- 
 tails are explained in a gratifying way. 
 
 One of the most attractive places for visitors 
 is the kitchen, for the utensils and furniture 
 are built on so large a scale as to arouse great 
 
 DEERING HARVESTER WORKS. 
 
 One of the oldest burial places in the city is 
 Rosehill cemetery, founded in 1859. Many old 
 soldiers lie here. Near the cemetery is what is 
 known as the big greenhouse, probably the larg- 
 est in the world. You will be welcome to see 
 the acres of carnations, roses and lilies which 
 thrive under the 2,000,000 feet of glass. It is 
 one of the very many greenhouses which are 
 to be found to the northwest of Chicago, the 
 city requiring an endless supply of their prod- 
 ucts the year round. 
 
 Dunning. While we are in the northwestern 
 section of Chicago there is a delightful summer 
 trip by trolley to be made by visiting the Cook 
 county infirmary and hospital for the insane. 
 Take the Milwaukee avenue 'car and transfer 
 to Irving Park boulevard car to the end of the 
 line. This gives you thirteen miles of ride for 
 five cents and brings you to Dunning, where 
 over a quarter of a section of land is allotted 
 to this humane work. More than 100 acres are 
 
 curiosity. The thousands of loaves of bread, 
 baked under the most skilful and scientific proc- 
 esses, sometimes awaken in the visitor a strange 
 longing to become a part of the great house- 
 hold. Friends of inmates are not restricted to 
 Tuesdays for visiting, but the public is not 
 given attendants on other days, although all 
 are welcome to the grounds daily. 
 
 A trip to the country on the city traction cars 
 may be made so cheaply that one can hardly 
 afford to miss it, if for no other consideration 
 than its low price. Take an Ogden avenue crr 
 at State and Randolph and go to the end of 
 the line, transferring thence to the Lyons car. 
 You will not only get a ride of considerably 
 over an hour for your nickel, but will travel 
 thirteen miles from the heart of the city out 
 to where nature is as beautiful as she well can 
 be in this climate. It is there that the Des- 
 plaines river becomes large enough and disports 
 itself in windings multiple enough to charm 
 
 105
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 any lover of nature. 
 
 You pass the famous place of the Haymarket 
 riot, and find the statue which formerly ob- 
 structed Haymarket square has been removed to 
 a new site in Union park. At Twelfth street Og- 
 den avenue becomes a boulevard and cuts 
 through Douglas park. This gem of greenery 
 reached so soon after leaving the roar of down 
 town is grateful to the senses, and we look with 
 pleasure upon the lawns and shrubbery, the chil- 
 dren 's playgrounds, the Jewish old people 's 
 home, and the equipages of the park. At For- 
 tieth avenue we change to the Lyons car and 
 soon leave the wealth of the park and its sur- 
 roundings for the forest of smokestacks of the 
 Western Electric company's plant, which takes 
 up all the landscape for a time. You are now 
 at Hawthorne, not a part of Chicago at this 
 writing, but liable to fall into the city by pop- 
 ular vote at any election. 
 
 Now we are in the country, with great hay- 
 stacks and fields for hay and other farm prod- 
 ucts of the ordinary sort grown on flat prairie 
 land. The township high school looms up big 
 on the horizon, and when one thinks of it as a 
 school the wonder arises as 1 to the whereabouts 
 of the patrons. But it is a township institu- 
 tion and a good one, and is properly placed in 
 the meadows to accommodate people in the Ci- 
 cero villages in various directions. LaVergne, 
 Berwyn and Riverside are the towns we enter, 
 and as the tangled beauties of winding streets 
 and luxuriant foliage invite us, we step from 
 the car and wander amid its delightful scenes, 
 not forgetting to visit the historic spring and 
 the power dam which gives electric current to 
 so many enterprises and homes. 
 
 A trolley ride to Maywood is recommended 
 to all who wish to see how the city runs off 
 into the country, how the homes change as you 
 pass from the residences of the toilers to those 
 of the people who have means provided for the 
 needs of this life and who are moved by such 
 great questions as the betterment of mankind 
 generally or the moral progress of the world. 
 Take a Madison street car at State and Madison 
 to the end of the line and then transfer with- 
 out extra fare to the Chicago Consolidated 
 Traction company's line for Maywood. In sev- 
 enty-five minutes you will pass through Austin, 
 Oak Park, Forest Park, Altenheim and May- 
 wood. Altenheim is a beautiful estate where a 
 number of aged Germans live as a single family. 
 The last part of the trip is through the tangled 
 and vine woven forests of the Desplaines, where 
 picnic parties make merry on every summer's 
 day. 
 
 A ride to North Evanston by trolley is one not 
 to be neglected. You may start at any down 
 town corner of Clark street where a Clark and 
 Evanston avenue car passes and know that ten 
 cents and ninety minutes of riding will carry you 
 fifteen miles to the northward along that part 
 
 of the city which is so close to the shore of 
 Lake Michigan as to be free from oppressive 
 heat on any summer's day. Look out upon Wash- 
 ington square soon after crossing the river, for 
 there you will see the Newberry library build- 
 ing. In Lincoln park you will see the building 
 of the Academy of Sciences. Passing homes of 
 great wealth you flit through beautiful Beuena 
 Park, Sheridan Park, Edgewater, Rogers Park, 
 past Calvary cemetery, and into Evanston, the 
 seat of Northwestern University and Garrett 
 Biblical Institute. 
 
 This is a classic suburb of Chicago, its beauti- 
 ful elms and maples, its inviting lawns, its ele- 
 gant homes and its cultured and benevolent peo- 
 ple all conspiring to make your visit one long 
 to be remembered. The Greek letters on the 
 fraternity houses give one a pleasant thrill of 
 things once so formidable, but no longer to be 
 dreaded, and the great semicircular roof of the 
 greatest gymnasium in the world reminds us that 
 the mind of man is not the only object of cul- 
 tivation in a modern university course, while the 
 splendid football grounds, spick and span, with 
 the double grand stands facing each other on 
 opposite sides of the gridiron, tell us that the 
 pig skin course precedes the sheepskin with many 
 undergraduates. The great steel and glass gym- 
 nasium, a gift of one citizen, Mr. James A. 
 Patton, permits the university to lead the world 
 in athletic equipment. 
 
 A ten-mile ride over the greatest viaduct in 
 the city invites you. Take a Twelfth street car 
 at Adams and Dearborn streets and transfer at 
 Fortieth avenue to car going west, and it will 
 bring you into Forest park in a little over one 
 hour, after giving you a view of the ends or 
 sides of more freight houses than you are likely 
 to find elsewhere in one ride. The viaduct car- 
 ries one over many railway trunk lines, over 
 the South Branch of the Chicago river, and lets 
 one down to terra firma in the midst of the 
 Ghetto. You may step off the car and miss your 
 fare to take a stroll down Jefferson street and 
 about the old Maxwell street district. 
 
 If you are taking an evening ride in the 
 warm weather you will be surprised to find so 
 much of the street used as a bedroom. Children 
 lie about the sidewalks in promiscuous luxury, 
 and their elders do not scorn to spend the night 
 with them, sometimes in such numbers that one 
 has to be cautious in walking for fear of tres- 
 passing upon the bed or person of some slum- 
 bering individual. You will see such evidences 
 of the need of Americanizing the foreigner in 
 our midst that you will desire at once to become 
 a home missionary and do your part to prepare 
 these people for citizenship. But when once you 
 enter upon the task you find the inhabitant of 
 the Ghetto is quite able to care for himself and 
 does not really desire anything you may hastily 
 resolve to do for him. He is suspicious of you 
 and your good intentions. He is slow to adopt 
 
 106
 
 THE STOEY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 n*>vr things. But he is becoming Americanized 
 and already loves this free country. 
 
 Resuming your ride in another car going west 
 you pass the Holy Family church, the largest 
 in the city, and St. Ignatius college, and you 
 wonder how a Christian institution can flourish 
 where the population seems to be solid Israelite. 
 But the answer is that the church and college 
 were there before the Jew. This shows how 
 Chicago changes. At Turner avenue you have 
 spread out before you several city blocks cov- 
 ered by the buildings of one Chicago mail order 
 house. It surpasses your dreams of what busi- 
 ness can possibly be, and you are none the less 
 surprised after you have walked a mile or so 
 about its floors. How such a business could be 
 brought to one general oflfice by the genius of 
 one man is beyond comprehension. After the 
 change at Fortieth avenue the city is forgotten 
 and the country is yours. At the end of the line 
 are the gates of Forest park, and the Desplaines 
 river is but a little to the west of them. 
 
 Goose Island is historic. Take an Elston ave- 
 nue car at Randolph and State streets and go 
 west past the river and the $20,000,000 new 
 station of the Northwestern line, and you come 
 shortly to Halsted street at a point known as 
 "Little Sicily." It is one of the busiest cor- 
 ners in the world. North of that you come to 
 an island a mile long occupied by tanneries, fac- 
 tories, coal and lumber yards, all quite different 
 from what occupied Goose island in the old days 
 when foreigners of the poorer and more ignor- 
 ant type made it howl nightly with revelries in 
 which the physical prowess of men, dogs, birds 
 and anything else that would fight provoked 
 popular commendation. 
 
 The stories of old Goose island are history 
 now, for the island has lost its people with the 
 coming in of industries requiring room along 
 the water. The North Branch of Chicago river 
 here bends to the west and returns, and the 
 Ogden canal forms a string to the bow which 
 makes the island an actual one. At its lower 
 end are several dry docks v which will pay one 
 well to inspect. A port like Chicago 'gives busi- 
 ness for these structures and work is going on 
 there most of the time during the season of 
 navigation. 
 
 Michigan Avenue. Chicago has a wonderful 
 street for riches. It begins near the mouth of 
 the river and runs due south, lined on one side 
 by the most expensive, stately and beautiful 
 buildings possible for a business street. On the 
 east it skirts Grant park for a mile or so with 
 its Art Institute and the coming public build- 
 ings to beautify it amazingly. Beyond the 
 park rise the masts of our yacht fleet, the build- 
 ings of our transportation system connecting 
 part of the lake commerce with the land Carry- 
 ing trade, and, beyond all, the gleaming billows 
 of 'Lake Michigan dancing in the sunlight and 
 
 speaking of the blessings to the city conferred 
 by an abundance of the purest water the world 
 can boast, and the clear sky, which comes into 
 contact with the heart of the down town district 
 by reason of its being practically on the lake 
 shore. 
 
 Beyond the line of business buildings, in which 
 ' ' Automobile Row ' ' is now a conspicuous part, 
 consisting of a line of splendid buildings of 
 the most airy and inviting sort, Michigan boule- 
 vard plunges southward for miles, lined with 
 the most costly and beautiful structures which 
 wealth and taste can provide for urban resi- 
 dence. Visitors to Chicago are compelled to 
 view Michigan boulevard, and those who ap- 
 proach the city from the lake, either by day, 
 when the sunshine plays upon this splendid 
 thoroughfare, or by night, when the myriads of 
 electric lights add their glory to the scene, must 
 ever remember as one of the visions of a life- 
 time the scene which this street presents. 
 
 But the finest street in Chicago is after all 
 but a part of Chicago. We have other avenues 
 and boulevards which vie with it in splendor, 
 and we have many streets which boast much 
 greater length and diversity. It is popularly 
 supposed by many who live in Chicago, but who 
 are too busy to consult a map, that Halsted 
 street comes down from the vicinity of the north 
 pole and makes an ambitious lunge out upon the 
 prairies looking for the equator, and is therefore 
 our longest street. This is an error, for the 
 shore of Lake Michigan cuts somewhat to the 
 west of north and so one by one prevents many 
 of our streets from running too far towards the 
 Arctic regions. Halsted street plunges into the 
 lake before getting out of the city limits. Its 
 parallel street, Western avenue, has the advan- 
 tage of being a mile further west and conse- 
 quently striking the lake shore much farther to 
 the north, and it runs to the south far beyond 
 the city limits, cutting the city of Blue Island 
 in two and disappearing upon the prairie in the 
 same manner that Halsted street gets away from 
 the southern limits of Chicago. 
 
 Halsted street yields the palm for length to 
 Western avenue, but still it retains a number 
 of characteristics which warrant us in giving it 
 some special notice. Let us begin at the north, 
 where it is such an aristocratic thoroughfare 
 that the residents would not consent to having 
 it called Halsted street, that name being con- 
 sidered too plebeian. It is Clarendon avenue, 
 if you please, at its northern extremity, and 
 the palatial residences and splendid grounds 
 which front upon Clarendon avenue are such that 
 a royal palace might be placed among them 
 without attracting any particular attention aft- 
 er the newness of the ground breaking wore off. 
 
 107
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Running to the south from Clarendon avenue 
 Halsted street quickly acknowledges its name 
 and sees no reason why Halsted is not as eu ; 
 phonious as Clarendon and as desirable. Sub- 
 stantial people live along North Halsted street. 
 Then less substantial people, speaking financial- 
 ly, and not considering their physical propor- 
 tions, dwell there. These are succeeded by mul- 
 titudes to whom a bath tub is not a necessity, 
 people from across the sea, in districts where 
 water is not regarded highly, either for interior 
 or exterior application. Then the Ogden ditch 
 is crossed and Halsted street rests awhile on the 
 southern end of Goose island, from which it 
 springs up into the air and goes high over the 
 heads of those who navigate the North Branch 
 of the Chicago river, those who work in railway 
 and coal yards, and those who are obliged to 
 
 get carried up by mistake to a point where the 
 city lies before them, a mass of ipoving smoke, 
 roar, smells, lumber, shipping, ruins, concrete, 
 steel and brick. 
 
 Going under some railways and over others, 
 it pursues the even tenor of its way, passing 
 a great valley where once was level ground, but 
 now so much rock has been taken out to burn 
 into lime that barbed wire fences are required, 
 as well as signs and police, to keep curious peo- 
 ple from getting in and falling down some preci- 
 pice. Then it passes one of the splendid little 
 parks of the city, where everything that can 
 delight and animate the human animal in the 
 way of exercise, indoor or out, is to be had free, 
 with public library, club facilities and pure, 
 cheap refreshments added for those who have 
 time to enjoy them. 
 
 ARMOUR PACKING PLANT, FROM BALLOON. 
 
 Copyright, George A. Lawrence. 
 
 travel en less exalted highways and keep nearer 
 the surface of the ground than the traveler on 
 Halsted street. 
 
 Languages enough to have put the tower of 
 Babel to shame are strung along this highway, 
 one public school whose territory touches it 
 claiming thirty distinct tongues in its patron- 
 age. On it goes to the southward past the Ghet- 
 to and other languages of various importation, 
 past haunts of crime and poverty, past factories 
 of stupendous architectural features, to the 
 South Branch of the Chicago river, where it is 
 picked up bodily by a lift bridge which spans 
 the stream and carries, by elevator mechanism, 
 the entire roadway and sidewalks high over the 
 tops of the vessels which pass, affording a fine 
 view to lucky boys who evade the officers and 
 
 At Thirty-ninth street it runs between pack- 
 ing houses and the Union stock yards, rising 
 slightly to get over Bubbly creek, a stream 
 which formerly forgot to run, but stood station- 
 ary with such a scum of stock yards refuse upon 
 its surface that men have lost their lives in it 
 by attempting to cross on what seemed to be 
 dry land. The new intercepting sewer, whicli 
 carries much pure lake water towards the Drain- 
 age canal, has corrected that now. But the 
 scent of the roses is said to hover round the 
 vase which has held them, and so the fragrance 
 for which this section of the city has become 
 famous is freely proffered the visitor who is 
 traveling south on Halsted street. 
 
 The great Union stock yards are to the west 
 of you. For a mile this property abuts on South 
 
 108
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Halsted street. The lowing of the cattle strikes 
 the ear, and the enormous smokestacks which, 
 with a mile of solid masonry several stories 
 high, cut off the entire western horizon, remind 
 us that man eats meat and cattle are born to 
 supply it. In those yards transactions go on 
 daily in which there is not a scratch of pen or 
 any insurance of payment of money or delivery 
 of goods given except that which goes with the 
 word of an honest man dealing with another 
 honest man. For such is the ethics of the stock 
 yards that a man who is not honest cannot do 
 business there unless he acts strictly like an 
 honest man and remembers accurately what he 
 said the price should be when it had been hag- 
 gled over perhaps for hours and finally agreed 
 upon at a small fraction of a cent. The buyer 
 remembers what he said he would give, how 
 many cattle were bought, what condition they 
 were in and how the different cattle in the lot 
 looked. He knows they will be weighed to him 
 honestly without his going to the scales, they 
 will be billed to him according to agreement 
 without his being on hand to inform the bill 
 clerk, no odd cattle of an inferior sort will be 
 put into his purchase or choice ones taken out 
 on the way to the scales, and if there are any 
 diseased cattle among them, a thing no man can 
 find out surely except by chemical and micro- 
 scopic inspection after death, he will lose noth- 
 ing by reason of this defect. Knowing this we 
 honor the smell of the locality and wonder if 
 there is any other place on the face of the earth 
 where so much money changes hands daily with 
 anything like the disp'ay of manly integrity 
 which has grown up in this section of Chicago. 
 
 So rapidly do the electric cars run on this 
 splendid roadway that we are at the end of the 
 line at Seventy-ninth street before we recover 
 from our thoughts of the stock yards, with their 
 integrity and odor. But we are by no means at 
 the end of South Halsted street. We have trav- 
 eled southward on that great thoroughfare four- 
 teen miles, and here is another trolley line await- 
 ing us to take us miles farther to the south, and 
 we are assured that when we reach the end of 
 that line Halsted street will still go on over the 
 prairie, forgetting the more than twenty miles 
 which it has run in the city limits and going 
 on towards a milder climate with great perti- 
 nacity. 
 
 Halsted street speaks over fifty languages, 
 bears every condition of human life, is proud of 
 the residences of thousands of the best citizens 
 of the United States which line its right of way, 
 and does a business which would readily wipe 
 out our national debt if called upon to do it for 
 patriotic purposes, for patriotism and philanthro- 
 py meet together in Halsted street daily while 
 purity and probity are by no means rare amid 
 its constant din. 
 
 A sheltered harbor thirty-two miles long, ac- 
 
 commodating the largest boats on the lakes, 
 reaches through the second largest city in the 
 country and taps the great industrial district 
 that has grown up along the river. It is pro- 
 posed to make this great harbor pay good re- 
 turns to the people of the sanitary district on 
 their $50,000,000 which built the sanitary and 
 ship canal. 
 
 A committee presented the advantages of this 
 harbor fo the Corn Products Eefining Company 
 and a great plant is going up at Summit, on the 
 canal. The company will lay out $5,000,000 
 there. This is the largest private enterprise 
 drawn to the vicinity of Chicago in twenty years 
 except the new steel plant at Gary, Ind. That 
 company looked over every site from Vermont 
 to the Missouri river to find the best location. 
 The shipping facilities and nearness to the corn 
 belt caused Summit to win. 
 
 Summit is only eight miles down the channel 
 where the Belt Line railway meets the canal. It 
 gives the town easy transfer of freight by rail 
 or water to every line reaching out from Chi- 
 cago. The stone for the buildings is being taken 
 from the piles of limestone lying along the 
 canal. Concrete and steel are being used ac- 
 cording to the best methods of modern science. 
 
 Money will flow to the district when its 5,500 
 acres of high and dry kind along the canal has 
 been occupied by renters. The trustees will 
 build docks and rent the water frontage. Only 
 $25,000 a year is now coming in, but so much 
 will be collected in years to come that the peo- 
 ple who have been taxed for twenty years to 
 build the canal will find themselves enriched 
 by it. 
 
 Summit is now a little town where trains re- 
 fuse to stop, but in a few years it must become 
 a thriving city. 
 
 Stone from the channel was refuse till the 
 Chicago market called for it. Twenty million 
 cubic yards, worth more than $36,000,000 when 
 crushed and delivered in Chicago, will help pay 
 for the work. The district has gone into the 
 stone business, with Mr. John M. Ewen in charge 
 of it. There is enough stone on hand to make 
 concrete docks from the mouth of the Chicago 
 river to St. Louis, or it could be used to build a 
 solid line of factory building from Robey street, 
 Chicago, to Joliet, forty miles inland. 
 
 Water power from the canal will bring in 
 great sums to make taxes lighter in the district. 
 A power plant at Lockport has been built at a 
 cost of $4,000,000. The engineers figure on get- 
 ting 40,000 marketable horsepower. Let us 
 think what that means. With current brought 
 by cables to Chicago and every street in the 
 city lighted by it we will use but one-fourth of 
 the power developed at Lockport. 
 
 With the other three-fourths we may run all 
 the street cars in Chicago and light all Joliet. 
 Or we may operate a line of factories built 
 solidly from Robey street to Summit. 
 
 109
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Education, Philanthrophy, Religion. 
 
 Philanthropic Associations. Chicago believes 
 in helping those who need it. It has sixteen 
 institutions to provide people with work, forty- 
 eight to give food, fuel, clothing and general 
 relief, thirty-eight day nurseries and kindergar- 
 tens, thirteen frosh-air charities, four institu- 
 tions giving legal advice about wages, nine to 
 relieve foreigners, five for soldiers, sailors and 
 their widows and orphans, six for relief to 
 classes and professions, thirteen caring for the 
 sick at home, thirty-seven asylums, homes and 
 cheap lodgings for children, eight homes for 
 sick or crippled children, six probation courts 
 and means of reforming children, twenty-one 
 city, state and national homes for destitute 
 adults, twenty-two institutions providing work, 
 cheap meals and lodgings, thirty-eight general 
 hospitals where charitable work is done, twelve 
 convalescent and special hospitals, sanitariums 
 and special dispensaries, thirty-seven free dis- 
 pensaries, a home for incurables, nine women 'a 
 and children's hospitals and dispensaries, 
 twenty-one training schools and homes for 
 nurses, seven societies for diet, visitation and 
 aid for the sick in institutions, three asylums 
 for the blind, one for the deaf, and thirteen 
 public schools with instruction for the blind and 
 deaf, five schools for crippled children, eleven 
 for the insane, feeble-minded or epileptic, six 
 for reforming men, ten for women, three for 
 improvement of industrial conditions, a tubercu- 
 losis institute with many branches, and twenty- 
 three social settlements. 
 
 Social settlements are neighborhood centers 
 where persons of culture and means live or work 
 for the improvement of the people living near. 
 They try to help them in manner of living, in 
 morals, in social conditions and in other ways. 
 They seek out wrongs and right them by calling 
 official attention to them, and they try to im- 
 prove industrial conditions. There are twenty- 
 three such institutions in Chicago. Hull House 
 and Gads Hill Center are the oldest and Chicago 
 Commons one of the most noted. 
 
 They ''seek to provide a center for higher 
 civic and social life, to maintain religious, edu- 
 cational and philanthropic enterprises and im- 
 prove the conditions in industrial centers. ' ' 
 Gymnasiums, clubs, classes, coffee houses, work- 
 ing-men's clubs, theaters, industrial museums, 
 shops for handwork of many kinds, women 's 
 clubs, musical societies, cooking, sewing and 
 household arts, penny savings and other forms 
 of working together for the good of all are car- 
 ried on. 
 
 Hull House is at 355 Halsted street. The first 
 building was the old residence of Charles J. 
 Hull, and is over half a century old. Miss Jane 
 Addams founded the settlement and has devoted 
 her life to the work of uplifting the masses who 
 have thronged that portion of the city, making 
 it more European than American. 
 
 To give the Jews of the Ghetto culture along 
 American lines it was found necessary to carry 
 America to them, for they huddled together so 
 closely that their life was merely a copy of what 
 they experienced in the old country. So Amer- 
 icans were induced to live in their midst, making 
 a settlement in the heart of the foreign dis- 
 trict. 
 
 With about fifty resident and one hundred 
 non-resident members, all on the lookout to help 
 
 JANE ADDAMS. 
 
 others in their own peculiar difficulties, the life 
 of these self-sacrificing Americans is revealing 
 to the neighborhood many of the excellent fea- 
 tures of the land of the free. 
 
 Visitors are welcome at reasonable hours. The 
 evening activities of the place are striking. 
 Many people in the neighborhood who are em- 
 ployed by day throng the classes, the theater, the 
 shops and club rooms in the hours of their free- 
 dom from toil and eagerly seize the opportunity 
 to perfect their knowledge of our language or 
 
 110
 
 THE STOEY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 of art, literature, science, or some branch of in- 
 dustry. 
 
 The restaurant is the best in that part of the 
 city and its prices are low. A branch of the 
 Chicago public library is maintained here and 
 a residential club for boys and one for girls. 
 Plays are given in the theater, sometimes by 
 local talent so capable as to attract public at- 
 tention. Greek, Italian, Yiddish and other plays 
 have been given in the original languages by 
 those who are natives of lands where those lan- 
 guages are spoken. 
 
 A playground is provided for children and a 
 day nursery, a kindergarten, a gymnasium, an 
 art studio, a book bindery, looms, and shops at- 
 tract hundreds of people who are greatly helped 
 by them. 
 
 Chicago Commons is at Grand avenue and 
 Morgan street, where the thronging people from 
 many foreign countries have crowded together in 
 the neighborhood of the river. Prof. Graham 
 Taylor opened a settlement there in one of the 
 fine old residences of the former days of the 
 district before the foreign element crowded out 
 the people of wealth. Since the opening in 
 May, 1894, the settlement has been a source of 
 inspiration and instruction to the neighbors. 
 About twenty-five residents take part in the 
 work and the institution maintains many clubs 
 and classes. 
 
 This settlement aims to promote "co-operation 
 and reciprocity within the neighborhood and 
 among others who meet on common ground for 
 fellowship; adjustment of differences and bet- 
 terment of relations between employers and em- 
 ployees; to bring students into first-hand con- 
 tact with life; co-operative relations with uni- 
 versities and professional schools; political edu- 
 cation and action through non-partisan organi- 
 zation." 
 
 Educational Institutions. Chicago is a great 
 center of learning, some of its educators and 
 schools being famous throughout the world. 
 
 The Public Schools form the greatest part of 
 the educational work in the city, employing over 
 6,000 teachers and instructing about 300,000 
 pupils. All this is free, and books are furnished 
 those who are unable to buy. Kindergartens 
 are kept in such districts as seem most to need 
 them. Crippled children 's schools have omni- 
 buses calling for the children and taking them 
 home. Subnormal rooms are open to pupils of 
 low mentality, and the blind and deaf are taught 
 skilfully in rooms set apart for their benefit. 
 Children who do not attend school regularly and 
 conduct themselves properly may be sent from 
 the Juvenile court to the Parental school, where 
 they remain until their conduct improves enough 
 to warrant their return. Boys who are too bad 
 to be permitted to attend at the Parental school 
 are supplied with teaching at the John Worthy 
 school, in connection with the city prison, or at 
 the farm and industrial schools at Glenwood and 
 St. Charles. 
 
 Continuation schools are maintained for those 
 who are obliged to work but wish to continue 
 their studies. Evening schools are conducted 
 during the winter months for those who are 
 employed in the day, many adults and foreigners 
 taking advantage of their work. 
 
 The Chicago Normal school and the Normal 
 practice schools give free training in the art of 
 teaching. 
 
 The Board of Education has charge of all 
 these schools. Its offices are at Dearborn and 
 Madison streets, where the superintendent with 
 a large corps of assistants and district superin- 
 tendents co-operates with the president of the 
 board in managing this great branch of the 
 government. 
 
 A compulsory attendance law makes it the 
 duty of all children under fourteen years of age 
 to attend school the year round. Those over 
 fourteen and not sixteen are obliged to work 
 regularly or attend school unless excused for 
 good reasons by proper authority. 
 
 Free vacation schools are maintained six 
 weeks each summer, and a beginning has been 
 made in the care of children who are inclined 
 to illness through tubercular troubles, an out- 
 door school having been maintained during the 
 vacation of 1909 in conjunction with the Chi- 
 cago Tuberculosis Institute, where children were 
 fed, attended by nurses and teachers, and re- 
 stored to strength and health sufficiently to 
 enable them to attend the regular schools in 
 September. At least one open-air school is now 
 provided for to run the year round for the bene- 
 fit of children predisposed to tuberculosis. 
 
 The whole cost of the public schools each year 
 is about $8,000,000. 
 
 Parochial and Private Schools take care of a 
 large number of children, affording in many in- 
 stances superior instruction and accommodations, 
 and giving training and teaching in religious or 
 other subjects which cannot be afforded by 
 schools maintained by public money. 
 
 Colleges, Universities and Seminaries. There 
 are so many schools of higher learning that we 
 cannot give notice to all. The Chicago Directory 
 contains many names which are not here listed. 
 Armour Institute of Technology, Association In- 
 stitute, Y. M. C. A., Baptist Union Theological 
 Seminary, Brooks Classical School for Girls, Chi- 
 cago Hebrew Institute, Chicago Institute of So- 
 cial Science, Chicago Lutheran Theological Semi- 
 nary, Chicago Theological Seminary, De La Salle 
 Institute, Garretfc Biblical Institute, Hebrew 
 Literary Institute, Holy Family Academy, Jew- 
 ish Training School of Chicago, Lewis Institute, 
 McCormick Theological Seminary, Moody Bible 
 Institute, Northwestern University, St. Ignatius 
 College, St. Viateur's Normal Institute, Theo- 
 logical Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran 
 Church, University of Chicago, and Western 
 Theological Seminary are some of the leading 
 ones. 
 
 The medical schools and others of like nature 
 
 111
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 are numerous and known throughout the world 
 for effectual work. 
 
 Art and music schools of many kinds and great 
 diversity of courses make Chicago a center for 
 artistic training in many lines. 
 
 The University of Chicago is eight miles from 
 the business center of the city and faces the 
 Midway Plaisance. Its campus covers ninety- 
 five acres and cost $4,217,553. Its thirty-one 
 buildings cost about $5,000,000. Over $30,000,- 
 000 have been given to this great seat of learn- 
 ing, largely by Mr. J. D. Rockefeller. 
 
 The old University of Chicago, which was 
 founded by Stephen A. Douglas, passed out of 
 
 WILLIAM RAINEY HARPER. 
 
 existence in 1886. The new one, under a slight 
 change of name, has been a real university from 
 the start. Its charter makes it non-sectarian 
 and provides that no religious test shall ever be 
 applied to faculty or students. 
 
 Among those who have given largely to the 
 university besides Mr. Rockefeller may be men- 
 tioned William B. Ogden, first mayor of Chi- 
 cago; Charles T. Yerkes, Mrs. Emmons Elaine 
 and Miss Helen Culver. The two last named are 
 
 the largest givers after Mr. Rockefeller, giving 
 over $1,000,000 each. 
 
 The name of William Rainey Harper rises first 
 in the minds of the scholars when the university 
 is mentioned, for it was by his influence and 
 labor that the gifts were secured to make it 
 great. He guided the great institution up to 
 the time of his death in 1906, and the wisdom 
 of his plans is becoming more and more ap- 
 parent as they are worked out. 
 
 .The school is open the year round, and the 
 class system which prevails in other universities 
 and colleges, where four years are taken for a 
 course, and the entire class is expected to enter 
 and take degrees on given days, is largely ig- 
 nored. Students enter at any quarter, select 
 their courses, and work upon them as. their own 
 convenience and ability direct, and degrees are 
 given whenever students have finished the 
 courses leading to them. 
 
 The summer quarter begins June 15 and offers 
 the same advantages as the winter one. This 
 brings to the university hundreds of teachers 
 from all parts of the world, especially those en- 
 gaged during the school year. 
 
 The buildings are of blue Bedford limestone 
 and their style is English Gothic. The Oxford 
 plan of grouping has been followed. Mr. Henry 
 Ives Cobb, the first architect of the university, 
 made the first water color sketch of how he 
 thought the buildings should look when placed 
 about the quadrangle, and his ideas have been 
 closely followed. 
 
 Variations of the style adopted make the 
 buildings very interesting. The Law building 
 is closely like the King's college at Cambridge, 
 England. Bartlett gymnasium, Haskell museum, 
 Ryerson physical laboratory, Hutchinson hall, 
 the Reynolds club, Mandel hall, and Mitchell 
 tower, all named for donors, give great diversity 
 of architecture. Hutchinson hall is like Christ 
 Church hall at Oxford. Mitchell tower is almost 
 a copy of the famous tower of 'Magdalen college 
 at Oxford, and is visible from all parts of the 
 campus. It has a chime of bells considered the 
 finest in America. Mandel hall is a complete 
 theater and has a fine pipe organ. 
 
 Marshall field is the outdoor athletic field of 
 the university, named for the donor, and is the 
 scene of many football and baseball contests. 
 At the opposite end of the campus are the School 
 of Education and the University high school. 
 In these, pupils are taken in at kindergarten age 
 and given complete preparation for the uni- 
 versity. 
 
 The library contains 461,000 volumes and 170,- 
 000 pamphlets. Yerkes observatory is located 
 near Lake Geneva, in Wisconsin, where a clearer 
 atmosphere and less vibration of the earth are 
 found than in the vicinity of the university. 
 Its famous refracting telescope of 40-inch aper- 
 ture is one of the university 's best possessions. 
 
 A memorial window in Bartlett gymnasium is 
 one of the finest examples of stained glass art 
 
 112
 
 THE STOEY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 in America. It represents the crowning of the 
 wounded Ivanhoe after the tournament at Ashby. 
 It cost $40,000. 
 
 Northwestern University is located in Evans- 
 ton, Chicago 's greatest suburb on the north. 
 But the law, medical, dental and pharmacy 
 schools are in Chicago. This university is con- 
 sidered one of the greatest in the country and 
 it occupies a site along the lake, which will be 
 improved so as to be one of the most beautiful 
 educational properties in the world. The new 
 engineering courses are attracting wide atten- 
 tion and the new building for this department 
 is suited to the most exacting requirements. A 
 new $100,000 gymnasium, the largest in the 
 country, the gift of Mr. James A. Patten, is in- 
 tended to make Evanston a center for great 
 athletic events and afford room for great musical 
 events of the most ambitious kind. 
 
 St. Ignatius College and Church of the Holy 
 Family is a splendid group of educational and 
 religious buildings which are considered old for 
 Chicago, the parish dating from 1857 and the 
 college building from 1869. There is a library 
 here of 35,000 volumes, with some rare old books, 
 and the mineralogical and natural history mu 
 seums are valuable. The parish once had 24,000 
 Catholic residents, but these have nearly all re- 
 moved away from the center of population and 
 Jewish people have replaced them. The church 
 has a splendid interior with beautiful altars and 
 stations of the cross, rivaling some of the finest 
 churches in Europe. 
 
 Great Libraries abound in Chicago, books 
 enough being at one's service to pursue almost 
 every line of research or information. 
 
 The Public Library occupies a splendid build- 
 ing at Michigan avenue and Washington street. 
 It has one branch library at Forty-ninth street i 
 and Lake avenue, seventy-five delivery stations, 
 and fifteen branch reading rooms in parts of the , 
 city where IfiOsfc-needed. Over 350,000 volumes 
 are in its stacks and about two and one-quarter 
 millions of drawings of books make up a year's 
 work. 
 
 It is free to all residents of the city. Books 
 may be borrowed at the main building or at any 
 delivery station by anyone furnishing a guar- 
 antee slip signed by a property owner securing 
 the return of the book. 
 
 The building is stately and dignified. It is 
 Eoman classic in architecture, built of blue Bed 
 ford limestone, and dates from 1897. It has 
 110,000 square feet of floor space. The guide 
 book of the Chicago Association of Commerce 
 says of it, "Entering from Washington street 
 the visitor passes under the massive elliptical 
 marble arch of the main staircase, at the foot of 
 which is seen in the floor a bronze replica of 
 the corporate seal of Chicago. The elaborate 
 decorations and designs in green and gold are 
 of Tiffany glass mosaic. At the head of the 
 stairs is the delivery room, 134 by 48 feet, fin- 
 ished in Italian statuary marble from the fa- 
 
 mous mines of Carrara, inlaid with glass mo- 
 saic, mother-of-pearl, and semi-precious stones, 
 in which are worked devices of the early print- 
 ers and other appropriate emblems. Specially 
 to be noted are the stained glass dome and 
 serpentine marble panels containing inscriptions 
 in ten different languages, the characters inlaid 
 in white. (Book, price 5 cents, at desk, gives 
 translations.) 
 
 <( On the top floor is the art room with a 
 superb collection of works on art and art criti- 
 cism, many rare and costly. On the floor below 
 is the young people's reading room and at the 
 end of the corridor is the reference room, where 
 any book in the library may be had for reference 
 but not to be taken away. Ranged around the 
 walls are encyclopedias, atlases, directories, and 
 dictionaries in all the principal languages. On 
 the same floor is another reading room supplied 
 with newspapers from every important city in 
 the United States as well as hundreds of maga- 
 zines and other publications, both American and 
 foreign. The Grand Army rooms and Memorial 
 hall, with museum of war relics, battle flags and 
 portraits of prominent military men, including 
 a life-size oil portrait of Abraham Lincoln, is on 
 the second floor of the building. The main floor 
 is conspicuous for the spacious hallway fronting 
 the Randolph street entrance, with the public 
 document room on the right, and reading room 
 for the blind on the left. The large collection 
 of books in this room printed with raised letters 
 is unusual and worthy of special notice." 
 
 The Public library has a fine collection of art 
 books, books in foreign languages, history, 
 biography, travel, science, and the fine and lib- 
 eral arts. Patent records of the United States 
 since 1790 may be consulted here as well as 
 patent records of other countries. 
 
 The John Crerar Library has 230,000 books 
 and 70,000 pamphlets, nearly all on science. 
 Books may not be borrowed here but may be 
 used freely by anyone who enters. It has special 
 places for those who wish to read on certain 
 sciences, its medical room being a very attrac- 
 tive one for physicians and students. It re- 
 ceives over 100,000 visits of readers every year. 
 This library is the gift of one of Chicago 's 
 merchant princes and it co-operates with the 
 Public and Newberry libraries so that duplicates 
 of rare works are not purchased. The three 
 libraries may be looked upon as three depart- 
 ments of one great institution and readers in- 
 terested in different subjects visit different li- 
 braries to do their work among the books. 
 
 The Newberry Library has a noble building on 
 Washington square, a beautiful small park. Con- 
 necticut granite is used in the structure, which 
 is of the Spanish Romanesque style. Two hundred 
 and fifty thousand books, pamphlets and maps are 
 cared for here and skilled attendants wait upon 
 the visitor with valuable information as to where 
 to look for what is desired. 
 
 History, biography and genealogy are the 
 
 113
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 main subjects covered. The guide book of the 
 Association of Commerce says, "Entering, the 
 visitor passes through a vestibule of colored 
 marble into a spacious hail in which are por- 
 traits of noted persons. Noteworthy are the re- 
 lief panels depicting La Salle's march through 
 Illinois, 3680; Benedictine monks at work on 
 manuscripts, 1456, and the Fort Dearborn mas- 
 sacre, 1812. Opening from this hall is the check 
 room, where hats, wraps, etc., are checked free 
 of charge, and (Room 12) the museum contain- 
 ing copies of very ancient manuscripts in 
 Arabic, Turkish, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, 
 German, Italian, Hebrew, Spanish, and many in 
 Latin from the twelfth century down. Also 
 Pali, written on palm leaves, Sanskrit, and 
 Persian. There is also a collection of fine bind- 
 ings and very rare books, including illuminated 
 manuscripts and other rarities of great interest 
 to the book lover. Opening off this room is the 
 private collection of Edward E. Ayer, containing 
 one of the most complete libraries on the Amer- 
 ican Indian extant. In the history room (third 
 floor) is a very complete collection of books 
 bearing on historical matters; also a complete 
 genealogical index by means of which any Amer- 
 ican family may trace the written history of its 
 various branches, if such there are. The collec- 
 tion of foreign and American magazines in an- 
 other room is very extensive and will also be 
 of interest to many. The whole library is full 
 of interesting things and much time may be 
 spent here profitably." 
 
 The Chicago Historical Society library occu- 
 pies its own elegant building at Dearborn ave- 
 nue and Ontario street. On week days from 9 
 till 5 visitors may freely enter its library, mu- 
 seum and portrait gallery. It contains a great 
 collection of matter and objects pertaining to 
 the history of Chicago and the Northwest. There 
 are 40,000 volumes, 75,000 pamphlets, and many 
 maps, views, etc. 
 
 The Ryerson library in the Art Institute has 
 5,100 volumes on art and 16,000 Braun artotypes. 
 The Academy of Sciences library has 28,000 vol- 
 umes and pamphlets. The Field Museum library 
 is a scientific one for reference only 45,000 
 vol. All the educational institutions have their 
 own special collections of books, and Evanston, 
 Pullman and other suburbs have choice public 
 libraries. 
 
 Hospitals are found in all parts of the city 
 and there is room for every one needing special 
 treatment, whether the patient has unlimited 
 means and demands the most elaborate care or 
 is unable to pay at all. 
 
 The Cook County hospital and morgue occupy 
 a whole city block. The only requirement for 
 admission is that the patient be unable to pay 
 for treatment. Everything is free and small 
 pox cases are the only ones refused. Seventy 
 physicians and surgeons attend these patients 
 and forty-eight house physicians, internes, assist. 
 Two hundred nurses are required and two hun- 
 
 dred and forty other employees to care for the 
 1,100 patients who fill the wards as a daily 
 average. About one dollar a day is the expense 
 of treatment, board, etc., of a patient here, and 
 this is all provided for by taxation, so that no 
 money is accepted from the patients. 
 
 Contagious diseases are cared for separately 
 by the city health department. Diphtheria and 
 measles are treated at the contagious hospital 
 at 34th street and Lawndale avenue. Smallpox 
 cases are taken at the Isolation hospital one 
 block south of the Contagious hospital. 
 
 The Home for Incurables takes all kinds of 
 hopeless cases and charges in accordance with 
 the means of the patients. It has about 275 
 patients usually. It is located at 5535 Ellis 
 avenue, and is a place where the cheery visitor 
 may be of great benefit at any time. 
 
 The County Detention Hospital, Wood and 
 Polk streets, is an asylum for the insane, the 
 feeble-minded, and the epileptic. It is sup- 
 ported by taxation. Patients found suitable for 
 admission to the Dunning asylum are sent there 
 after a short residence at this hospital. 
 
 The Home for Destitute and Crippled Children, 
 46 Park avenue, is supported by gifts from the 
 public. Boys between the ages of three and 
 twelve years and girls between three and fifteen 
 are given a home and education here and the 
 gifts received from charitable people are the 
 only means of maintaining the work. The Out- 
 ing and Luncheon Association gives crippled 
 children hot dinners during the school year, 
 clothing, and other necessities to getting an in- 
 dustrial education, and sends them to the coun- 
 try for a portion of the summer. It is main- 
 tained solely by gifts from those who have sym- 
 pathy for the sufferers, whose lives are made less 
 tedious by their kindness. 
 
 There are many institutions in the city which 
 give relief to the unfortunate and depend on 
 gifts for their support. Sometimes givers refuse 
 to give their names because so many other good 
 causes are ready to ask for help, but such gener- 
 osity and kindness are found among the citizens 
 of Chicago that all are provided for and others 
 are organized as need arises. Most of those who 
 give are not rich and their charity is the more 
 real because it calls for self-denial. 
 
 Churches. Of the 1,077 churches in Chicago 
 it is possible to speak only in a general way. 
 By consulting the city directory (see index for 
 "Churches") one may locate those of any de- 
 sired denomination. 
 
 The Sunday Evening Club meets in Orchestra 
 Hall every Sunday evening from October to 
 July. It provides a religious service with elab- 
 orate music without any denominational or sec- 
 tarian features. As the loop district is largely 
 taken up with business buildings, churches have 
 generally removed to the neighborhoods of 
 homes, and this club is specially planned for 
 persons stopping at the hotels near. Business 
 
 114
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 men support the club and speakers of national 
 reputation are frequently secured. A large 
 chorus is skilfully drilled and is a leading fea- 
 ture of the work. The average attendance ex- 
 ceeds 2,000. 
 
 Notre Dame de Chicago, Oregon avenue and 
 Sibley street, the beautiful French Catholic 
 church, is open daily. It has a circular audi- 
 torium with altars of Carrara marble. The main 
 altar has a baldachin in copper and gilt sup- 
 ported by two large marble pillars. The altar 
 rail and the four side altars are of marble. The 
 organ is large and fine. Beautiful stained glass 
 windows with life-size figures impress the wor- 
 shiper. The Sunday service at 11 o'clock is in 
 French, but other services are mixed. 
 
 Central Church is a church without a building. 
 It is a great body of Chicago's citizens who 
 worship in a theater in the heart of the city. 
 At 11 o'clock every Sunday morning, except in 
 the summer, Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus preaches 
 from the stage 'of the Auditorium to great audi- 
 ences, largely men. A large chorus with noted 
 soloists and the great organ add to the attrac- 
 tiveness of the service. The doors are open at 
 10:30 and the organist renders several selections 
 while the people are quietly entering, though 
 
 most of the congregation get in before he begins 
 his program. , 
 
 Some of the leading churches of the different 
 denominations are named in the following list: 
 Baptist, Immanuel, Michigan avenue and 
 Twenty-third street; Christian, Jackson Boule- 
 vard church, 1010 West Jackson boulevard; Con- 
 gregational, First, Washington boulevard and 
 Ann street; Independent, Moody 's, Chicago and 
 La Salle avenues; Lutheran, Holy Trinity, La 
 Salle avenue and Elm street; Jewish, Sinai, In- 
 diana avenue and Twenty-first street; Christian 
 Scientist, First, 4017 Drexel boulevard; Meth- 
 odist Episcopal, St. James, Ellis avenue and 
 Forty-sixth street; Presbyterian, Fourth, Rush 
 and Superior streets; Protestant Episcopal, 
 Grace, 1439 Wabash avenue; St. James, Cass and 
 Huron streets; Reformed Episcopal, Christ, 
 Michigan avenue and Twenty-fourth street; St. 
 Paul's, Winchester avenue and Adams street; 
 Roman Catholic, Cathedral of the Holy Name, 
 Superior and North State streets; St. Mary's, 
 Wabash avenue and Eldredge court; Unitarian, 
 Third, Monroe street. near Kedzie avenue; Uni- 
 versalist, Church of the Redeemer, Warren ave- 
 nue and Robey street.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Grant Park. 
 
 In its early days the Illinois Central railroad 
 did not wish to disturb the people of Chicago 
 in any way; so it crept into the city on piles 
 driven into the sands of Lake Michigan. This 
 was a very modest way for a railroad to enter 
 a city, for it crossed no streets and tore down 
 no buildings to prepare the right of way. As 
 time went on the railroad put on fast trains 
 and express service so that people living near 
 the lake shore anywhere south of the main part 
 of Chicago could get into town in a few minutes. 
 As there were no street crossings to speak of 
 the trains were run at a great speed, and people 
 said that Chicago had the best way of getting 
 its people down town of all the cities of the 
 world. 
 
 But when the railroad began to fill up part 
 of the lake with dirt, sand and rubbish, and in 
 this way get hold of land which they did not 
 pay for, there was trouble, for the great lake 
 opposite the city does not belong to any com- 
 .pany; the whole United States has something 
 to say about the filling in of any water which 
 is deep enough for boats. When our city be- 
 
 came large enough to take pride in elegant 
 buildings and pleasant driveways we were 
 ashamed of the looks of our lake front. We 
 thought we had given the railroad too much 
 when we let it cut off all streets leading down 
 to the lake so we could not get to it without 
 crossing dangerous tracks. And when the rail- 
 road put up signs to keep people away and for- 
 bade the public to cross the tracks many per- 
 sons felt that it did not pay a city to have such 
 an elegant means of getting some of its people 
 to town when it kept so many of them out of 
 their natural rights to pass down to the water 
 front. 
 
 The picture taken in 1868 from Michigan 
 avenue looking to the northeast was good enough 
 for those who thought of business only, but to 
 people who had some thoughts of the rights of 
 poor people and of the value of beauty in a city 
 it was a dismal-looking scene. It is true, you 
 could in those days get down to the water, for 
 the railroad was far out in the lake, but your 
 view was cut off and if you took a sail you had 
 to use a boat with short masts in order to get 
 under the railroad. 
 
 From an old wood cut. 
 
 NORTHERN PART OF THE SITE OF GRANT PARK IN 1868. 
 
 116
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 But now all this has been changed. A large 
 park has been made by filling part of the lake 
 with earth and all sorts of refuse not dangerous 
 to public health, and on top of it, after grading 
 and smoothing it in the most agreeable manner, 
 soil has been put so that trees and grass will 
 grow. Much planting has been done to make 
 the park beautiful. It has been named after 
 General Grant. It extends from Randolph 
 street on the north to near Twelfth street, a 
 mile away to the south, and it reaches out far 
 beyond the tracks of the railroad, so that it is 
 about a third of a mile wide. 
 
 Grant Park has about 205 acres of land within 
 its boundaries, and it has taken so much earth 
 to fill in the lake and build up the solid ground 
 
 have electric engines before long, and that will 
 take away the worst of the smoke which row 
 hurts these beautiful trees, and we hope the 
 whole city will find ways of getting heat, light 
 and power without making as much smoke as 
 is now made, and that will not only make Grant 
 Park more beautiful, but will make the whole 
 city better for human and plant life. 
 
 The trees are of course planted mainly along 
 the walks and driveways. They have been set 
 with an eye to showing off their beauty. By 
 looking at the plans pictured here you will see 
 that they look very much better than if they 
 had been put into rows all over the park. The 
 beauty of trees often lies largely in the way 
 they show themselves to you from near and dis- 
 
 ART 
 INSTITUTE. 
 
 FIELD 
 MUSEUM 
 
 CRERAR 
 LIBRARY 
 
 MONUMENT 
 
 MODEL OF GRANT PARK USED AS A BASIS OF STUDY. 
 
 that it is hard to think out the meaning of the 
 figures. Here are the amounts of earth that 
 were dumped there during the year 1907: 
 From the contractors, at 10 cents 
 
 per cubic yard .- 313,016 cu. yd. 
 
 From the Illinois Tunnel Company, 
 
 at no cost 188,852 cu. yd. 
 
 From wagon delivery by various 
 
 parties, at no cost 208,317 cu. yd. 
 
 Total during the year 710,185 cu. yd. 
 
 The entire cost of this filling was $40,572.21. 
 It averages 5.71 cents per cubic yard. It was 
 necessary to lay railroads around through the 
 park and run special dirt trains all over the 
 park to carry the filling and top dressing. When 
 the ground was filled to the right height it was 
 finished off by grading and a dressing of black 
 earth was put upon it to the depth of eighteen 
 inches, so grass and shrubs might grow where 
 required. In 1907 27.7 acres were dressed in 
 tliis manner, and it took 51,238 cubic yards of 
 black earth. 
 
 Tree Planting. As soon as the ground was 
 ready for planting 334 fine elm trees were 
 bought and planted there. The trees were from 
 seven to eight inches in diameter, pretty large 
 trees to plant in this way. The park commis- 
 sioners bought these large trees because they 
 wanted to have the park look good without 
 waiting a long time for the trees to grow. It 
 is expected that the trees will grow slowly in 
 the smoky air of Chicago, but the railroad is to 
 
 tant views, and a square setting of them has 
 been found not pleasing. Men who study this 
 art are called landscape gadeners. 
 
 To give our trees a better chance to live than 
 they might have if planted in only eighteen 
 inches of soil, each tree has had dug for it a 
 pit or a trench ten feet by twenty feet in size 
 and four feet deep. This gives the elm more 
 rich earth to live upon than is found in the 
 forests where elms grow naturally, and we hope, 
 in spite of the smoke and bad air of the city, 
 our elms will grow finely and make us glad with 
 their pleasing view and the shade they will 
 give in the summer time. The pits in which 
 our trees are set are provided with water and 
 drainage so there may at all times be just as 
 much water as they need for healthy growth 
 without any danger of their getting drowned 
 out by too much water standing about the roots. 
 
 The elm is often spoken of as the "artist's 
 tree" because it has such graceful, feathery 
 lines. As you look at an elm standing alone in 
 a field you see its trunk rise from a rather 
 wide stump to a graceful stem which runs well 
 up towards the sky before any limb or branch 
 appears upon it. Then instead of sending its 
 branches out at right angles from the trunk it 
 parts into two or more large limbs. These di- 
 vide into several branches smaller than them- 
 selves, reaching out to where the twigs are 
 thickest and turning towards the earth so the 
 leaves may hang down towards the ground and 
 swing in such charming style that it is no won- 
 
 117
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 iler that artists delight in drawing the forms of 
 tims and in painting the beautiful shades of 
 green, gray and brown found in the leaves and 
 the trunks and branches. Even the shadow of 
 the tree as it falls upon the grass or against 
 a nearby building is full of graceful lines. And 
 so, as we enjoy these elms, we may be thankful 
 that the art of landscape gardening has been 
 studied so much that our new trees in Grant 
 Park will delight all who look at them. 
 
 Model of Grant Park. The model of the park 
 was made to help the architects, the landscape 
 gardeners and the commissioners in their study 
 
 building, and the funds left to enlarge and 
 maintain it have grown to about three and one- 
 half million dollars besides the million for the 
 building to hold the library. 
 
 This library is not intended for those who 
 read for amusement, or for those who study an- 
 cient languages; but it gives everything anyone 
 can wish in science and the practical subjects 
 of society, nature and the works of man. The 
 records of the library show that most of the 
 books and papers used there by the people who 
 are enjoying its privileges are in the department 
 of applied science, such as electrical, mechanical 
 
 FRONT ELEVATION OF THE PROPOSED JOHN CRERAR LIBRARY BUILDING. 
 
 The structure is to be erected in Grant Park. The late John Crerar endowed the library. 
 The trustees have a building fund of $1,000,000. 
 
 of the ground and the buildings. No one can 
 tell from a flat drawing how a park is going to 
 look, especially when it must have buildings 
 and places for students and people looking for 
 recreation and pleasure. This model is on view 
 at the Art Institute and has been of much use 
 in making the plans. You will see that the 
 railroad is covered over in the model. This is 
 to show what may be done when the railroad 
 does not have to burn coal or coke to get up 
 steam. With electric engines it can run under 
 cover and not trouble its passengers with smoke 
 or steam. 
 
 The Art Institute is now the principal build- 
 ing upon the park; but two other noble build- 
 ings have been provided for and will be placed 
 south of the Institute at proper distances to 
 make the view agreeable and imposing. The 
 Field Museum of Natural History is to be built 
 at the most central place in Grant Park, and 
 when it is ready for use the World 'a Fair fine 
 arts building will be vacated. The money left 
 by Marshall Field for the museum amounts to 
 about four million dollars. 
 
 The John Crerar Library. One million dollars 
 will be expended in erecting a building for the 
 John Crerar Library, which was first opened to 
 the public in the Field building, at the corner 
 of Washington street and Wabash avenue, in 
 1897. It now occupies two entire floors of that 
 
 and civil engineering, drawing and designing, 
 trade and transportation, manufacture, architec- 
 ture, and such subjects. The attendance is 
 largest in the evenings and on holidays, showing 
 that those who use the library most are work- 
 men, mechanics, teachers, architects, engineers, 
 electricians, and those who are busy during the 
 day but desire to make themselves more success- 
 ful in their own work. 
 
 The trustees are making the library the meet- 
 ing place for all the scientific societies in the 
 West. The new buildings are to have a number 
 of rooms and lecture halls which will be given 
 to such societies without charge, provided that 
 the results of those meetings, when printed, 
 shall be placed in the library for the use of 
 others. 
 
 Mr. Crerar wished this building to be placed 
 in Chicago, and he preferred that it should be 
 on the South Side because the Newberry Library 
 is on the North Side. So this splendid building 
 with its impressive classical architecture is to be 
 placed at Congress street, where its books may 
 be near at hand for people of the South Side. 
 It will be large enough to hold 1,000,000 books, 
 and when it is filled there will be a space left on 
 the grounds for making the building larger with- 
 out spoiling its looks. The additions are to be 
 made in the shape of wings. 
 
 Athletics. East of the tracks, beside the 
 
 118
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 large meadows which can be used for games, 
 there will be indoor and outdoor gymnasiums, a 
 quarter-mile track, and a swimming basin so 
 that those who now use the small space north 
 of the Art Institute will have plenty of room 
 for exercise at such times in the day as they 
 can get away from their work in the heart of 
 the city. 
 
 On the south line of the park, near the rail- 
 road, will be the stables, offices, sheds and other 
 buildings for park work. 
 
 Along the water front is a great avenue or 
 mall, for driving and walking, shaded by six 
 rows of trees and overlooking the quay, or 
 
 to be a fountain with a separate symbolic figure 
 representing each lake. 
 
 Lincoln Park has the most conspicuous exam- 
 ple of American sculpture. It is at the south 
 entrance. It is Augustus St. Gaudens' heroic 
 figure of Abraham Lincoln. It is mounted on 
 pink granite in a semicircle of the same stone. 
 This has received the highest praise of both 
 American and European critics. Hans Christian 
 Andersen, Benjamin Franklin, Ulysses S. Grant, 
 Beethoven, Garibaldi, Goethe, La Salle, Linne, 
 Schiller, and Shakespere are represented, and the 
 symbolic pieces, "The Signal of Peace" and 
 "The Alarm," are excellent. 
 
 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 This structure is to be erected in Grant Park at a cost of $4,000,000, provided in the will of 
 Marshall Field. The main elevation, here reproduced, is from the design submitted by the trus- 
 tees and accepted and approved by the South Park Commissioners. 
 
 strand, which forms the margin of Lake Mich- 
 igan. Rising towards each end, the mall ends 
 at the north and south edges of the park in 
 great squares where shelters and places of re- 
 freshment will be built. These will be cool and 
 beautiful and many people who have no front 
 verandahs at their homes will be glad to spend 
 much of their spare time in the summer out of 
 doors where health and pleasure may be had. 
 Boats will be kept there for the public, and yacht 
 and boat clubs will have places for their own 
 enjoyment. 
 
 Grant Park will be the central beauty spot of 
 the inner park system. It will be connected 
 with Lincoln Park by a boulevard, and a fine 
 driveway will be built, at least a thousand feet 
 out in the lake, running from the southern cor- 
 ner of Grant Park around through the water to 
 Jackson Park. 
 
 Monuments are to be erected in Chicago to 
 adorn the boulevards and parks. The trustees 
 of the Art Institute hold in trust the Benjamin 
 F. Ferguson bequest of $1,000,000 for this pur- 
 pose. The Municipal Art League has done much 
 to educate the public to an appreciation of the 
 work to be done. The lives of worthy men and 
 women are to be commemorated and important 
 events in American history. The first use of the 
 fund is to purchase and erect a beautiful group 
 of statuary by the famous Chicago sculptor, 
 Lorado Taft, called "The Great Lakes." It is 
 
 Humboldt Park has monuments to Humboldt, 
 Leif Ericson, Reuter, and Kosciusko. Union 
 park has a statue of Carter H. Harrison and the 
 monument to the hero policemen who suffered 
 in the Haymarket riot. This piece was first set 
 up on the scene of the riot, but obstructed traffic- 
 so that it was removed to Union Park. In Gar- 
 field Park are monuments to Queen Victoria and 
 Robert Burns. 
 
 General John A. Logan is remembered in a 
 fine equestrian statue in Grant Park. McKinley 
 Park honors its martyred namesake. Stephen A. 
 Douglas stands on a tall marble column at the 
 foot of Thirty-fifth street. 
 
 Cahokia Court House is one of the sights of 
 the Wooded island in Jackson Park. It is the 
 oldest public building in the Mississippi valley 
 and was built in 1716 at Cahokia, St. Glair 
 c-ounty, Illinois. It was a public building under 
 three flags, the French, the British, and the 
 American. At the Louisiana Purchase Exposi- 
 tion in St. Louis this was made an exhibit. Then 
 Miss Valentine Smith, city archivist in Chicago, 
 brought it to its present site. It is made of 
 squared walnut logs set on end in the style of 
 the early French stockade, the logs held together 
 with wooden pins. 
 
 Because it marked the beginning of civil gov- 
 ernment in this region the newly created Mu- 
 nicipal Court of Chicago held its first session 
 
 119
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 there December 6, 1906. The twenty-eight judges 
 at that session received their commissions :rom 
 the state and the first order of the new court 
 was entered in the old building. 
 
 The flags of three nations float over it every 
 day and many students, historians and school 
 children view it with pride. Its collection of 
 photographs of original documents pertaining to 
 its history makes the place still more interest- 
 ing. 
 
 The Convent of La Rabida, reproduced like the 
 Spanish shelter of Columbus, stands at the south 
 end of Jackson Park. It is an outing place for 
 sick babies in summer. Replicas of the ships 
 
 Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria lie at anchor in 
 the lagoon near. Columbus is further remem- 
 bered by a great business building which w;is 
 erected on State street in 1892. A bronze statue 
 by Ezekiel is over the entrance and the mosaic 
 floor and panels tell his story. 
 
 The Marquette-Joliet Memorial Cross is solid 
 mahogany, fourteen feet high, where the Chicago 
 river flows into the Drainage canal at Robey 
 street. It commensurates the visit of Father 
 Marquette and Louis Joliet to the site of Chi- 
 cago in 1673, and is erected on the spot where 
 Father Marquette spent the winter of 1674-5. 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Abenakis, 13. 
 Acadia, 25. 
 Addams, Jane, 110. 
 Advantages of the location 
 
 of Chicago, 60-2-5-70. 
 Adventures, Strange of, 
 
 Jean Nicolet, 1. 
 Alarm, The, 126. 
 Algonquin, 4-5, 6, 7, 11, 
 
 13, 14, Algonquins, 26, 
 
 31, tribes, 3. 
 Alleghanies, 27. 
 Allouez, Father Claude, 5. 
 Altars in the Wilderness. 
 
 Daring and Devotion of 
 
 the Missionaries, 5. 
 American Fur Co., 43, 44. 
 Andersen, 126. 
 Apostle Islands, 6. 
 Archer, Colonel, 56. 
 Archer road, 56. 
 Arkansas river, 1. 
 Arnold. Dr. Isaac N., 87. 
 Art Institute. 8, 110, 125. 
 Ashland Avenue, 0. 
 Ashland, Wis., 5. 
 Asiatic cholera, 48. 
 Aurora, 11. 
 Bablon, Father. 5, 6. 
 Kayfleld, Wis., 5. 
 Kay of Mackinac, 11. 
 Beaujeau, 15. 
 Beaunien, Jean Baptiste, 
 
 43. 46, 48, 53, 64. 
 Beaubien, Mark, 44, 46. 
 Beaubien, Medore, 46, 52. 
 Beethoven, 126. 
 Big Sea Water, 5. 
 Bitoxi, 17, 21. Indians, 
 Black Hawk, 49 ; war, 47 ; 
 
 cause of. 47 ; war over, 
 
 49 ; provoked to war, 48. 
 Black Partridge. 36. 
 Black Watch, 27. 
 Blaine, Mrs. Emmons, 112. 
 Blue and Gray Sleep To- 
 gether, 76. 
 Blue Island, 8. 
 Board of Education, 111. 
 Board of Trade Bldg.. 12. 
 Boisbrlant, Sieur Duoue, 
 
 19, 20. 
 
 Boisrondet, Father, 13. 
 Boone, Daniel, 27. 
 Boyhood of John Kinzie, 
 
 36. 
 
 Brainard. Dr., 55. 
 Breese, Judge Sidney, 63, 
 Bridge, first floating swing, 
 
 66. 
 
 Bross. Gov., 66. 
 Buffaloes, 10. 
 Bull-boats, 43. 
 Bullets, 22. 
 Burlington Depot, 46 ; 
 
 railroad. 11. 
 
 Burned Record Law, 93. 
 
 Burnett, Wm., 34. 
 
 Burns. 126. 
 
 Cadillac, 18. 
 
 Cahokia, 126. 
 
 Cahokias, 16, 18, 20, 25. 
 
 Cairo, 63, 64. 
 
 Calumet lake. 8. 14, 69. 
 
 Camp Douglas. 76. 
 
 Canada, 2, 4. 13. 
 
 Canal, Drainage, 9, 10, 
 104 ; Erie, 43 : Illinois, 
 10; Illinois and Michi- 
 gan opened, 62 ; Michi- 
 gan, 10. 
 
 Canoes, 6, 7. 
 
 Cape Breton Island, 24. 
 
 Care of Streets, 69. 
 
 Cartier, Jacques, 1. 
 
 Caton, John Dean, 51. 
 
 Center Avenue. 9. 10. 
 
 Central Church, 121. 
 
 Champlain, Father of New- 
 France, 3, 4. 
 
 Champlain, Lake, 3. 
 
 Cheesebrough, E. S., 69. 
 
 Chequamegon Bay, 5, 6. 
 
 Chicago, 6, 7, 8, 14. 17, 
 19, 30, 31, 32. 33, 35, 
 39, 45; all Sham and 
 Shingles, 79 ; a Squalid 
 Town, 66 : began to 
 build again, 94 ; begin- 
 ning of first boom, 49 ; 
 Changes with Changing 
 Times, 68 ; Commons, 
 111 ; Continues to Grow, 
 78 ; Courted Disaster, 
 79; Fire, 83; First 
 Boom, 49 ; First Boom 
 Arrives, 52 ; First Rail- 
 way Promoted, 60 : First 
 Schools, 67 : First Sky- 
 Scrapers, 95 ; Gets City 
 Conveniences, 70 ; Grant 
 Park. 116. 118; His- 
 torical Library, 10, 114; 
 Hydraulic Company, 67 ; 
 In 1836, 54 ; Knows 
 What to Do and Does 
 It, 91 ; Needed Vig- 
 ilance, 80 : Panic of '73, 
 94 ; Paving Problem, 
 69 ; Pickle Farm, 104 ; 
 Platted by Canal Com- 
 missioners, 45 : Postage, 
 16; Portage, 10, 13. 14, 
 22; Quota Was Full, 
 74; River. 7, 8. 9. 32, 
 56, 69 : Ruined City. 88 ; 
 Sky-Scraper Beautiful, 
 97 : Spirit, 59 : Strikes. 
 101 : Tin- Name of. 42 ; 
 Trade Changes and Ex- 
 
 pands, 70 ; Trolley Ride, 
 104 ; W r ar Heroes, 74. 
 
 Chickasaw Indians, 15, 18. 
 
 Chickasaws, 22. 
 
 Chillicothe, 31. 
 
 Chouteau, Pierre, 26. 
 
 Churches, 54, 55, 120. 
 
 Cincinnati, 31. 
 
 City Hall, 68. 
 
 City Limits Extended, 78. 
 
 Civil War, Beginning of, 
 74. 
 
 Clark, Col. George Rogers, 
 17; illus., 27; Major, 
 29 : Expedition, 27, 28. 
 
 Cleaver, Charles, 70. 
 
 Cleveland, 31, 32 ; Pres. 
 Appealed to, 102. 
 
 Climax and Epitome of 
 the West, 17. 
 
 Clybourne, Archibald. 44. 
 
 Coal, 21 : Mines. 78. 
 
 Cobweb Castle, 36. 
 
 College of Jesuits, 18. 
 
 Colleges, 111. 
 
 Columbus, 126. 
 
 Company of the West, 20. 
 
 Congress, 49. 
 
 Convent, La Rabida, 126. 
 
 Convention, Repub 1 i c a n- 
 National, 73 ; River and 
 Harbor, 63. 
 
 Cook County, 10. 47: Hos- 
 pital, 114 : Militia, 48. 
 
 Copper 6, 19. 
 
 Corn, 7. 
 
 Corn Island, 27. 
 
 County Detention Hospital, 
 114. 
 
 Crafts, Mr., 43. 
 
 Craze for Land, 53. 
 
 Crerar, John, Library, 113. 
 
 Cumberland Gap, 32. 
 
 Cumberland River, 32. 
 
 Danville, 45. 
 
 D'Artagnette, Pierre, 22, 
 31. 
 
 Daulac, Adam. 5. 
 
 Davis, Jefferson, 74. 
 
 Dayton, 31. 
 
 Dearborn. Gen'l Henry, 
 33 ; Orders fort on Chi- 
 cago River, 33. 
 
 De Bellerive, St. Ange, 26. 
 
 Debs, Eugene V.. 102. 
 
 De Champlain, Samuel, 2. 
 
 Deer, 10: Skins, 33. 
 
 Delaware river, 28. 
 
 Delawares, 31. 
 
 De Makarty, Chevalier, 23. 
 
 De Rocheblave, M.. 28. 
 
 De Saible, Jean Baptiste, 
 14. 
 
 Des Moines river, 7. 
 
 De Soto, 1. 
 
 Desplaines river, 9, 10. 11 
 13, 14. 49. 
 
 D'Estaing, Admiral, 28. 
 
 Destruction of Business 
 Center Completed, 88. 
 
 DeTonty, Henry. 12, 13, 
 
 Detroit, 18, 25, 26. 32, 33. 
 
 Development of railroads. 
 11, 54, 55, 58, 61, 62, 
 63, 64, 65. 
 
 deVilliars, Neyon, 26. 
 
 D'Iberville, 17'. 
 
 Dilg, Carl, 10. 
 
 Dinwiddie, Gov., 23. 
 
 Dixon, 45. 
 
 Douglas, Stephen A., 63. 
 71, 112, 126. 
 
 Down the St. Lawrence 
 into the Wilderness, 3. 
 
 Drought of '71, 80. 
 
 Dubuque. 32. 
 
 Due de Chartres, 20. 
 
 Du Lhut, 16. 
 
 Duluth, 30. 33. 
 
 Dunning, 105. 
 
 Durantage, 16. 
 
 Dutch of New York. 3. 
 
 Educational Institutions, 
 67, 111. 
 
 Edwards, Gov. Ninian. 43. 
 
 England, 22. 24. 25. 29. 
 
 English Explores, 2 ; Land 
 League, 9. 
 
 Ericson, Leif. 126. 
 
 Erie Canal, 43. 
 
 Ewen, John M., 109. 
 
 Falls of St. Anthony, 15. 
 
 Father of Waters. 18. 
 
 Fine Arts Bldg., illus.. 96. 
 
 Fire Dept., 67, 79, 80 to 
 93. 
 
 Fires Make Clean Sweep, 
 90. 
 
 Fire on South Side, 88 ; 
 Taught its Lesson. 93. 
 
 First Attack by Indians, 
 39; Plank Road, 60; 
 Presbyterian Church, 55 ; 
 Territorial Legislature, 
 42 : Train out of Chi- 
 cago, 62: White Child 
 born in Chicago, 36. 
 
 Five Nations. 13. 
 
 Flag, Cross of St. George, 
 24 ; Lillies of France, 
 24 : Thirteen Colonies, 
 24. 
 
 Flood of '49, 68. 
 
 Fort Chartres, 20, 22, 23, 
 24, 25, 28, 31. 
 
 Fort Clark, 44. 
 
 Fort Crevecoeur, 12. 
 
 Fort Dearborn. 11. 17. 34, 
 :'.!. 48, and the War of 
 1812, 33, 34, 39; Build- 
 
 120
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Ing of, 34 : Departure 
 from, 40 ; Site of, 34. 
 
 Fort Duquesne, 24. 
 
 Fort Frontenac, 12, 13, 24. 
 
 Fort. Gage, 28. 
 
 Fort Greenville, 31. 
 
 Fort Maiden, Canada, 34. 
 
 Fort Meigs, 31. 
 
 Fort Miami, 12, 16. 
 
 Fort Quatonon, 18, 22. 
 
 Fort I'itt, 24, 26. 
 
 Fort Ponchartrain, 18. 
 
 Fort St. Louis. 13. 
 
 Fort Sumter, 74. 
 
 Fort Vincennes. 22. 
 
 Fort Wayne, 16. 17, 32, 
 
 Foxes, 4, 6, 14, 17, 22, 33, 
 
 Fox river, 4, 7. 
 
 France. 1, 6, 8. 9, 12, 14, 
 17, 19, 25, 32. 
 
 Frankfort, Mich., 11. 
 
 FranMin, 126. 
 
 French Explorers, 2. 
 
 French in the old North- 
 west, 1 to 27 : Explora- 
 tion and Settlements, 1 
 to 27. 
 
 Frink & Walker's Stage 
 Office, 55. 
 
 Frontenac, Count, 6, 13. 
 
 Fur, 15, 19, 33, 35. 
 
 Galena, 32, 63, 44. 
 
 Galloway, James, 44 ; 
 Mary, 44. 
 
 Garden City and How It 
 Grew, 59. 
 
 Garfleld park, 126. 
 
 Garibaldi, 126. 
 
 Georgian Bay, 4. 
 
 Ghetto, 106, 110. 
 
 Gibault, Father, 28. 
 
 Glenn Harbor, 11. 
 
 Goethe, 126. 
 
 Goose Island, 107. 
 
 Grain, 21 ; And Good 
 Roads, 60. 
 
 Grand river, 12, 13, 34. 
 
 Grant Park, 116; Model 
 of, 118, 126. 
 
 Great Lakes, 29, 32, 43, 
 
 Great Manitou, 14. 
 
 Great river, 3, 4. 6, 7. 
 
 Green Bay, 1, 4, 7, 8, 18, 
 
 Griffin, 12, 13. 
 
 Growth of the Northwest, 
 29. 
 
 Gulf of Mexico, 13, 14, 15. 
 
 Gunsaulus, Rev. F W., 
 121. 
 
 Half-Moon, 3. 
 
 Ilalsted St., 107. 
 
 Harbor, 109. 
 
 Harper, Wm. Rainey, 112. 
 
 Harrison, 126. 
 
 Harrodsburg, 27. 
 
 Haymarket Square, 47. 
 
 Heald. Capt. 40. 
 
 Heights of Abraham, 3. 
 
 Hennepin, Father. 14, 15. 
 
 Henry, Patrick, 27. 
 
 Heroes of the Fire, 85. 
 
 Historic Home of the 
 O'Leary's, 81. 
 
 Hitt, Colonel, 50. 
 
 Ilolden, Charles C. P., . 65. 
 
 Home for Incurables and 
 Crippled Children, 114. 
 
 Hooke. Lieut. Moses, 33. 
 
 Hospitals. 63 : Cook Coun- 
 ty, 114 : County Deten- 
 tion, 114. 
 
 How an Indian Skirmish 
 Turned the Course of 
 History, 3. 
 Huhbard. Burdon S., 45, 
 
 Hudson, Henry. 3. 
 Hudson river, 3, 43. 
 Hull. Charles .T., 110. 
 Hull, Gen'l. 40. 
 Hull House, 110. 
 Humboldt. 125. 
 Huron Indians, 1. 
 Huron lake. 4. 
 Hurons. 3. 6. 11. 31. 
 Ill Winds to Kaskaskia 
 
 Blows Good to Chicago, 
 64. 
 
 Illini. 6, 7. 
 
 Illinois, 18, 28, 29, 30, 31, 
 
 Illinois and Michigan 
 Canal. 49 ; Begun, 56 ; 
 Company, 45 : Opened, 
 
 Illinois as a State and the 
 part Illinois played in 
 the Mexican and Civil 
 Wars, 71, 74, 78. 
 
 Illinois Central railroad, 
 63, 65. 116 ; Begun, 64. 
 
 Illinois County, 12. 
 
 Illinois French and the 
 War with England, 22. 
 
 Illinois Indians, 6, 7, 9, 
 
 Illinois, Lake of the, 6. 
 
 Illinois river, 7, 35, 43. 
 
 Illinois tribes, 13. 
 
 Illinois village, 7. 
 
 Illus A Confederate Sol- 
 dier, 76 : Addams, Jane, 
 110: A Fire Bucket, 66; 
 A French Voyaguer, 16 ; 
 Armour Packing Plant, 
 from Balloon, 108 ; At- 
 tempt of Prisoners to 
 Escape from Camp Dou- 
 glas, 75 ; Beaubien, 
 Alex., 50 ; Beaubien, 
 Jean Baptiste, 42 ; Beau- 
 bien, Mark. 43 ; Black 
 Hawk, 42 : Breese, Judge 
 Sidney, 64 : Bremner, 
 Capt. David P., 74; 
 Cabin on Lee's Place, 
 36; Chicago as it Prob- 
 ably Looked when seen, 
 by St. Cosme, 18; Chi- 
 cago in 1831. 45; Chi- 
 cago in 1853, 66 ; Clark, 
 Gen'l Geo. E. Rogers, 
 27 ; Clybourne, Mrs. 
 Mary Galloway, 43 ; 
 Court of Honor, 98 ; 
 Cross of St. George, 24 ; 
 Deerlng Harvester 
 Works, 105 ; Douglas, 
 Stephen A., 71 ; Ells- 
 worth, Lieut. Elmer, 74 ; 
 Entrance Hall. Chicago 
 Historical Society Bldg., 
 97 ; Field Museum of 
 Natural History, 119 ; 
 First Cook County 
 Courthouse, 56 ; First 
 Government House of 
 Tipper Louisiana, Built 
 at St. Louis (1776), 20; 
 Fort Dearborn, 34 ; 
 Fort Dearborn Massacre 
 Monument, 41 ; Fort 
 Payne at Naperville, 
 1832, 45 : French Sol- 
 dier in Illinois, Early 
 Eighteenth Century. 15 ; 
 Frink & W T alker's Stage- 
 coach Office, 52 ; Front 
 Elevation of the Pro- 
 posed John Crorar Li- 
 brary Building, 118 ; 
 Gale, Edwin O., G8 ; 
 Golden Door to the 
 Transportation Bldg., 
 96 : Harper, William 
 Rainey, 112 ; Heart of 
 Chicago after the Fire, 
 89 ; House Now Stand- 
 ing at 137 DeKoven St., 
 81 : Indian Chief, 19 ; 
 Jenney, W. L. B., 94 ; 
 Joliet. Louis, 2: Joliet 
 and Marquette Starting 
 on Voyage to the Mis- 
 sissippi, 2 : Kaskaskia in 
 1901. 12; Kerfoot Block, 
 87: Kinzie, John. 40: 
 Kinzie, Juliette, 49: La- 
 clede, Pierre, 26 ; Lake 
 Front Before the Fire. 
 77 : Lamp Found in 
 O'Leary's Barn. 78 ; 
 Lagalle, 8: LaSalle's 
 Lieutenant Henri De 
 
 Tonty, 11 ; Lilies of 
 France, 24 ; Lincoln, 
 Abraham, 71 ; Lincoln 
 House at Springfield, 
 111., 76; Lumbet Dis- 
 trict, 104 ; Main Portico 
 of Fine Arts Bldg., 96; 
 Mason-Mayor Rosw ell 
 B., 85 ; Medill, Joseph, 
 94; Mulligan, Co., 74; 
 Musham, Fire Chief 
 Wm., 79 ; New York 
 Life Bldg. in course of 
 Construction, 95 ; Nico- 
 let among the Winne- 
 bagoes, 4 : Northern Part 
 of the Site of Grant 
 Park in 1868, 116; 
 Ogden Wm. B., 58; Old 
 Galena Depot, 62; Old 
 Stagecoach Tavern, 65 ; 
 Pere Marquette, 3 ; Pio- 
 neer Engine, 62 ; Pow- 
 der Magazine of Stone 
 at Fort Chartres, Built 
 About 1750, 21 ; Public 
 Square Before the Fire, 
 82; Pullman, Geo. M., 
 68; Ruins of Field & 
 Leiter Bldg., 87 ; Rum- 
 sey School, 1844, 67 ; 
 Rush St. Bridge Today, 
 63 ; Sauganash House, 
 46 ; Scene in the Union 
 Stock Yards, 109 ; Sec- 
 ond Tribune Bldg., 97 ; 
 Shabona, 51 ; Sheridan, 
 Gen. P. H., 85: South 
 Clark St. in 1857, 65; 
 Starved Rock, 7 : Statue 
 of Abraham Lincoln in 
 Lincoln Park, Chicago, 
 72 : Sweenle, Ex-Fire 
 Chief, Dennis J., 79; 
 Sweet. Gen. Benj. J., 
 74 ; The Dearborn St. 
 Drawbridge (1835), 54; 
 The Griffin. 13 ; The 
 Lincoln Cabin. 44 : The 
 Long John Fire Engine, 
 68: The Old Kinzie 
 House, Chicago, 37 ; 
 The Pierre M e n a r d 
 House at Kaskaskia, 25 ; 
 The Quadriga on the 
 Peristyle, 99 : The Wig- 
 wam where Lincoln was 
 Nominated. 73 : Thir- 
 teen Colonies, 24 ; Ves- 
 tisres of the Canal Port, 
 61 ; Wa-Pa-Ke-Sek. 14 ; 
 W T ayne, Gen'l Anthony, 
 28 ; Wells, Capt. Wm., 
 35 ; Wentworth, John 
 L., 59: Whistler, Lieut. 
 W T m., 35; Wolf Point, 
 1832, 45. 
 
 Indiana, 14, 18, 28, 30. 32. 
 
 Indians and Their Stories, 
 10, 31, 37: Surveyed 
 the Burlington, 11. 
 
 Iowa, 71. 
 
 Iron Ore, 21. 
 
 Iroquols, 3. 4, 5, 6, 8, 13, 
 14. 24, 26. 
 
 Jackson and the Bank- 
 ing System, 56. 
 
 Jacques, 7. 
 
 Jamestown. Va., 2. 
 
 Jefferson, President, 33. 
 
 Joliet, 4, 7, 11. 13, 19; 
 Louis, 2, 6, 126. 
 
 Jonett, John, roueh wed- 
 ding .lourney, 36. 
 
 Judd, Norman B.. 72. 
 
 Kankakee river, 12, 35. 
 
 Kaskaskia. 7. 9. 11. 13, 
 17. 19. 21, 27. 28, 29, 32. 
 
 Kellogg. Mr.. 44. 
 
 Kentucky. 27. 30. 31, 32. 
 
 Kerfoot, Wm. D.. 92. 
 
 Kickapoos. 6. 13. 34. 
 
 Kilaticas. 13. 
 
 Kinzie. John. 34. 35. 43; 
 death, 46. 
 
 Kinzie. Robt. 46, 52. 
 Kosciusko, 126. 
 La Barre, 15. 
 Labrador, 13. 
 La Chine Rapids. 7. 
 Laclede, Pierre, 26. 
 Lafayette, 28. 
 La Framboise, 46. 
 Lake Champlain, 3, 26. 
 Lake Erie, 3, 13, 18, 33. 
 Lake George, 3. 
 Lake Huron, 33. 
 Lake Michigan, 8. 12, 13. 
 17, 18, 32, 33, 34, 43 
 Lake Nipissing, 1, 4. 
 Lake of the Illinois, 1. 7. 
 
 13, 18. 
 
 Lake of the Mitchlgamias. 
 
 18. 
 
 Lake Ontario, 3, 12, 24. 
 Lake Superior, 19, 26. 31 
 Lake Shore railroad, 64. 
 Le Mai. 34. 
 La Motte, M., 21. 
 LaPointe du St. Esnrlt 
 
 (the point of the Holy 
 
 Ghost), 5. 
 La Pointe, 6. 
 La Salle, 2, 7, 11, 12, 1.1 
 
 14, 15, 16, 17, 24, 126. 
 Last Council of the In- 
 dians of Chicago, 50. 
 
 Last W r ar Dance in Chi- 
 cago. 51. 
 
 Law, John, 20. 
 
 Lead, 19, 21 ; Mines, 22 
 32. 43. 
 
 Le Brlse, Francoise, 19. 
 
 Lee, Chas., 36. 
 
 Lee's Place Cabin, 9. 
 
 Lexington, 27, 36. 
 
 Libraries Chicago His- 
 torical Societv. 114: 
 Crerar, 113. 118; New- 
 berry, 113: Public. 11.1 : 
 Ryerson, 114. 
 
 Lighthouse. 63. 
 
 Lincoln, Abe. 44. 48 55 
 63 ; Illus.. 71 : Assassi^a- 
 tion of, 76 : Linc-ln- 
 Douglas Debate. 71 
 Family, 44 : National 
 Figure, 71. 125: Nomi- 
 nated for the Presl 
 dency, 73. 
 
 Linne. 126. 
 
 Lockport, 111., 109. 
 
 Logan, John A.. 120. 
 
 Long Sault or Soo, 5. 
 
 Louisburg, 24. 
 
 Louisiana, 12, 14, 32. 
 
 Louisiana Purchase, 32. 
 
 Louisville, 27. 
 
 Ludington. Mich.. 11. 
 
 Lumber, 32 ; Camps, 4 : 
 yard. 49. 
 
 Mackinac, 16. 33. 
 
 Mackinac Fur Co.. 33. 
 
 Mackinac row-boat. 34. 
 
 Madeleine Island, 6. 
 
 Madison Street, 8-9. 
 
 Maize, 18. 
 
 Manitou Islands. 11. 34. 
 
 Maps Burned District of 
 Chicago. 83 : Chicago In 
 1812, 39 : Chicago Ploln. 
 10 : Chlcaeo Portage 
 and Location of Mar- 
 quette's cabin. 9 : Ch 1 - 
 cago's Transportation 
 lines in 1850. 60: Dia- 
 gram of Ground Occu- 
 pied by Camn Douerlas. 
 75 ; French Settlements 
 In Illinois, 22: Grant 
 Park used as a Pasis 
 of Study. 117: Ground 
 Plan of Fort Chartres. 
 26 : Marouette's. 6 : The 
 Fire of Saturday night, 
 Oct. 7th. 80. 
 
 Marietta. 31. 
 
 Marine Hospital. 63. 
 
 Marine League, 9. 
 
 Marquette. 4, 6. 7. 8, 9, 
 
 121
 
 THE STORY OF CHICAGO AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 10, 11. IS. 33 : (loath, 14. 27, 28, 32. 14, 22, 32. Tamaroas, 16. 
 
 11, 126. ojihwas, 6, 31. i;<k river, .',.".. 45, 49: val- Taylor, Graham, 111. 
 Marseilles. 44. o'kaw river, is. 1!>. 23. ley, 17. Tecumseh. :{<. 
 Marten, :::!. old Mackinac. <>, 11. Hoot. John \V.. !I7. Temple Building. 55. 
 Martineaii. Harriet. 53. Ontario, lake, 4. Itosehill Cemetery. 105. Tennessee, '27, 32; river, 
 Martinique. 21. Ordinance of 1887, 30. Uuinsey School, 67. 32. 
 
 Mascniitins. -4. H>. Osweuo. X. Y.. 24. Ityerson Library, 114. Texas. 15. 
 Mason, Uoswell I 1 ... ',4. Ottawa. 5. 4S; river, 4, 14. Sacs, 4, 6. 14, 17, 22, 41. The Conqueror, the Colo- 
 Mason, Mayor It. B., 85. Ottawas, G, 11, 31. Ste. Anne de Fort Chartres, nizer and the Adven- 
 Massacre, The. 40. Otter, 33. 20. hirer. 2. 
 Maume river, 16. ouilmette. 34. St. Augustine. Fla., 1. The Division of the New 
 McCormlck Evening Tech- Paget, M., 21. St. Clair, General, 31; World, 1. 
 
 nieal School, 104. Palmer, Mrs. Potter. 98. river, 26. The Fair in Embryo, 99. 
 
 McKinley, 126. Panic of 1837, 57 ; of 1873, St. Cosme, 14, 16. "The French Claim." (i. 
 
 Medill, Joseph, 71, 92, 93 ; 94 ; Results of, 58. St. Francis, river, 21. The Home Guard, 87. 
 
 illustration, 94. Paris, 14 : Exposition Fur- Ste. Genevieve, 26. "The Illinois," 49. 
 
 Menard. Pere Rene, 5. nished Model, 96. St. Gaudens, 126. The Pathfinders, 1. 
 
 Mcnard, Father, 6. Parkman, 3, 7 ; Francis, 9, St. Ignace, 6 ; Mission, 6 ; The Sands, 88. 
 
 .Men of the Western Park Systems, 77. College and Church of Thirty-fifth street, 8 : 
 
 Sea," 1. Passing of the Red Man, Holy Family, 113. bridge, 10. 
 
 Menominee, 4. 50. St. Joseph, 18, 33, 34, 44 ; Thirty Fires in One Week. 
 
 Messippi, 6. Patten, James A., 113. Portage, 14 ; river. 12. 80. 
 
 Mexican War, 65. Penn, W T m., 14. St. Lawrence, river, 1, 2, Thirty Wars, 4. 
 
 Miami village. 16. Pennsylvania, 30. 3, 4, 7, 14, 25, 30. Three Rivers, 4. 
 
 Miamis, 6, 14, 17, 31 ; Peopling of Northern Illi- St. Louis, 17, 26, 32. Ticonderoga, 3. 
 
 tribes, 13. nois, 43. St. Mary's Catholic Church, Tod. Col. John, 27, 28, 29. 
 
 Michigan, 6, 28, 30. 33; Peoria, 111., 12, 19, 32; 55. Tonty, 17. 
 
 Ave.. 65. 107; Cent. R. Lake, 12, 45. St. Philip, 21. Topenebee, 36. 
 
 R., 64 ; City, 44 ; Lake, Peorias, 16. St. Francis Xavier mission, Tracy, sailing schooner, 33. 
 
 1, 4. Pepikakias, 13. 5, 11. Transportation in the city, 
 
 Michilimackinac, 6, 12, 18, Pettell, 34. Saloon Building, 55. 70. 
 
 33 : Strait of, 1. Philadelphia, 30. Salt, 32. Treaty Council, 50. 
 Milwaukee, 30, 35, 62. Philanthropic Associations, San Domingo, 21. Treaty of Greenville, 16. 
 Mines, 15. 110. Sandusky, 44. Tree Planting, 117. 
 A innesota, 71. Piankeshas, 13. Sangamon river, 44. Tremont House, 53. 55. 69. 
 Mississippi. 4, 6. 7, 32; Pierre, 7. Sante Fe, 19. Tribune Building, 52; corn- 
 Bubble. 20 ; River, 2, 4, Pine Forests, 4. Sault Ste. Marie, 4, 6, 18, pany, 92. 
 
 12, 13. 14, 17. 25, 28, Pioneer Engine, 62. 26. 62. Trinity river, Texas, 16. 
 I'll. 30. 33 ; flood, 64 ; Pittsburg, 28, 31. Sauganash House, 46 ; Its Trolley ride, 104. 
 
 valley. 12. Plans for the Improvement Landlord, 46. Tuscaroras of the Caro- 
 
 M: souri. 1!), 32. of Chicago, 70. Scammon, J. Y., 61. Unas. 3, 14. 
 
 tchlgamlas, 16. Pointe de Saible, Jean Bap- Schiller, 126. Tuley. Murray F., 65. 
 
 :io!.ile. 17. 21. tiste, 35. School Commissioners. 52. Twenty-second street, 9,10. 
 
 M')>awks, 3. Point St. Ignace, 11. Schools. Haven, 67: Jones, Tyanockee, 10. 
 
 M< liegan. 12. 13. Pontiac, 26, 27; chief, 32; 67; Land, 52: Parochial Union Park, 126. 
 
 Mo->a que at Versailles, 6. helped to bring on the and Private, 111 ; Public, Universities, 111; of Chi- 
 M 'iiroe, Harriet, 99; Pres., Revolution, 27. Ill; Rumsey, 67; Scam- cago, 112; Northwestern, 
 
 4::. Pork, 35. mon, 67. 113. 
 
 Montcalm, 24. Portage in Chicagou, 13. Scioto river, 16. Utica, 7, 13. 
 
 Montreal, 3, 4. 5, 6, 14, Portage river, 7. Scott, General, 48, 49. Valley of the Illinois, 7. 
 
 15. 18, 19, 24, 25, 32, Postofflce, first, 47. Seminaries. 111. Vandalia, 45. 
 
 :>:; : fort of. 7. Pottawatomie Indians. 6. Senecas, 26. Van Osdel. Mr., 54. 
 
 "onuments, 125. 9, 11, 12, 14, 17, 32, 34, Seward, Wm. H., 72. Vermont, 3. 
 
 "lower. Capt. S., 65. Prairie du Chien, 4, 7, 19, Sewers, 69. Victoria, 126. 
 
 Mud Lake, 13, 39; region. 33, 32. Shabona, 50. Vincennes, 17; Indiana, 18, 
 
 nlligan. Col., 75. Princess Nelly and the S51- Shakespere, 12G. Virgin, 6. 
 
 Municipal Art League, 125. verman, 34, 38. Shawanoes, 13, 26. Virginia, 23, 27, 29, 30. 
 
 Naperville, 45. Prisoners at Camp Doug- Shawneetown, 45. Wabash River, 18. 
 
 : anoleon, 32. las, 75. Sheridan, General, to the Walcott, Dr. Alex., 43. 
 
 Natchez. 26; Indians, 15- Proclamation of French Rescue, 89. War Declared on Great 
 
 18, 22. Sovereignty, 1671, 6. Signal of Peace, 126. Britain, 40. 
 
 Newberry Library, 113. Progress Stopped by Civil Sioux, 6, 8, 15 ; Indians, 6. Washburn, Wis., 5. 
 
 New England, 30. War. 71. Six Nations, 14. Washington, Geo.. 23, 30, 
 
 New France. 2, 5, 14, 15. Public Library, 113. Slavery, 30, 65. Water-mill, 21, 32 ; power, 
 
 New Orleans, 25, 26. Pullman, Geo. M., 40, 70 ; Sleeping Bear Point, 11. 109 ; supply, 21, 70. 
 
 New York. 3, 8, 13, 14, 30, strike, 101. Sleepy Bear Point, 34. Waterways. 3, 6, 9, 13. 4:!. 
 
 .->!.'. (51, 69. Quebec, 2, 3, 4. 24, 25. Smith, George, 59. 52. 02, 79. 
 
 Niagara. 12, 26. Railroad, 60, 111. Cent. 64, South Bend, Ind., 12. Waubun, 36. 
 
 Ni< olet. Jean, 1. 6 ; among Lake Shore, 64, Mich. St. Carolina, 74. Wayne, Gen. Anthony. :'.:'. : 
 
 Barons on Lake Nipis- Cent. 64, Rock Island, South Carolina, 74. defeats the Indians, 31. 
 
 sing, 4 ; at the nation of 64. South Sea, 4. Weas, 13, 31. 
 
 the Beavers on Lake Raleigh, Sir Walter, 1. South Water Street, the Wells, Capt. Wm., 40 ; 
 
 Huron, 4 ; at the Ojibwa Renault. Philip Frances, Business Center. 52. Capt. E., 65. 
 
 village at the Falls, 4; 20, 21. 22. Spanish Explorers. 2. Wentworth. Elijah, 46; 
 
 at the retreats of the Ot- Republican National Con- Springfield, 71. Hon. John L., 59, 62. 
 
 ia was on the Mani- vention. 7:;. Starved Rock, 7. West Indies. 25. 
 
 toulins, 4 : at the retreat Republican Party Organ- State Bank Building. 55. "What Twenty-one Heroes 
 
 of the Pottawatomies on i ze d. 71. Stagecoach Days, 55. Did." 5. 
 
 the islands outside of Resources of Illinois and State Banks, 56. Wheeling. W. Va., 27. 
 
 Green Bay, 4. of the West and North- Streets, Care of. tiO. Whistler, Capt., 33 ; Lieut. 
 
 ka. 12. west, 98. Stillman, Major, 48. Wm.. 33. 
 
 North Carolina. 13, 14. Reuter, 126. Stockyards, 9, 10, 70-77, Wigwam, 73. 
 
 North Channel, 4. Reynolds. Gov., 47. 110. Winnelmgo. lake, 7. 
 
 North Channel, 4. Richelieu river, 3. Stone from the Channel, Winnebagoes, 4; of Green 
 
 North Evanston. 106. Ribordi. Father. 13. 109. Bay. "Men of the West 
 
 Northwestern University, River and Harbor Conven- Stone Quarries. 78. ern Sea," 4. 
 
 113. tion, 63. Stony Island, 8. Winnemeg, 36 ; Chief. 40. 
 
 Northwest Territory. 31. Riverside, 10, 11 ; Lyons Strikes, Pres. Cleveland, Wisconsin, 14, 28. 30, 71 : 
 
 Notre Dame de Chicago, ford, 11. 102; Debs, 102; Failed, Marine and Fire Insur- 
 Robinson, Alex.. 47. 103 : Pullman, 101. ance Company. 59 : river. 
 
 Oak Point, 6. Rockefeller, J. D., 112. Summit, 10, 11 ; Illinois, Wolf, 33 : Point, 40. 
 
 Oakwoods Cemetery, 76. Rockies. 13. 109. World's Fair. 96. 
 
 Oftden, Wm. B., 52. 53, 58, Rock Island, 49; railroad, Superior, Lake, 4. 6, 8. Yerkes, Chas. T., 112. 
 
 59. r,o, 112. i4. Sweenie. D. .7.. 68. Yorktown, 28. 
 
 Ohio, 8, 14, 28, 30; river, Rock of St. Louis, 7, 13, Taft, Lorado, 125. Zinc, 21. 
 
 122
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
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