History of Chicago
The book History of Chicago. Historical and Commercial Statistics, Sketches, Facts and Figures, Republished from the "Daily Democratic Press." What I Remember of Early of Early Chicago; A Lecture, Delivered in McCormick's Hall, January 23, 1876 by William Bross, published in 1876, is available online for free viewing.
Transcription Part 1
INTRODUCTORY.
The records from which I prepared the "History of Chicago" for the Democratic
Press, in the winter of 1854, were all burned in our great fire of 1871.
Though at first sight this history may not seem to be of much importance, it
may interest somebody "a hundred years hence" to read what was recorded by our
earliest settlers.
They may like also to see the names of our pioneers, who in spite of every
discouragement made their homes in Chicago. For several years the Democratic
Press published annually an exhaustive review of our railway system and its
progress; also of the Commerce of the city, and other matters tending to
illustrate its growth and future prospects. From those which I prepared myself
I have made a few extracts, simply to show facts as they then existed. The
brief addresses are inserted for the same purpose. In that at Des Moines, Jan.
22, 1873, will be found a short description of the proposed Georgian Bay
Canal. I believe I have the only complete file of the paper in which these
articles were published; the others having been destroyed by the fire of 1871.
This is another reason for republishing them; and, besides, as I said in my
recent lecture, "I recognize the duty of placing on record—as myself and
others doubtless have often been urged to do—what I know personally of the
history of Chicago. Though this may require a too frequent use of the personal
pronoun, if each citizen would do it, Chicago would have what no other city
has—a history from its earliest times by its living inhabitants." Need I make
any further apology for any apparent egotism that may appear in the following
pages?
W. B.
CHICAGO, March, 1876.
History of Chicago
1852.
The past has been a year of unexampled prosperity, and our city has shared
largely in the general progress of the country. In no former year has so much
been done to place its business upon a permanent basis, and extend its
commerce. By the extension of the Galena Railroad to Rockford, we have drawn
to this city the trade of portions of Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, that
hitherto sought other markets; and when our roads reach the Father of Waters,
as two of them will within the present year, we may expect an avalanche of
business, for which we fear all our wholesale houses will not be prepared.
The opening of the Rock Island Railroad, Oct 18th to Joliet, Jan. 5th to
Morris, Feb. 14th to Ottawa, and to La Salle March 10th, has brought customers
during the winter from a different direction, and made an unusually "lively
winter" for our business men. The extension of this and other roads must tend
to add to our activity and permanent prosperity in an increasing ratio.
In order that the files of the Democratic Press may be perfect as a source for
future reference, we avail ourselves of the labors of one of its editors while
connected with another paper, and republish a statement prepared by him, of
the business of the city prior to the year 1851.
The press of the city, previous to the year 1849, neglected to publish
connected statements of the business of the city; but we are nevertheless not
without some recorded facts of the past, which will serve to show how rapid
has been the growth of Chicago, how great the increase of her commerce. In
some of the earliest "Directories," we find collected various interesting
statistics on this subject, which, although not as full as could be wished,
are yet highly satisfactory in the absence of more definite statements.
Through the politeness of T. HOYNE, Esq., we have been placed in possession of
a memorial to Congress, praying for an appropriation for the improvement of
the Chicago harbor, embodying statistics from 1836 to 1842, inclusive. We also
find in the Report of the late Judge Thomas, made in compliance with a
resolution of the River and Harbor Convention, which assembled in this city in
1847, the fullest collection of the commercial statistics of Chicago from 1836
up to 1848, that, we presume, is extant. From these three sources we compile
the following facts, which will be read with interest by every one identified
with the prosperity of our city.
Up to the year 1836, provisions, for domestic consumption, were imported along
with articles of merchandise; and indeed, many articles of necessary food
continued to be brought in for several years later. In 1836 there were
exported from the port of Chicago, articles of produce of the value of
$1,000.64. We have felt a great curiosity to know what articles constituted
this first year's business, but have sought in vain for any other record save
that which gives the value. The next year, the exports had increased to
$11,065; in 1838 they reached the sum of $16,044.75. In 1839 they more than
doubled the year previous, while in 1840 they had increased to what was then
doubtless regarded as the very large sum of $328,635.74! This was progressing
in a ratio very seldom equalled in the history of cities, and must have caused
no little exhilaration among the business men of Chicago, as well as advanced
the views of fortunate holders of water and corner lots.
We are informed in Judge Thomas' Report, that a "small lot of beef was shipped
from Chicago as early as 1833, and was followed each successive year by, a
small consignment of this article, and also of pork." Some idea of the extent
of the first consignment may be formed from the fact that three years after,
the total exports of the place were valued at $1,000.64. It was truly a small
beginning, and gave but slight promise of the great extent to which, as the
sequel will show, this branch of business has grown. The same authority
informs us that the first shipment of wheat from this port was made in the
year 1839. In 1842 the amount shipped reached 586,907 bushels, and in 1848,
2,160,000 bushels were shipped out of the port of Chicago. Since that period
there has been a material falling off until the past year, in the annual
exports of wheat, owing to a partial failure of the crop each succeeding year,
and from the fact that farmers are paying more attention to other products.
CITY IMPROVEMENTS.
Our time and limits will not permit us to enter into a detailed statement of
the improvements made for the past year. Suffice it to say, that more progress
has been made than at any former period. Elegant residences have been built in
all parts of the city, splendid blocks of stores have been erected on bur
principal streets, and the limits of the inhabited part of the city have been
greatly extended.
On the 20th of February, 1852, the Michigan Southern Railroad was opened to
this city. The depot is located near Gurnee's Tannery, on the South Branch.
The Rock Island Railroad have built their depot directly opposite. A year
since, there were only a few old buildings in that neighborhood, and it was
considered far "out of town." Now nearly the whole of Clark street is built up
as far south as the depot, and there has been an important addition made to
the city where, a year since, it was open prairie.
The Michigan Central Railroad was opened to Chicago on Friday, May 21st.
Grounds for the depot were leased a short distance below Twelfth street, on
the lake shore.
The buildings are temporary, as it is intended to establish the depot for this
road and the Illinois Central, between the foot of Randolph street and the
south pier.
Hence no permanent buildings have been put up where the depot now stands, and
no very considerable addition has been made to the city in that vicinity.
In the summer season, both these lines furnish a direct steam communication
with the cities on the seaboard. About the 1st of January last, all the
railroad lines along the south shore of Lake Erie were completed, and these,
with the Erie Railroad and the Michigan Southern, give us a direct railroad
line to New York. This has formed an era in the history of Chicago, which will
always be regarded with interest. Our merchants who, in the depth of winter,
were obliged to consume some two weeks in staging through Canada mud "up to
the hub," in order to purchase their goods for the spring trade, can now go
through, and enjoy the luxury of a comfortable railroad car, in two days. In
the course of the year, the Canada Railroad, connecting Detroit with Buffalo,
will be finished—when we shall have a choice of routes to the East, at all
seasons; and within two or three years, the Fort Wayne and Logansport
Railroads will open two other routes.
CONCLUSION.
The facts above given, we think, will convince the most skeptical, that the
march of improvement at the West is onward. They show an increase in
population, wealth and resources, which must prove exceedingly gratifying to
all our citizens. They will serve to extend the conviction, now almost
universal, that Chicago is destined to become the great commercial centre of
the Northwest, and among the first, if not the first, city in the Mississippi
Valley. Her position at the head of a thousand miles of lake navigation, gives
her a commanding influence. She has no levee to be inundated, causing the
destruction of millions of property. Neither is she situated upon a river,
whose navigable capacity the clearing up of the country will be liable to
affect. She is subject to no floods nor inundations. To the north, west and
south, almost boundless prairies and groves are inviting the toil of the
husbandman to develop their treasures and yield a rich reward to honest
industry.
In all the elements of wealth, their resources are exhaustless. The mineral
treasures of Lake Superior will soon pay tribute to Chicago; and our railroads
in a few months will have reached the lead regions of the Galena district. The
Rock Island and the Illinois Central Railroads will soon penetrate the most
extensive coal field in the United States, and in fact in the world, and our
commerce, and more especially our manufactures, must increase in a ratio far
beyond what has hitherto been realized. Within the next five years the
railroads that will be completed and centre in this city will extend more than
three thousand miles. If we should add the extensions of these trunk lines to
their ultimate limits, their aggregate lengths would amount to tens of
thousands. Within five years we expect to be in railroad connection with
Milwaukee and Madison, Wis., with Dubuque and Council Bluffs, Rock Island, St.
Louis, Cairo, New Orleans, Mobile, Savannah, Ga., Charleston, S. C., Richmond,
Va., Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Portland, and "the
rest of mankind." A bright future is therefore before the "GARDEN CITY." Let
our merchants and mechanics, our artisans and business men generally,
understand the advantages which our commanding commercial position affords.
Let them, with becoming prudence, but with far-seeing, intelligent views as to
what the spirit of the age and the stirring times in which we live demand,
gird themselves for the work of making Chicago the great commercial emporium
of the Mississippi Valley. The prize is within their grasp; let them show the
world that they are worthy, and the rich commerce of the prairies and the
lakes will most certainly crown their efforts with success. —From the Annual
Review of the Democratic Press, for the year 1852.
The figures embodied in this review have been quoted in every succeeding
document of the kind, and being accessible in the Board of Trade Reports every
year, need not be repeated here.
HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
1853.
In the winter of 1854, I prepared and published four articles, on the business
and progress of the city for the year previous. Of these articles, in pamphlet
form, we sold 15,000 copies, besides an immense edition of the paper
containing them. Our citizens scattered them all over this country and Europe,
and it was believed at the time that they had a marked effect upon the growth
and prosperity of the city. The first one, entitled
CHICAGO AND HER RAILROADS,
was issued January 31st. The following extracts are from the closing
paragraphs of that article:
As the mathematician, after he has wearied himself amid the intricacies of
long, difficult theorems, at length arrives at the summation of the series, so
it remains for us to give a synopsis of our article, that our readers may the
better be able to comprehend the great railroad system that has its centre in
Chicago.
The following is the total number of roads in process of construction, with
the proposed extension and branches of each:
MILES.
Chicago and Milwaukee, 90
Milwaukee and Fond du Lac, 60
Racine and Beloit Railroad, 65
Illinois and Wisconsin to Janesville, 88 1/2
Fond du Lac Branch, Janesville to Fond du Lac, 78
Madison Branch, 35
South Wisconsin, Janesville to Dubuque, 98
Galena and Chicago Union, Chicago to Freeport, 121
Fox River Valley Railroad, 34
Wisconsin Central, 150
Beloit Branch of the Galena, 20
Beloit and Madison Railroad, 47 1/2
Milwaukee and Mississippi, Western Division, Madison to Prairie du Chien, 96
Madison and St. Paul Railroad, 300
Milwaukee and LaCrosse, Western Division, 180
Madison and Lake Superior, 275
Chicago and Galena Air Line, Chicago to Fulton City, 135
Lyons Iowa Central, Fulton to Council Bluffs, 308
Chicago, St. Charles and Mississippi Air Line to Savanna, 130
Chicago and St. Charles Branch to Galena, 30
Galena and Minnesota, 250
Iowa Central Air Line, 325
Chicago and Aurora Railroad to Mendota, 89
Central Military Tract Railroad, 84
Peoria and Oquawka, Western Division, 40
Burlington and Missouri Railroad, 220
Northern Cross Railroad, Galesburg to Quincy, 120
Hannibal and Missouri, 205
Chicago and Rock Island Railroad, 181
Mississippi and Missouri, 1st Division, 300
Mississippi and Missouri, 2d Division, 300
Mississippi and Missouri, 3d Division, Muscatine to Cedar Rapids, 50
Peoria and Bureau Valley Railroad, 47
Peoria and Warsaw Railroad, 90
Peoria and Hannibal Railroad, 120
Peoria to Illinoistown, opposite St. Louis, 180
Peoria and Oquawka, Eastern Division, 50
Chicago and Mississippi, Alton to Chicago, 265
Great Western, Naples to Springfield, 65
Alton, Illinoistown and Murphysboro, 114
Illinois Central Railroad, 704
Wabash Valley Railroad, 360
Chicago and Logansport Railroad to Cincinnati, 280
Fort Wayne and Chicago, 145
Mich. South, and North. Indiana, 242
Cincinnati, Peru and Chicago Railroad, 70
Michigan Central Railroad, 282
New Albany and Salem Railroad, 284
Total—14 Trunk and 34 Extension and Branch Lines - 7,803
But lest any venerable "croaker," "with spectacles on nose," should still be
in doubt as to our commercial facilities, we submit one more list.
The following table exhibits the number of railroads that are now in
operation, leading into this city, with the number of miles that are now
completed:
MILES.
Illinois and Wisconsin, to Deer Grove, 32
Galena and Chicago Union, to Freeport, 121
Beloit Branch of the Galena, 20
Galena Air Line, to Lane, Ogle Co., 75
Chicago, St. Charles and Mississippi Air Line, 10
Chicago and Aurora, 89
Chicago and Rock Island, 181
Chicago and Mississippi, Alton to Bloomington, 132
Great Western, Naples to Springfield, 65
Illinois Central, 252
Mich. South, and North. Indiana, to Toledo, 242
Michigan Central, 282
New Albany and Salem, 284
Total—10 Trunk and 3 Branch and Extension Lines - 1,785
On these roads there will be daily leaving and entering the city, on the first
of May next, forty-six trains, making, in all, ninety-two trains per day over
the roads, to accommodate our travel and commerce. Here is a fact, which, had
we time, it would be worth while to stop and contemplate. A fact of still
greater significance is, that less than two years ago we had only one railroad
entering the city—the Galena and Chicago Union—and that was finished only a
few miles. Now we have 1,785 miles, counting only two States from our own, and
by the first of December we shall have 2,979 1/2 miles. Can it be wondered at
that our city has doubled its population within the same time, and that the
price of real estate and business of all kinds have increased in a
corresponding ratio. Splendid fortunes have been made in two years. Men who
were trading in small, seven-by-nine wooden tenements, now find a splendid
brick store too small to accommodate their customers. Real estate in the
suburbs of the city that could have been bought five years ago for fifty
dollars per acre, is now worth five thousand, and many fortunate speculators
have realized splendid fortunes. The rise in real estate is by no means
confined to a few shrewd operators. From the first our citizens generally have
been determined to have a home of their own. Generally they would purchase a
lot eighty feet front, and often four or even ten times that amount. The rise
in the value of their homes, so much larger than was necessary in a city, has
placed many a family in easy circumstances.
But will some cautious wiseacre ask, Are these things to continue? We will not
stop to answer the question, but will simply say, on the first of January next
we shall have 3,000 miles of railroad leading into the city, and by a year
from that time it will be entirely safe to add another thousand. How much it
will augment the business of the city, and appreciate the value of real estate
to double the miles of railroad centreing here, and to double the population
of the city, and also of the magnificent country which is tributary to it, we
shall leave the ultra cautious to estimate. The railroads will certainly be
finished, but we shall not hazard an opinion as to the population of the city
or the price of real estate on the first of January, 1856. We hope to be wiser
then, and we know our readers will, if we and they live to see that "happy new
year." Time will show.
There is another most important fact that should be considered, in speaking of
Chicago, as a great railroad centre. She has not, in her corporate capacity,
invested a single dollar in any of them. While the bonds of other cities are
hawked about in Wall street to build railroads that in turn are expected to
build the cities in which they terminate, Chicago has prudently kept aloof
from all such dangerous speculations. All our roads have been projected and
will be built by private enterprise. This shows that capitalists have placed
abundant confidence in our commercial position, and the result is
demonstrating most clearly that they have judged correctly. We refer to this
matter with peculiar satisfaction, and we are sure it will have an important
bearing in shaping the future destiny of the city.
It may be answered, that the city would have made large sums by investing her
credit in railroad stocks. It is true that Galena stock, and that of several
of our other roads, sell at prices that astonish Eastern capitalists, who are
ignorant of the resources of the Central States, and the cheapness with which
our roads are built. The stock, however, sells for no more than it is really
worth, and we should not be surprised to see it attain a much higher figure.
But experience has shown that, where cities become involved in extensive
schemes of internal improvement, corrupt demagogues generally find means to
fatten upon the public treasury, and, in the end, bring ruin and disgrace upon
the community whose confidence they had managed to secure. From all such
dangers Chicago is entirely free. She has, it is true, issued her bonds to
construct the waterworks, and she has, in addition, a small floating debt. But
the water works will, in a few years, liquidate the debt contracted for their
construction, and she can, without serious inconvenience, pay all her other
liabilities in, at most, three or five years. The important fact is worth
repeating, that Chicago, a city that will have three thousand miles of
railroad in operation centreing in it, on the first of January next, DOES NOT
OWE A SINGLE DOLLAR FOR THEIR CONSTRUCTION.
Our task is accomplished. We ask our citizens to contemplate the magnificent
system of public works that has been completed in two short years. The past is
certain.
To the future let us look, and gird ourselves for the work that is before us.
From almost every place in the Union, and from across the wide Atlantic, the
industrious and the enterprising are seeking a home in the "Garden City." Let
us give them a warm-hearted, generous welcome. Along our broad streets, or
upon our wide-spread, beautiful prairies, we have ample room for them all. Let
them come and identify themselves with the great central commercial city of
the Central States!
HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
FEBRUARY, 1854.
After we published our article on "CHICAGO AND HER RAILROADS," Jan. 31st, it
occurred to us that a short sketch of the history of Chicago would not prove
unacceptable to our readers. At first we intended merely a brief notice, to
show her rapid growth, in connection with our Annual Review of the business of
the city.
The more we studied the subject, and consulted those who have been here since
the wolves were accustomed to visit every part of the city in the night, and
the wigwam of the painted savage dotted the prairie on every side, the more
have facts accumulated upon our hands, till now our only difficulty is to know
what to reject. The rapid growth of the city within the last eight years—her
immense increase in wealth and population—the proud position she has assumed
among the commercial cities of the Union, and the certainty that her march
will be ONWARD, till she yields in importance only to New York, have created a
very general desire among a portion of our own citizens, and especially in the
Eastern States, to know more of her past history as well as her present
resources and future prospects. The history of Chicago is intimately connected
with the settlement and growth of the other parts of the State, and it will be
equally interesting to notice in a few paragraphs some facts in relation to
the settlement of this part of the Mississippi Valley.
The origin of the term Illinois is given in the "Western Annals," edited by
Rev. J. M. Peck, as follows: "The name Illinois is derived from Leno, 'man.'
The Delaware Indians call themselves Lenno-Lenape, which means 'original, or
unmixed men.' The term manly men, to distinguish themselves from mean,
trifling men, would convey the exact idea. The tribes along the Illinois gave
the French explorers to understand that they were real men. They said 'leno,'
or 'leni.' The termination "ois" is undoubtedly of French origin. As all
strange and uncouth sounds are liable to be mis-spelled, it is very easy to
see from the above how the beautiful name which our State bears was formed
from the language of the first monarchs of the soil.
The "Illini," or Illinois Indians, occupied all the territory north of a line
drawn northeast and southwest through the city of Ottawa, extending east to
the Wabash, and west to the Mississippi river. The term was also applied to an
indefinite territory west of the Mississippi.
The first white men who ever visited this region were Marquette and Joliet,
two Jesuit missionaries, who explored this section of the Mississippi Valley
in the years 1682-3. Hennepin and La Salle followed a few years later, and as
a consequence of these several explorations and discoveries, a magnificent
scheme was formed by France to extend her possessions from Canada to New
Orleans, and thus having embraced the entire inhabited portion of the Western
Continent, to advance eastward, and secure the authority over the vast empire
which her eminent statesmen even then foresaw must ere long occupy this
magnificent country. The plan was well arranged, and its accomplishment
constantly kept in view for nearly a hundred years by the adventurous sons of
La Belle France, but it was completely overthrown by the gallant Wolfe on the
plains of Abraham, on the 13th of September, 1759. As a consequence of that
victory, Canada fell into the hands of the English. The war of the Revolution
transferred the northwestern possessions of the British to the United States,
and the purchase of Louisiana by Mr. Jefferson from the French in 1803, gave
us the possession of the entire Mississippi Valley. The wisdom of that
purchase, though strenuously opposed at the time, is acknowledged by all
parties.
Early in the Revolutionary war, Col. G. R. Clark had formed the design of
attacking the forts of the British at Detroit and in Southern Illinois, and
laid his plans before the Virginia Legislature. On the 2d of January, 1778, he
received authority from Patrick Henry, then Governor of that State, to raise
troops and to march westward on his bold and hazardous enterprise. This
expedition was successful, and as a consequence, Virginia laid claim to the
territory north and west of the Ohio river. This claim was acknowledged by the
other States, and Illinois was organized as a county of Virginia in October,
1778. The act was practically inoperative, as we can not find that any one in
behalf of that State carried the law into effect. From that time till 1784
there was no legal authority in the State. The people were "a law unto
themselves," and to the credit of the earlier settlers, the annalist adds,
that "good feelings, harmony and fidelity to engagements prevailed."
In March, 1784, Virginia ceded to the United States all her claim to the
territory northwest of the Ohio; and in 1790 Gov. St. Clair organized the
county which bears his name. From the year 1800 to 1809 Illinois was attached
to the Territory of Indiana. In February of the latter year Congress passed an
act establishing the Territory of Illinois, and appointed the Hon. Ninian
Edwards, then Chief Justice of Kentucky, Governor of the Territory, and
Nathaniel Pope, Esq., of Kaskaskia, Secretary. The Territory was organized by
Judge Pope, in March, and Gov. Edwards arrived in June, and assumed the duties
of his office.
The first Territorial Legislature convened at Kaskaskia on the 25th of
November, 1812; the Council, or Upper House, consisting of five, and the
Assembly of seven members. The author of the "Western Annals" says of this
body: "They did their work like men devoted to business matters. Not a lawyer
nor an attorney is found on the list of names. They deliberated like sensible
men—passed such laws as they deemed the country needed; made no speeches, had
no contention, and after a brief session of some ten or twelve days,
adjourned." We are sorry to say, that this good example has had too little
influence upon succeeding Legislatures.
In 1815, Hon. Nathaniel Pope was elected as Representative of the Territory in
Congress. The north line of the Territory, as originally defined, ran due west
from the south bend of Lake Michigan to the Mississippi. Judge Pope, seeing
the importance of having a lake front in the future State of Illinois,
procured the passage of an act extending that line north to the parallel of 42
degrees and 30 minutes, thus securing a most important portion of territory
from our sister State of Wisconsin.
Congress passed an act in 1818, approved by James Monroe, April 18th,
authorizing the people to form a State Government provided it should be
ascertained that it contained 40,000 inhabitants. All accounts agree in
estimating the total number of people at about 30,000; but the different
marshals, by accidentally counting the emigrants, who were coming in or
passing through the State several times, made out the full number. Delegates
to form a constitution were elected, who met at Kaskaskia in July, 1818, and
having completed their labors, they signed the constitution, and adjourned on
the 26th day of August. The constitution was adopted by the people, and the
first Legislature convened at Kaskaskia, on the first Monday in October
following. Shadrach Bond, of Kaskaskia, was elected Governor, and Pierre
Menard, of the same place, Lieut. Governor.
It will be seen from the above, that it is not yet thirty-six years since our
State Government was formed; a State which has now more than a million of
inhabitants, and whose principal commercial city has more than 60,000
inhabitants, and 1,785 miles of railroad completed, contributing to its
prosperity. By the first of January next it will have 3,000 miles finished and
in operation.
We have found a great deal that is both instructive and amusing in the early
legislation of the State, but we have room for only a single incident. It must
be borne in mind, that the first settlements were made in the southern parts
of the State, by emigrantsk principally from Virginia, Kentucky, and some of
the other Southern States. Many of them had a sort of "holy horror" for that
ubiquitous, ever-trading sharper, "the live Yankee." To guard against his
depredations, a law was passed, February 14th, 1823, duly enacting, that "No
person shall bring in and peddle, or sell, wooden clocks in this State, unless
they first take out an extra license;" for which the price was $50. The
penalty for violating the law was fixed at the same sum. This "said sum" would
make a sad inroad upon Jonathan's profits, and hence, under the impulses of
his "higher law" notions of the value of money, he pursued his "chosen
calling" without any regard to the majesty of the law in such case made and
provided." He was of course arrested, and in due form arraigned before the
court of Fayette county. The fact of "selling" was not denied, "but it
appeared in evidence that one Yankee brought them "in" across the river at St.
Louis—and another "sold" them. The counsel for the prisoner—our fellow-
citizen, Wm. H. Brown, Esq.—contended that it must be shown that the prisoner
did both "bring in and peddle or sell." Jonathan, as usual, escaped, and went
on his way "peddling" and "selling" his wooden wares. We believe
his "Yankeeship" has always, since the failure of that law to "head him off"
been permitted to exercise his peculiar habits without "let or hindrance."
The history of our city is very intimately connected with that of the Illinois
and Michigan Canal. The idea of a canal connecting the waters of the Lakes
with those of the Mississippi, was suggested as early as 1814. In Niles'
Register of August 6th the following paragraph may be found:
"By the Illinois river it is probable that Buffalo, in New York, may be united
with New Orleans by inland navigation, through Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan,
and down that river to the Mississippi. What a route! How stupendous the idea!
How dwindles the importance of the artificial canals of Europe compared to
this water communication. If it should ever take place—and it is said the
opening may be easily made—the Territory (of Illinois) will become the seat of
an immense commerce, and a market for the commodities of all regions."
How strange to us appear some of the expressions in this paragraph. Then, all
west of Ohio was an unbroken wilderness inhabited only by savages, with here
and there a fort or trading post, and a few small French settlements along the
Mississippi. Little did the writer think that in only thirty-four years
his "stupendous idea" would become a common-place reality, and that in less
than forty years a city of more than sixty thousand people would be reposing
in quiet dignity at the northern terminus, of that canal! What an "immense
commerce" that city has enjoyed the past year, the sequel of this article is
designed to show.
At the first session of the Illinois Legislature in 1818, Gov. Bond brought
the subject of a canal from Lake Michigan to the Illinois river prominently
before that body, and his successor, Gov. Coles, in 1822 devoted a large space
in his message to the elucidation of the same topic. By an act passed February
14th, 1823, a Board of Canal Commissioners was appointed, and in the autumn of
that year a portion of the Board, with Col. J. Post, of Missouri, as Chief
Engineer, made a tour of reconnoisance; and in the autumn of 1824, Col. R.
Paul, an able engineer, residing at St. Louis, was also employed. Five
different routes were surveyed, and estimates made of the cost of the canal.
The highest estimate was $716,110.
At this time, 1823, only thirty-one years ago, the Sangamon river and Fulton
county were the northern boundaries of civilization, and in that region there
were only a very few inhabitants. The whole northern portion of the State was
still under the dominion of the wolf and the savage, with no prospect of its
settlement or an indefinite time to come. The leading idea of the citizens of
the south half of the State, where the population was then concentrated, was
to open a water communication for them by the Lakes and the Erie Canal with
New York City.
On January 18th, 1825, an act was passed to "incorporate the Illinois and
Michigan Canal Company, with a capital of $1,000,000." As the stock was not
taken, a subsequent Legislature repealed the charter. In the meantime, our
Senators and Representatives in Congress were urging upon that body the
passage of an act granting to this State lands to aid in the construction of
the proposed canal. The Hon. Daniel P. Cook, from whom this county is named,
has the credit of leading in this movement. Accordingly, on the 2d of March,
1827, Congress granted to the State of Illinois every alternate section in a
belt of country extending six miles on each side of the canal. Owing to
financial embarrassment, nothing effectual was done till January 22d, 1829,
when the Legislature passed a law organizing a Canal Board, and appointed Dr.
Jayne, of Springfield, Edmund Roberts, of Kaskaskia, and Charles Dunn,
Commissioners. These Commissioners were empowered, among other things, to
locate the canal, lay out towns, to sell lots, and to apply the proceeds to
the construction of the canal.
In the autumn of 1829 the Commissioners came to Chicago, having employed James
Thompson to survey and lay off the town. His first map bears date August 4th,
1830. It is in the Recorder's office.
Hon. S. D. Lockwood, now a resident of Batavia, Kane county, came up with the
Commissioners in the autumn of 1829. We are indebted to him and to Wm. H.
Brown, Esq., for much valuable information in reference to the early history
of the State. Both these gentlemen are among the oldest citizens in Illinois,
as they landed at Shawneetown in 1818, the same year the Constitution was
adopted. We have the men among us who have seen the State in her infancy, and
now look upon her with pride, assuming a commanding position among the oldest
States of the Union.
The list of families residing here in the autumn of 1829, as given by Judge
Lockwood, is as follows: John Kinzie, the father of our present excellent
Alderman, John H. Kinzie, resided on the north side, a little west of
McCormick's factory, West of Mr. Kinzie's, near the site of the Galena
Railroad's freight depot, east of Clark street, lived Dr. Wolcott, son-in-law
of Mr. Kinzie; Dr. Wolcott was, at the time, Indian Agent. Near the forks of
the river, a little west of where Steele's warehouse now stands, John Miller
kept a "log tavern." On the south side, near the present residence of James H
Collins, Esq., a little south of the old fort, was the house of John B.
Beaubien. Besides these, there were some three or four Indian traders living
in log cabins on the west side.
There were, of course, the officers and men connected with Fort Dearborn.
Perhaps we may as well pause here and notice the building of the fort, and
some other facts connected with our earlier history. It was built by the
Government in 1804, and manned with a company of about fifty men and three
pieces of artillery. Everything remained quiet till 1812, when the war broke
out with Great Britain, and our Government, apprehensive that so distant a
post among the savages could not be maintained, ordered it to be evacuated.
The commander was required to distribute the government property among the
Indians, and to march with his troops to Fort Wayne.
The fort was at that time well supplied with provisions and military stores,
and might have maintained a siege for a long time against any force that the
Indians could have brought against it; and nearly all the officers
remonstrated against carrying out the instructions; but Capt. Heald determined
to obey to the letter the orders of his superiors. The Pottawatomies were well
known to be hostile, but Capt. Heald called a council on the 12th of August,
1812, and laid the propositions of the Government before them, asking in
return, an escort to Fort Wayne. This the Indians promised to give. The
distribution was to be made the next day. During the night, lest the guns and
ammunition which they would necessarily be forced to leave, might prove a
dangerous gift to the savages, the powder was thrown into the well, and the
guns were broken and destroyed. The liquor shared the same fate. The cannon
were thrown into the river.
The next day the Indians came together to receive the presents, but their
countenances betokened anger and deep-seated revenge when only the goods of
the United States factory were distributed among them. They charged the whites
with bad faith, and left with feelings aroused to the highest pitch of
resentment. In the afternoon Capt. Wells, the brother of Mrs. Heald, arrived
from Fort Wayne with fifteen friendly Miami Indians, to act as a guard in the
retreat that was to follow.
On the morning of the 15th of August the troops took up their line of march
for Fort Wayne. Capt. Wells, with the friendly Miamis, acted as the advance
guard, and a band of Pottawatomies, according to the stipulations made three
days previous, followed at a short distance in the rear. They had proceeded in
this order along the Lake shore about a mile and a half, to a point near the
residence of Mrs. Clarke, when they were suddenly attacked by a party of
Pottawatomies, who lay in ambush behind the sand hills upon the right of their
line of march. Capt. Heald immediately ordered his men to form and charge the
enemy, which movement was scarcely effected before they received a volley of
balls from their savage foe. The troops did not flinch for a moment, but
charged and dislodged the Indians in front; but their great numbers enabled
them at once to turn the flanks of the troops, and to gain possession of the
horses and baggage. At the first fire the Miamis galloped off, and could not
be induced to join in the action. Capt. Heald, confident that further
resistance was entirely vain, withdrew his troops to a small elevation, and
awaited the movements of the enemy. They held a council, and soon their
chiefs, of whom Black Partridge was the leader, motioned Capt. Heald to
approach. They met, and Capt. Heald agreed to surrender, on condition that the
lives of the prisoners should be spared. The troops delivered up their arms,
and were marched back to the fort. The loss in the action, and in the
subsequent massacre—for the Indians did not fully comply with their agreement—
was twenty-six of the regular troops, twelve—being the entire number of the
militia—two women and twelve children—in all, fifty-two. The children were
placed in a baggage wagon, and fell victims to the tomahawk of a single
merciless savage, after the troops had surrendered. Capt. Wells was among the
slain. Capt. Heald and his wife were also wounded, as also were Lieut, and
Mrs. Helm.
The next day the fort was plundered and burnt, and the prisoners were
distributed in various directions. The family of Mr. Kinzie were taken across
to St. Joseph in a Mackinaw boat, and subsequently to Detroit. In due time the
prisoners were ransomed, and found their way to their Eastern friends. No
effort was made to re-establish the fort during the war. In 1816 it was
rebuilt under the direction of Capt. Bradley. It continued to be occupied by a
company of troops till 1837, when, the Indians having left the country for a
long distance west of us, it was abandoned. On a part of the grounds of the
fort our magnificent Marine Hospital now stands. The buildings occupied by the
officers are most of them standing. To us the object of greatest interest is
the old block house, and we wish here to put in an earnest plea that it may be
preserved as long as one log will "lie upon the other." It is about the only
relic of "hoary antiquity" in our city worth preserving. It was built thirty-
eight years ago, when the whole country was filled with savages. Let it be
surrounded with a neat iron fence, that we may be able to illustrate to our
children the nature of the defenses which the early settlers of Chicago were
obliged to adopt. Let the giant arm of modern improvement, if necessary, sweep
away every other vestige of Fort Dearborn, but let the shrill scream of the
locomotive, as it brings up its long train of cars from the Gulf of Mexico, or
rests from its labors after the mighty race of a thousand miles from the
Atlantic seaboard, age after age, echo around this humble, but significant
monument of the past.
Our "oldest inhabitant," at least in one view of the subject, is our excellent
fellow citizen, Alderman John H. Kinzie. He was born in Canada, nearly
opposite Detroit, and when an infant only a few months old, was brought to
this city by his parents in 1804. He is a son of John Kinzie, mentioned above
as an Indian trader.
Mr. Kinzie settled here in that capacity in 1804, when the fort was first
built. Our fellow citizen, Gurdon S. Hubbard, Esq., came here in 1818, and was
then in the employ of the American Fur Company, at the head of which was John
Jacob Astor. He frequently was in the town for several days or weeks at a
time, but neither Mr. Kinzie nor Mr. Hubbard were settled here permanently
till 1833 or 1834. Mr, Kinzie spent his boyhood here, but was afterwards
located at Mackinaw and on the Upper Mississippi for many years.
Our oldest permanent resident in the city is Col. R. J. Hamilton. In this view
of the case, he is certainly entitled to the honor of being the "OLDEST
INHABITANT." He came here April 9th, 1831, and this has been his home ever
since. G. W. Dole, Esq., came here May 4th, 1831, and P. F. W. Peck, Esq.,
July 15th of the same year.
But though not living in the city limits, A. Clybourne, Esq., has been
identified with it, or rather with the place that became Chicago, since August
5th, 1823. He has resided since that time on the west side of the North
Branch, about three miles from Lake street bridge. The city limits extend
north of his residence on the east side of the river. We have given the dates
when each of these gentlemen came to Chicago, and some of the circumstances
connected with the claims of each to the important distinction of being
the "oldest inhabitant," and here we leave the decision to our readers,
satisfied that neither of them would have dared to predict even ten years ago
what Chicago would be in the year 1854.
So far as we have been able to learn, the "oldest inhabitant" born in Chicago,
and now living here, is a lady—we beg pardon for saying it—she is an unmarried
lady. Be not amazed, ye spruce, anxious bachelors, and if you can count your
gray hairs by scores, stand aside, for we are quite sure there is no chance
for you. She is not only an unmarried lady, but a YOUNG LADY, only twenty-two
years of age, as she was born in Fort Dearborn in the early part of 1832. We
have not the pleasure of her acquaintance, and at the peril of incurring her
displeasure, we venture to state that the "oldest native inhabitant" of
Chicago, a city of more than 60,000 people, is Miss Ellen Hamilton, the
daughter of our good friend, Col. R. J. Hamilton.
In 1818, when Gurdon S. Hubbard, Esq., came to Chicago, there were but two
white families here. John Kinzie lived on the north side, a little west of
where McCormick's factory now stands. Antoine Oulimette, a French trader, who
had married an Indian woman, lived near the ground now occupied by the Lake
House. The fort was occupied by a detachment of troops under the command of
Captain Bradley. The American Fur Company had trading posts at convenient
distances all through this country. At that time only a single schooner of 30
or 40 tons was sent around from Buffalo with provisions for the fort, during
the summer season.
In the fall of 1828, the Winnebagoes, who inhabited the territory west of us,
became restless, and threatened the destruction of the fort. Our fellow
citizen, Gurdon S. Hubbard, Esq., went alone on horseback to the settlements
on the Wabash, and procured reinforcements. He was absent only seven days. The
Indians were pacified by the presence of a large force under General Atkinson,
and very little mischief was done, beyond the murder of a few travelers.
Col. R. J. Hamilton came to this city, as above stated, in April, 1831. Cook
county had been organized the month previous. He soon obtained a high position
among his fellow citizens, and at that time, young and full of energy and
vigor, and not the man to shrink from responsibility, we wonder that he was
not crushed with the weight of the "blushing honors" that fell to his share of
the spoils in the new county of Cook. In the course of the year, he became
Judge of Probate, Recorder, County Clerk; discharged gratuitously the duties
of Treasurer, and was Commissioner of Schools. The good Colonel would find his
hands full were he to fulfill the duties of all these offices at the present
time. We have availed ourselves of his early and accurate knowledge of events
for most of the facts which are contained in some half dozen of the succeeding
paragraphs.
The county of Cook, in 1831, embraced all the territory now included in the
counties of Lake, McHenry, Dupage, Will, and Iroquois. At that time Fort
Dearborn was occupied by two companies of U. S. Infantry, under the command of
Major Fowle. The resident citizens were Mr. Elijah Wentworth and family,
occupying a house partly log and partly frame, owned by Mr. James Kinzie, and
situated on the ground now occupied by Mr. Norton as a lumber yard. Mr. W.
kept a tavern, the best in Chicago.
In the vicinity of this tavern resided Mr. James Kinzie and family, Mr.
William See and family, Mr. Alexander Robinson and family—now living on the
Des Plaines— and Mr. Robert A. Kinzie, who had a store composed of dry goods—a
large portion of them Indian goods—groceries, etc. Across the North Branch of
the Chicago river, and nearly opposite Mr. Wentworth's tavern, resided Mr.
Samuel Miller and family, and with them Mr. John Miller, a brother. Mr. Miller
also kept tavern. On the east side of the South Branch, and immediately above
the junction with the North Branch, resided Mr. Mark Beaubien and family, who
also kept tavern; and a short distance above him on the South Branch resided a
Mr. Bourisso, an Indian trader. Between Mark Beaubien's tavern and Fort
Dearborn there were no houses, except a small log cabin, near the foot of
Dearborn street, and used as an Indian trading house. Near the garrison, and
immediately south, on the property sold by James H. Collins, Esq., to the
Illinois Central Railroad Company, was the residence of J. B. Beaubien and
family, who was connected with the American Fur Company in the Indian trade.
He had near his residence a store, containing such goods as were suitable to
that business. A short distance south of him on the lake was a house, then
unoccupied.
On the north side of the river and immediately opposite the garrison, stood
the old "Kinzie House," as it was commonly called, which was also then
unoccupied, and in a very dilapidated state. A short distance above, on the
main branch of the river, and on the ground now occupied by the Chicago and
Galena Railroad Company, stood what had been the Government Agency house, and
known to the "oldest inhabitant" as "Cobweb Castle." That was then unoccupied,
Dr. Wolcott, the Government Agent, having died the fall before. In its
vicinity were several small log buildings for the accommodation of the
blacksmith, interpreter, and others connected with the Agency. The blacksmith
then occupying one of the buildings was a Mr. McGee, now living in Dupage
county. Billy Caldwell, the principal chief of the Ottawa, Pottawatomie and
Chippewa Indians, occupied another. He was then Interpreter for the Agency.
Col. Thomas J. Y. Owen, who had been the winter before appointed to succeed
the late Dr. Wolcott, had not then taken up his residence in Chicago; G.
Kercheval, who was then sub-Agent, was then here. Dr. E. Harmon, the father of
C. L. Harmon, and James Harrington of Geneva, Kane county, had taken up their
residence here, and were making claims on the lake shore—Dr. Harmon where Mrs.
Clarke now lives, and Mr. H. immediately north and adjoining.
Here we have some dozen families in the spring of 1831—only TWENTY-THREE YEARS
AGO—constituting, with the officers and soldiers in the fort, the entire
population of Chicago. Now, the city numbers more than sixty thousand, and its
blocks of splendid stores, its fine churches, its railroads, and extensive
commerce, are the wonder and admiration of all. We have never spent much time
in reading works of fiction, but if there is anything in that dreamy
literature more astonishing than these facts, we certainly have never seen it.
In June following, the garrison, by order of the Secretary of War, was
abandoned by the troops, and left in charge of Col. T. J. V. Owen, the
Government Agent of the Ottawa, Pottawatomie, and Chippewa Indians; and by
September, the fort, together with the old Kinzie House and the one on the
lake shore (formerly vacant), were filled with emigrant families. In the
latter part of September, the payment of the Indian annuities was made by Col.
Owen. There were present on that occasion about four thousand Indians, and
among them was a deputation of eight Sauk and Fox Indians belonging to the
band of the celebrated BLACK HAWK. Their object was to induce the Ottawas,
Pottawatomies and Chippewas, to join them in their contemplated invasion of
the Rock River country, and to wrest it from the whites, who, they alleged,
had obtained it fraudulently. Had it not been for the influence of Billy
Caldwell, little doubt was entertained of the success of the mission. Caldwell
was well advised of the weakness of the Indians, and the strength of the
Government, and by his influence and representations, prevented the alliance.
After the payment, a scene of drunkenness, debauchery and violence occurred,
such as is never witnessed, except at an Indian payment.
During the fall, in the month of November, the schooner Marengo, belonging to
Oliver Newberry of Detroit, arrived. She had been looked for with much anxiety
for some weeks. She encountered a heavy gale on Lake Michigan, which was just
subsiding on her arrival. There being no harbor, she anchored out in the lake,
more than half a mile from the shore, nearly in front of the fort, where she
remained until the lake had become sufficiently calm to unload. This could
only be done by the aid of small boats, crossing the bar at the mouth of the
river which then emptied into the lake near the foot of Randolph street.
The "Marengo" was commanded by Captain Stewart, a veteran sailor who had long
been in the employment of Mr. Newberry. The Telegraph, which arrived in July,
and the Marengo, were the only arrivals during the season, except the one that
transported the troops to Green Bay. The principal part of the population of
Chicago during the winter of 1831-2 occupied the quarters in the garrison, and
were ministered to, in the way of creature comforts, by our estimable citizen,
Geo. W. Dole, who was the only merchant then in Chicago, except Mr. R. A.
Kinzie at "Wolf Point," which was the name given to the "settlement" at the
junction of the North and South Branches, where Mr. Norton's lumber yard is
now located.
The winter was long and intensely cold, and the population of the surrounding
country so sparse, that no traveler could be found sufficiently reckless to
traverse it. There were then no mail routes, post roads nor post offices at
Chicago, and the only means its inhabitants had of knowing anything of the
world was by sending a half-breed Indian once in two weeks to Niles,in
Michigan, to procure all the papers, both old and new, that could be
had. "Great caution," says Colonel Hamilton, "was exercised in reading the old
first, that we might be properly advised of events in the world as they
occurred. The trip was made on foot, and usually occupied a week. The arrival
of "the mail" was an event of quite as much interest then as it is now; but
notwithstanding our exclusion from the world, we were not unhappy, and
doubtless enjoyed ourselves as well as its inhabitants now do."
"A debating society was formed, composed of most of the male inhabitants of
the fort, over which presided our venerable fellow-citizen, J. B. Beaubien,
with much efficiency and dignity. Although not very conversant
with 'Jefferson's Manual,' he had no occasion to use it, as every member was
disposed to be orderly and behave himself; and each and all felt bound to
contribute as much as possible to the general sum of knowledge and usefulness.
To vary the amusement, a dance was occasionally got up at the house of Mark
Beaubien, Esq., and for those who had no taste for such amusement, a religious
meeting was held generally once a week in the Fort, by the late Mark Noble,
Jr., and his wife and two daughters, and Mrs. R. J. Hamilton, who were all
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church."
These early meetings had a most happy effect upon all within their influence.
Mrs. R. J. Hamilton, first wife of Col. H., contributed very much to their
interest, as she was a lady of great intelligence, enlarged views, and devoted
piety. She was for many years among the first in all religious and benevolent
enterprises. Col. Hamilton pays a just tribute to the zeal and piety of Mr.
Noble. He was the principal speaker at all these meetings, and his exertions
in the cause of truth were greatly blessed. He was a man of practical common
sense, and large experience, and was fitted for a "standard bearer" on the
borders of civilization. It will be seen that the Methodists were here, as
almost everywhere, the pioneers in Christianity. They did not, however,
establish the first church, as will be seen further on in our sketches.
Thus passed the winter of 1831-2. On the approach of spring, it was announced
that "Black Hawk," a Sauk chief, was moving up Rock river, with about five
hundred Sauk and Fox Indians, with demonstrations of a hostile character,
unless he could be permitted to remain on the lands formerly ceded to the
United States. The rumor was confirmed by the arrival of the Hon. Richard M.
Young, at Fort Dearborn, who was then one of the Circuit Judges of the State,
and within whose judicial district Chicago was at that time. Judge Young was
accompanied by Benjamin Mills, Esq., then a leading member of the Illinois
bar, and our late fellow-citizen, Col. Strode, all from Galena. They had come
by the way of Dixon, and from the conduct of the Indians assembled there, were
convinced of their hostile intentions. Before the adjournment of the court
other intelligence arrived confirmatory of these statements. The Indians
continued to move up Rock river until they arrived at the Kishwaukie, a
tributary of Rock river, where they made a halt. An expedition was organized
under the command of Major Stillman, of Peoria, from the counties of Tazewell
and Peoria, principally with the object, as then understood, to watch the
movements of the Indians and protect the few settlements on the extreme
frontier from their depredations; but with the further understanding, that
they were not to strike the first blow. They proceeded up Rock river until
within a few miles of the Indian encampment, and by some want of discipline
and caution, an action was brought on against a portion of the Indians, which
resulted in a disastrous defeat and total rout of the whole of Major
Stillman's force. Almost immediately after the defeat of Major Stillman, the
Indians, in bands, made a descent on the settlements on Fox river, at
Hollenback's and Holderman's Grove, and at other points on the river where
there were settlements, burning the houses and destroying the property, and
had it not been for the friendly interposition and warnings of Shabbo-nee,* an
Ottawa chief, who, till within a few years, lived at Shabbona's Grove, many of
the people must have been massacred. Some barely escaped, being sufficiently
near to witness the smoke ascending from their burning houses—what few
inhabitants were in the surrounding country made their way to Chicago, to seek
safety in Fort Dearborn, and by the 10th of May the Fort contained a
population of near seven hundred souls, two-thirds of whom were women and
children. This great disproportion of women and children was occasioned by the
male heads of families taking their provisions and whatever else they could
muster to drive their stock into the settled parts of the country, mostly on
the Wabash. Col. Owen, the government agent, was then in charge of the Fort,
and no effort on his part was spared to accommodate all that came. He had
himself a
--------------------------
*I often saw him in the streets of Chicago. He was not very tall; but he was a
broad-shouldered, stalwart specimen of the Indian. He died a few years ago,
and was buried in the cemetery at Morris, Grundy county.
--------------------------
large family and occupied the commander's quarters, but he confined himself to
a single room, and gave up the rest to those who came in from the country.
Gholson Kercheval and Col. Hamilton were appointed quartermasters to arrange
quarters equitably among the people, and in many cases fifteen and twenty
occupied a room that would not more than comfortably accommodate a family of
four or five persons.
Information was again received through "Billy Caldwell," by Col. Owen, that
the hostile chiefs were tampering with the Ottawa, Pottawatomie and Chippewa
Indians belonging to his agency, and that in consequence of the success in the
fight at Kishwaukie, many of the young men were strongly inclined to join
them. It was with difficulty the chiefs could restrain them. A consultation
was had with Messrs. Robinson and Caldwell, both influential chiefs among the
Indians, who advised an immediate council with the principal chiefs together
with some of their young men, at which Col. Owen was to address them, and let
them know distinctly that if they formed any alliance, or connection with
Black Hawk, or furnished them men or aid of any kind, the Government would
hold them to a strict accountability for it, and would punish them severely.
The council was held at or near the place where the Rev. Mr. Richardson's
church now stands, in the North Division of the city. There were present a
number of the chiefs of the United Nations, including Caldwell and Robinson,
and Col. Owen, and Col. R. J. Hamilton on the part of the Government. The
council was opened by a few remarks from Caldwell to the chiefs. Blackfoot, a
chief of considerable influence and power, then addressed the council. He
recounted many of their grievances, and charged the Government with gross
injustice towards them, and concluded by remarking that now was a good time to
redress them. His speech was evidently well received by the young men. Col.
Owen followed him, and his boldness, energy, and the scathing rebuke he
administered to Blackfoot changed the whole current of feeling against the
chief. The Indians retired for a few minutes, and then returned presenting
their hands to Col. Owen, declaring their friendship to the Government, and
offering to furnish a hundred braves to march against Blackhawk, if desired.
Thus terminated this council; small and insignificant as it may now seem to
have been, yet it was productive of important results. To the unwavering
friendship of Caldwell, and the bold, energetic conduct of Col. Owen before
the council, the inhabitants of Chicago were indebted for their safety in the
contest which followed.
Late in the month of May, 1832, a small force consisting of twenty-five men,
was organized in the fort under the command of Capt. J. B. Brown, with Capt.
Joseph Naper and Col. R. J. Hamilton, for the purpose of securing the frontier
on Fox river, and to ascertain from personal observation the extent of the
depredations committed on the property of the inhabitants. It was also
intended to render aid to the inhabitants settled on the Dupage river, who had
assembled at Mr. James Walker's where Plainfield now stands, and erected a
small fort for their protection. After leaving the fort on the Dupage, where
they had remained a day, rendering such assistance as was desired, the
expedition proceeded to Holderman's Grove. The Indians had but recently left
it after having destroyed all the personal property found in the house and
around the premises, and scattered the, fragments about the yard. The
provisions which were not taken away were destroyed.
On the third evening after their departure from Fort Dearborn the company
encamped about three miles from Holderman's Grove, in the direction of
Hollenback's Grove, on Fox river. Some time before daylight, Mr. G. E. Walker,
of Ottawa, arrived at the camp and stated that a man had arrived at that place
(Ottawa) and reported that considerable firing had been heard on Indian creek,
about fifteen miles from Ottawa, at the residence of a Mr. Davis, where the
families of Davis, Hall and Pettigrew had assembled for mutual protection, and
a short time afterwards a young man, a son of Mr. Hall's, arrived and
confirmed the statement. He also stated that he was at work in the field about
a mile from the house, heard the firing and saw the Indians.
Upon receiving this information, Capt. Brown immediately marched the company,
with all possible dispatch, to Indian creek where the firing had been heard.
Some five or six, a part of whom had joined the expedition on the route, left
it and returned to afford protection to their respective families. The company
arrived at Mr. Davis' residence between nine and ten o'clock, A. M. The scene
there, as described by Colonel Hamilton, was the most painful that could well
be imagined. Some thirteen dead bodies, composed of the families of Davis,
Hall and Pettigrew, lay in the house and about the yard, consisting of men,
women and children, who had been shot, speared, tomahawked, scalped and
mutilated in the most cruel manner. Davis was a blacksmith, and apparently a
very athletic man. At the moment of the attack he was in his shop, and started
for the house about seventy-five or a hundred yards distant, for the purpose,
no doubt, of assisting to protect the families there. He was attacked a short
distance from the shop, and from every indication a severe contest ensued.
By his side, or near him, lay a large Kentucky rifle, which had been fired,and
afterward used in a hand-to-hand fighty as its stock was much shattered, and
its breech broken. The bodies were collected and buried as well as they could
be, under the circumstances, after which the expedition went to Ottawa, where
they fell in with Major Bailey, with a company from Tazewell Co., who had been
in the late disastrous Stillman expedition against the Indians at Kishwaukie,
a part of which, together with Major Bailey, joined Capt. Brown. The whole
detachment proceeded to Chicago under the command of Major Bailey. On the
route to Chicago, the guide to the expedition, a half-breed Indian, reported
at several points large fresh Indian signs. Much solicitude was felt for the
families at Walker's on the Dupage, and some time after dark a man by the name
of Payne was hailed, who had just come alone from Chicago, and was on his way
to Ottawa. The dangers of the route were made known to him, and efforts were
made to retain him with the expedition. He, however, announced himself an
ambassador of God, and said he would be safe from any attack by the Indians.
It was evident he was partially insane, and he could not be induced to change
his purpose. He had a long flowing beard, and venerable appearance. He was
probably killed the same day, as his head was found two weeks afterward stuck
on a pole in the prairie, and his body some half mile distant from the head.
Our fellow-citizen, Gurdon S. Hubbard, Esq., was in the party that found him.
Major Bailey and his command encamped the same evening at the fort on the
Dupage, and started early the next morning with the families in the fort, and
all their movable effects that could be transported in ox and horse teams, and
arrived late in the evening at Chicago, after an absence of ten days. The fort
was immediately organized as a military post, and placed under the command of
Major Bailey.
Two young ladies, by the name of Hall, were captured at Indian creek,and
retained for some two weeks, when they were given up by a party of friendly
Indians to Gov. Dodge, of Wisconsin. They were treated with great kindness and
respect while they were captives. The massacre of the people of Indian creek
occurred on the 21st of May.
In the meantime, three thousand militia were ordered out from Peoria and the
counties south of it, and marched to Rock river, where they were joined by a
detachment
of regular troops from Fort Armstrong, under General Atkinson. A party of one
hundred and fifty militia under the command of Major Dement, fell in with a
detachment of Indians, commanded by Black Hawk himself, somewhere between Rock
river and Galena. An action ensued, in which the Indians were routed. The main
army continued to move up Rock river, around the head waters of which it was
said the Indians were concentrated.
On the 21st of July, General Henry, commanding an advanced party of the army,
came up with the Indians between the Blue Mounds and the Wisconsin river. The
troops were formed into a hollow square, and all attempts to break the line by
the savages were in vain. A general charge was finally made by the troops,
when the Indians were forced to retreat, with the loss of between fifty and
sixty of their number.
The Indians continued their retreat to the northwest, crossed the Wisconsin
river, and moved up the east bank of the Mississippi. About fifty miles above
Prairie du Chien, they were again overtaken and completely routed, with the
loss of one hundred and fifty warriors. This victory completely broke the
power of Black Hawk, and ended the war. He was captured by a party of
Winnebagoes, and delivered up to the officers of the United States at Prairie
du Chien, on the 27th of August, 1832.
Early in the season General Scott was ordered to leave the seaboard and gather
up all the troops on his route westward, and repair to Chicago. The Indians
were entirely defeated before he was able to join the army.
On the 21st of September, 1832, all these difficulties were arranged by a
treaty made at Fort Armstrong, (Rock Island,) by General Scott and Governor
Reynolds, with the Sauk and Fox Indians, by which they relinquished all their
claim to Eastern Iowa, and agreed to move west of the Missouri. Annuities were
to be paid to the several bands, and a reservation of forty miles square was
made to the principal Chief, Keokuk, and a portion of his followers.
We are indebted to P. F. W. Peck, Esq., for the facts contained in several of
the succeeding paragraphs:
In July, A. D. 1831, the schooner Telegraph, of Ashtabula, Ohio, Captain
Joseph and John Naper, arrived at Chicago with a number of families, their own
among the number, who soon after left and settled the place now known as
Naperville. The village took its name from Captain Joseph Naper, he being the
first white settler upon its present site.
Mr. Peck left New York City in the month of May of that year (1831), with a
small stock of goods for a "market," having previously determined upon a
western home.
Accidentally becoming acquainted with Captain Joseph Naper, at Buffalo, at
which place the schooner was then loading for "Fort Dearborn," (Chicago), that
gentleman, with characteristic frankness, invited Mr. Peck to embark with him
and seek a home in that remote region, then but little known, where Capt. N.
had previously determined to remove with his family. Mr. P. readily accepted,
and left Buffalo with Capt. N. about the 1st of June, A. D. 1831, and arrived
at Chicago after a passage of two months from the city of New York.
Probably many years prior to this arrival, no structure of any kind had been
added to the small number of log cabins which, with the buildings of the
garrison, constituted the town of Chicago; and the only addition to its growth
during that year was a small log store for Mr. Peck, shortly after his
arrival, and which he owned and occupied until late in the fall of that year.
It was built near the garrison, a few rods northwest of the land on which Col.
Beaubien formerly resided, and which James H. Collins, Esq., recently sold to
the Illinois Central Railroad Company.
It was after some deliberation and advice, that Mr. P. determined to locate
in "the lower village," instead of at "the Point," (West Side,) which latter
settlement was then, he thinks, rather in the ascendant. Rival feelings, to
some extent, existed at the time between the people of those localities, both
contending that they possessed superior advantages for the site of the future
village of Chicago.
Shortly, before Mr. Peck's arrival, the Canal Commissioners had subdivided
into town lots part of Sec. 9, (the Old Town) and given titles to a few of the
lots to different purchasers. "Fort Dearborn" (fractional section 10) was not
then subdivided, and much uncertainty existed as to the time, and under what
auspices it would ultimately be done. These circumstances very much promoted
the interests of land owners at "Wolf Point."
Mr. P. says that his young and fertile imagination presented before him as
possible to be built up within a reasonable time, the village church,
schoolhouse, doctor's and lawyer's office; a tavern, more fashionable than
that kept by "Jolly Mark" a blacksmith, shoemaker, and tailor's shop, and a
few painted stores and dwellings; and that his newly found home would become a
respectable consolidated village, at one or the other of these two extreme
settlements, for then no intermediate lots were considered to be of much
importance.
Late in the fall of 1831, Mr. Peck received from New York, via the Lakes, a
stock of goods with which, and the small stock he had previously in trade, he
removed into Naper's settlement, and united in business with Capt. Joseph
Naper, and remained with him until the spring of 1832, when the Sauk war drove
the people into Chicago.
Mr. Peck has ever since resided in Chicago, having immediately after the
termination of Indian hostilities resumed mercantile business in a building
then owned by S. Miller, Esq., North Side, at the junction of the North and
South Branches, which for several previous years had been occupied by Messrs.
Miller & Clybourne, as a store for Indian trade. During the fall of 1832, and
while occupying the building before mentioned, Mr. P. caused to be raised the
frame of the building now owned by him, and situated on the southeast corner
of South Water and LaSalle streets, which was finished and occupied by him
early in May, A. D. 1833, as appears by vouchers for its payment which he has
exhibited to us. It is built of black walnut and oak lumber. The lumber was
hauled from Walker's mills—now Plainfield—forty miles southwest from Chicago,
and is believed to have been the first lumber ever sawed in Cook county.
Plainfield is now in Will county.
In this building Mr. Peck continued business until the fall of 1835, at which
time he disposed of his entire stock in trade to Thomas Hartzell, Esq., then
of Hennepin, and now a resident of this city, and one of the oldest and most
respectable settlers of Northern Illinois. He thinks the store abpve mentioned
was the first frame building built on the south side of the river; but G. W.
Dole, Esq., assures us that his old warehouse, on the southeast corner of
Dearborn and South Water streets, was completed and occupied by him in the
fall of 1832. Mr. Dole then lived in a small log building, now covered with
siding, which stands two or three doors east of the old warehouse on Water
street. The warehouse has for some years been occupied for dwellings.
In the rear of this building, and in front of the Tremont House, Mr. Dole
slaughtered, in the fall of 1832, the first lot of cattle, in all two hundred
head, ever packed in Chicago. They were driven from the Wabash Valley, and
cost him $2.75 per cwt. He also slaughtered in the same place and packed 350
hogs from the same locality, for which he gave $3 per cwt. Here was the
nucleus of the immense "packing" business now done in Chicago. It cannot
amount to much less than $1,500,000 per annum, and Chicago beef has obtained
the first place in the markets of the world.
Mr. Peck has also shown us his original document for the purchase of Lot 4,
Block 18, in the Old Town of Chicago. It is as follows:
CHICAGO, Aug. 15, 1831.
Received of P. F. W. Peck, eighty dollars, in full for Lot No. 4, Block 18, in
the plan of the town of Chicago, and in full for all claims to this date.
W. F. WALKER.
This lot is at the southeast corner of South Water and LaSalle streets,
fronting 80 feet on South Water and 150 feet on LaSalle street, and entire is
now valued in our table at $42,500. Mr. P. retains a part of the lot only,
having sold the largest portion of it soon after his purchase. He has also
exhibited to us a receipt of his taxes for 1833, signed S. Forbes, Sheriff,
amounting to $3.50. The books of the proper officers will show that he has
paid, for general and special assessments, for the past year, about $5,000.
Mr. Peck is but one among a score in our city whose taxes would show as large,
and some of them even larger figures. Early in 1832, Chicago received quite an
addition to her citizens. Among those now residents of the city, we remember
Dr. Maxwell, G. W. Snow, Philo Carpenter, John S. Wright, and Dr. Kimberly.
Going back to 1831, we find that the Commissioners' Court, under the act
organizing the county, was opened March 8th of that year. The first record we
have is that "Samuel Miller, Gholson Kercheval and James Walker, Commissioners
for Cook county, were sworn into office by J. S. C. Hogan, Justice of the
Peace. William See was appointed Clerk of the Commissioners' Court, who, after
being duly sworn and giving bonds 'according to law, the Court proceeded to
business.' Archibald Clybourne was appointed County Treasurer, and an order
passed that the 'S. W. fraction of Sec. 10 in T. 39 N., R. 14 East of the
third principal meridian, be entered for County purposes.' At the next
meeting, March 9th, the Treasurer is authorized to borrow one hundred dollars,
with which to enter the land before mentioned, and he is directed 'not to give
more than six per cent, interest.' It is also ordered that Jesse Walker be
employed to enter the land, that Jedediah Wooley be nominated to the Governor
for County Surveyor, and that there be three precincts in the county of Cook,
to wit: 'the Chicago Precinct,' the 'Hickory Creek Precinct,' and the 'Du-page
Precinct.' The boundaries of these three precincts were established, Judges of
Election appointed, and the times and the places of holding the same. Grand
and Petit Jurors were selected, and some other minor business transacted, when
the 'Court adjourned until Court in course.'"
April 13th, 1831.—A special term was held. The record says: "Court was called
at the hour of ten o'clock in the morning, and Samuel Miller and Gholson
Kercheval being present, formed a quorum, and proceeded to business.
"Ordered, That there be a half per cent, levied on the following description
of property, to wit: On town lots, on pleasure carriages, on distilleries, on
all horses, mules and neat cattle above the age of three years; on watches,
with their appurtenances, and on all clocks."
Elijah Wentworth and Samuel Miller were licensed to keep a tavern in the town
of Chicago, and taxed therefor the sum of $7 and $5 respectively. The
following financial measure, the second recorded in the history of Chicago,
was also adopted, and as one of the "quorum" on this occasion was also one of
the prospective "tavern keepers," we have a right to presume that the tariff
was fairly adjusted.
"Ordered, That the following rates be allowed to tavern keepers, to wit:
Each half pint of wine, rum or brandy. 25 cents.
Each pint do............ 37 1/2 "
" half pint of gin.................. 18 3/4 "
" pint do.................... 31 1/4 "
" gill of whisky.................... 6 1/4 "
" half pint do...................... 12 1/2 "
" pint do...................... 18 3/4 "
For each breakfast and supper......... 25 "
" dinner....................... 37 1/2 "
" horse feed................... 25 "
Keeping horse one night............... 50 "
Lodging for each man per night........ 12 1/2 "
For cider or beer, one pint........... 6 1/4 "
" " " quart......... 12 1/2 "
The first licensed merchants in Cook county, as appears from the licenses
granted at this time, were B. Laughton, Robert A. Kinzie, Samuel Miller; and
the first auctioneer, James Kinzie. Russell E. Heacock was licensed to keep a
tavern at his residence.
Initiatory steps were taken for the establishment of a ferry across both
branches of Chicago river, at the forks, over which the people of Cook county,
with their "traveling apraties" were to be passed free. Rates of ferriage were
specified for outsiders, and a ferry scow was purchased from Samuel Miller for
sixty-five dollars. At the next meeting of the Court, Mark Beaubien filed his
bond for $200, with James Kinzie as security, and having agreed to pay into
the Treasury fifty dollars, and "to ferry all citizens of Cook county free,"
became the first ferryman of Chicago.
During vacation of Court, permits to sell goods were obtained from the clerk
by Alexander Robinson, John B. Beaubien and Madore Beaubien, thus adding by so
many to the number of Cook county merchants.
At the next term of Court, June 6th, Jesse Walker, who had been commissioned
to enter the land selected for county purposes, reported that he had been
refused permission to enter the same, and paid back the money put into his
hands for that purpose.
The fees received by the members of the Commissioners' Court during this
period were, as appears from appropriations made them, at the rate of $1.50
per day, for actual term time, and were paid in county orders. Joseph
Leflenboys was added to the list of merchants; also, Mark Beaubien and O.
Newberry.
Certain blocks and lots having been given to the county by the "Canal
Commissioners," it was thought proper to dispose of them, with the exception
of the Public Square, and accordingly a "sail of lots"—we use the spelling of
the record—was advertised to take place on the first Monday in July following.
This semi-nautical proceeding was probably the first of the speculative and
numerous land sales of which Chicago has since been the theatre. In return,
probably, for the liberal donation received from the Canal Commissioners, and,
as also perhaps considered the best and only method of extending to them
the "hospitalities of the county," it was "ordered that the county pay the
Canal Commissioners' ferriage during their stay at Chicago on canal business,"
all of which ferriage, according to Mark Beaubien's account, afterwards
presented and paid, amounted to the enormous sum of seven dollars and thirty-
three cents. In these days of paved streets and present and prospective plank
roads and railroads, it is also interesting to glance at another order, having
in view the opening of the first two highways of which any definite history
has come down to us. The first provides for the viewing of a road to the West
boundary of the county, in a direction toward the mouth of Fox river, as
follows: "From the town of Chicago to the house of B. Laughton, from thence to
the house of James Walker on the Dupage river, and so on to the west line of
the county, and that Elijah Wentworth, K. E. Heacock and Timothy B. Clark be
the viewers." The other is a road "from the town of Chicago, the nearest and
best way to the house of the widow Brown, on 'Hycory creek,' and that James
Kinzie, Archibald Clybourne and R. E. Heacock be the viewers." What would
widow Brown now say were she to count from the cupola of the Tremont House the
eighty trains of cars that daily arrive and depart from this city? And for
aught we know she may have done so, for it is only twenty-three years since
her house was made the terminus of the "original survey" of one of the first
avenues from Chicago.
The vexed question, whether our present splendid Court House, with all its
roomy and convenient public offices, stands on a "square" or a "skew," is
resolved into a matter of insignificance, when it is remembered at how recent
a date, as the archives inform us, the Sheriff was authorized "to provide, on
the best terms in his power, to secure a prisom sufficient to hold prisoners
for the time being," or when, as in the present instance, the "court adjourned
until court in course, to the house of William See."
The affairs of the county appear to have been managed during these primeval
times with commendable prudence, economy and good faith, for we find
subsequently that Jas. Kinzie, having, in his official capacity, disposed of
the lands given to the county by the Canal Commissioners, was allowed a county
order for $14.53 3/4, being at the rate of 2 1/2 per cent, for the first $200,
and one per cent. for all over that sum, for his services as "auxineer"���we use
the spelling of the record—"in the sail of lots" elsewhere mentioned.
The mercantile corps of Cook county was meanwhile increased by the addition of
four new firms, viz.: Brewster, Hogan & Co., Peck, Walker & Co., Joseph Naper
and Nicholas Boilvin. It, perhaps, ought not to be omitted, that Mark
Beaubien, who, from all accounts, was not an unworthy pioneer to Chicago
enterprise and ambition, not satisfied with being already chief ferryman, as
well as a merchant, or with having experienced the clemency of the Court, in
the shape of a remittance of a fine of ten dollars, "assessed to him for a
fracas" with John G. Hall, also applied for and received a license to "keep a
tavern," being charged therefor the moderate sum of six dollars. As an offset
to these various evidences of favor, he well nigh met with a worse fate than
old Charon, for he was "ordered" to ferry the citizens of Cook county "from
daylight in the morning until dark, without stopping?"
The reason for this stringent order, as given by Dr. Kimberly, was, that Mark
at the time kept two race horses, and he had such a passion for the sports of
the turf that he would, every day, if possible, get up a race with some of the
Indian "bloods," and sadly neglect his duty to ferry the good citizens of Cook
county free, according to the law in such case made and provided.
An incident in the history of the Beaubien family should be duly recorded. The
military commandant of the State gave orders in 1834 that the militia of Cook
county should be duly organized and officers elected. Like the immortal
Falstaff, there were some gentlemen who did not fancy that kind of company. As
usual, there were several aspirants who, if elected, would carry out the law;
but over all these it was determined to elect John B., Colonel. The election
was to be held in the house of a Mr. Laughton, who kept tavern near where
Lyonsville now stands, on the southwestern plank road. The town turned out en
masse, taking with them a keg of brandy, four packages of loaf sugar and six
dozen of lemons. John was elected over all opposition, and it was determined,
of course, to have "a time." At the base of the bluff, near the house, is a
fine spring. A dam was made across the outlet, and the brandy, lemons and
sugar were all emptied into it, and "being duly stirred up, each one drank
till he could drink no more from this novel "PUNCH BOWL." Colonel Beaubien was
entirely satisfied with the "the honor" conferred upon him, and never called
out his forces. He is the first, and still is the, highest officer of the Cook
county militia.
The first mention we find of the Circuit Court is contained in the minutes of
September 6th, 1831, providing that it be held in "Fort Dearborn, in the brick
house, and in the lower room of said house."
It is worthy of remark, that notwithstanding the low state of the county
finances during this period, the sick or disabled strangers and travelers, or
unfortunate residents, were uniformly provided with proper nourishment,
medicine, and careful attendance at the public expense. Several instances are
on record of appropriations from the treasury for these and like purposes. It
is equally in evidence, that amid all the impositions and irregularities
attending the first years of a new settlement, the administration of public
affairs rested in the hands of cool and impartial officers, who were not to be
easily deceived or imposed upon, and who had a single eye to the general good.
As an instance, we notice that when the first road was located from the Public
Square to the west county line, it appears that some or all of the viewers
were influenced by some selfish purpose, and hence we find that their "report
is rejected, and the viewers shall have no pay for their services."
The population and business of the town steadily increased from month to
month, and with it many changes occurred which it is beyond our limits to
notice.
Richard J. Hamilton was appointed Clerk of the Court, in place of William See,
resigned, and entered upon the duties of his office on the second day of
April, 1832.
Much business of more or less importance was transacted at this special term.
More roads and streets were authorized, and Commissioners appointed to decide
their location; election precincts and magistrate districts were set apart,
described and named; judges of elections appointed, etc., etc. From a
statement returned by the Sheriff of Cook county, April 4th, 1832, it is shown
that the amount of the tax list on real and personal property, for the year
ending March 1st, 1832, was $148.29; and that the non-resident delinquent tax
list amounted to $10.50. Of this amount there had been paid into the treasury
$142.28. The Treasurer's report for the same period shows that the amount
received from licenses "to keep taveran," sell goods, etc., was $225.50; taxes
paid in, as per Sheriff's report, were $132.28—total, $357.78. To balance this
amount, the Treasurer reports, license tax delinquencies to the amount of
$88.50. Paid out for County Orders, $252.35—leaving balance in the treasury of
$15.93.
Thus stands the account current of Cook county in the spring of 1832, only
twenty-two years ago! The total receipts of taxes and moneys from all other
sources, is the enormous sum of $357.78! How stands the account now? The total
amount of moneys collected by the City Treasurer for the year 1853, is
$135,752.03; and by the County Treasurer, $245,057.07—making the total amount
of taxes collected last year in Cook county, $380,809.10. Those who have
leisure may "cypher up" the ratio of increase in the short space of twenty-two
years.
The whole assessed value of the personal property of the city for the past
year is $2,711,154; real estate, $13,841,831—total, $16,841,831. The entire
valuation for Cook county is, personal property, $4,450,630; real estate,
$18,487,627 —total, $22,937,657. Every one knows that the assessed does not
represent one-fourth of the real value of the property in the county. It is
entirely safe to set down the value of the personal and real property of Cook
county at the lowest estimate at ONE HUNDRED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
It will be noticed by the above that several of the tavern keepers or
merchants failed to pay for their licenses, and it was accordingly ordered by
the Court that hereafter all taxes for license "shall be paid before the
issuing thereof." The tax of one-half per cent, was extended to include all
personal property of whatever kind or description, and other measures
suggested by time and experience were adopted. Archibald Clybourne was
reappointed Treasurer for the ensuing year. The Sheriff was authorized to
procure a room or rooms for the April term of the Circuit Court at the house
of James Kinzie, provided it can be done at a cost of not more than ten
dollars.
We find several "items" upon the record, among which we notice that John R.
Clark was the first Coroner. The first inquest was held "over the body of a
dead Indian."
The second was on "William Jewett, a passenger who was found dead."
The first street leading to Lake Michigan was laid out April 25th, 1832. This
street commenced at what was then called the east end of Water street, and is
described by Jedediah Wooley, the surveyor, as follows: "From the east end of
Water street, in the town of Chicago, to Lake Michigan. Direction of said road
is south 88 1/2 degrees east from the street to the Lake, 18 chains, 50
links." Said street was laid out fifty feet wide. The viewers on this
occasion "also believe that said road is of public utility, and a convenient
passage from the town to the Lake."
The first public building of which any mention is made, was an "Estray Pen,"
erected on the southwestern corner of the public square. The lowest bid for
the contract—$20—was put in by Samuel Miller, but upon the completion of the
edifice, the Treasurer was directed to pay therefor but $12, on account of its
not being finished "according to contract."
At the March term, 1833, the Road Commissioners reported their survey of a
State road leading from Chicago to the left bank of the Wabash river, opposite
Vincennes.
Various other roads in different directions were surveyed and laid out during
the spring and summer of 1833.
The next public building erected after the "Estray Pen," was the Jail. The
first contractors failed to fulfill their contract, and a suit for damages was
instituted against them. The Jail was finally built in the fall of 1833, "of
logs well bolted together," on the northwest corner of the public square. It
stood there till last year, when the new Court House and Jail having been
completed, it was torn down, and no vestige remains to tell where once
stood "this terror of evil doers."
The minutes of the first meeting of the citizens of Chicago, without date upon
the records, are as follows:
"At a meeting of the citizens of Chicago, convened pursuant to public notice
given according to the statute for incorporating Towns, T. J. V. Owen was
chosen President, and E. S. Kimberly was chosen Clerk. The oaths were then
administered by Russell E. Heacock, a Justice of the Peace for Cook county,
when the following vote was taken on the propriety of incorporating the Town
of Chicago, County of Cook, State of Illinois:
For Incorporation—John S. C. Hogan, C. A. Ballard, G. W. Snow, R. J. Hamilton,
J. T. Temple, John Wright, G. W. Dole, Hiram Pearsons, Alanson Sweet, E. S.
Kimberly, T. J. V. Owen, Mark Beaubien—12.
Against Incorporation—Russell E. Heacock—1.
We certify the above poll to be correct.
[Signed] T. J. V. OWEN, President.
ED. S. KIMBERLY, Clerk."
Dr. Kimberly informs us that the meeting was held some twenty days before the
election which followed.
The first election for five Trustees of the Town of Chicago was held at the
house of Mark Beaubien, on the 10th of August, 1833, at 11 o'clock in the
forenoon, and the polls were closed at 1 o'clock. The following are the names
of the voters, and those elected on that occasion:
Voters—E. S. Kimberly, J. B. Beaubien, Mark Beaubien, T. J. V. Owen, William
Nmson, Hiram Pearsons, Philo Carpenter, George Chapman, John Wright, John T.
Temple, Matthias Smith, David Carver, James Kinzie, Charles Tajdor, John S. C.
Hogan, Eli A. Rider, Dexter J. Hapgood, George W. Snow, Madore Beaubien,
Gholson Kercheval, Geo. W. Dole, R. J. Hamilton, Stephen F. Gale, Enoch
Darling, W. H. Adams, C. A. Ballard, John Watkins, James Gilbert.
T. J. V. Owen received 26 votes.
Geo. W. Dole " 28 "
Madore Beaubien " 23 "
John Miller received 20 votes.
E. S. Kimberly " 20 "
And so were elected Trustees of the Town of Chicago.
At this election there were in all twenty-eight voters in the "TOWN OF
CHICAGO" on the 10th day of August, 1833. "Canvassing" at elections did not
require quite so much labor, and there was far less money spent then than
there is now. Two of the first Trustees, Dr. Kimberly and G. W. Dole, Esq.,
are still residents of the city.
The "Town of Chicago" has not, therefore, arrived at the full age of twenty-
one years. To those who have not become familiar with such facts, they are
more wonderful than the wildest dreams of a "poetic fancy." They are, however,
plain sober history—such history, however, as can only be found in the annals
of the American people.
The Trustees held their first meeting at the Clerk's office on the 12th day of
August, 1833. The limits of the corporation were defined as follows: Beginning
at the intersection of Jackson and Jefferson streets; thence north to Cook
street, and through that street to its eastern extremity in Wabansia; thence
on a direct line to Ohio street in Kinzie's Addition; thence eastwardly to the
Lake shore; thence south with the line of beach to the northern U. S. pier;
thence northwardly along said pier to its termination; thence to the channel
of the Chicago river; thence along said channel until it intersects the
eastern boundary line of the Town of Chicago, as laid out by the Canal
Commissioners; thence southwardly with said line until it meets Jackson
street; thence westwardly along Jackson street until it reaches the place of
beginning.
The 26th of September, 1833, is a memorable day in the history of Chicago. The
Pottawatomie Indians, to the number of 7,000, had been gathered here for the
purpose of making a treaty with the United States. On that day the treaty was
signed on the part of the United States by T. J. V. Owen, G. B. Porter and Wm.
Weatherford, and by a large number of Indian chiefs, by which the Indians
ceded to the United States all their territory in Northern Illinois and
Wisconsin, amounting to about twenty million acres. The treaty was made in a
large tent on the North Side, a little north of the Lake House. The largest
part of the Indians were encamped in the woods on the North Side. Two bands
from Coldwater, Mich., encamped under a large cottonwood tree, which then
stood in the rear of I. Speer's. Jewelry store, near the corner of Lake and
State streets. There were a large number of speculators and others present,
and there were scenes enacted which it would be no credit to humanity to
narrate. Quite a large number of our present citizens were here at the time of
the treaty.
On the 26th of November, 1833, the first newspaper ever printed in Chicago, or
Northern Illinois, was published by our friend, John Calhoun, Esq. The bound
volumes of that paper for two years are before us. The perusal of its pages
has filled up some of the most interesting hours in our study of the "ancient
history" of Chicago. It has since fallen into other hands, and merits no
notice from us. In this first number, Mr. Calhoun strongly urges "the
commencement and completion of the long-contemplated canal to connect the
waters of Lake Michigan with the Illinois river," and adds, that "even with
the present limited facilities of navigation, goods have been transported from
New York to St. Louis in the short space of twenty-three days!" Thanks to our
railroads, goods can now be sent through by express in three days!
The second number of Mr. Calhoun's paper, issued on the 3rd of December, 1833,
contains the names of the following persons as advertisers, who are still
residents of Chicago: S. B. Cobb, John S. Wright, Walter Kimball, Philo
Carpenter, P. F. W. Peck, R. M. Sweet, A. Clybourne, John Bates, Jr., G. W.
Dole, B. Jones, Star Foote, C. Harmon, E. S. Kimberly, John H. Kinzie, S. D.
Pierce, and H. J. Hamilton. We think this fact is worthy of notice by those
who have been led to believe that Chicago is an unhealthy city. Never was
there a more gratuitous or unfounded assertion.
During the summer of 1833, Chicago, as has already been intimated, grew
rapidly. Attention had been called to the place by an appropriation of
$30,000, made in the spring of that year by Congress, to build a harbor here
to accommodate the commerce of Lake Michigan. The harbor was pushed forward
rapidly during the summer, and in the following spring there was a great
freshet, which carried out the sand from between the piers, and opened the
harbor to the Lake commerce.
So late as 1834, only twenty years ago, there was but one mail per week from
Niles, Michigan, to Chicago, and that was carried on horseback. On the 11th of
January of that year, a large public meeting of the citizens of Chicago was
held at the house of Mark Beaubien, at which, of course, "speeches were made,"
and a memorial was drawn up and sent to the Postmaster General, stating the
grievances under which the citizens labored, and the pressing necessity there
was for increased mail facilities. The contrast presented by the present post-
office business is truly astonishing. The Chicago post-office is now sending
out and receiving fourteen daily mails, besides several weekly and tri-weekly.
The receipts of the office for the quarter ending Jan. 1st, 1854, were over
$130,000.
The number of letters passing through the office averages over 30,000 daily,
and there are 75 bags containing 45,000 newspapers. The average number of
letters received by our citizens, and sent out from this office, is about
5,000 per day.
We gather the following items from our friend Calhoun's paper. On the 16th of
April, 1834, there was still but one mail per week, and he gives as an excuse
for not having more news, that for that week it did not arrive. The same week
he commences a marine list, noticing the arrival of one schooner from St.
Joseph's, and the departure of two for the same port. On the 30th of the same
month he says that emigration had fairly commenced, as more than "a hundred
had arrived by boats and otherwise within the last ten days." Astonishing! an
average of ten persons per day! What would our two great Eastern railroads say
to such an amount of travel? On the 4th of June Mr. Calhoun announces with
great satisfaction "that arrangements have been made by the proprietors of the
steamboats on Lake Erie, whereby Chicago is to be visited by a steamboat once
a week till the 25th of August." This was certainly an era in the history of
the "Town of Chicago." On Saturday, July 11, 1834, the schooner Illinois
entered the harbor, and sailed up the river amid the acclamations of the
citizens. She was the first large vessel that ever entered the Chicago river.
The bar between the piers was worn out by a great freshet the spring previous.
Before this, vessels were obliged to anchor outside the bar, and received and
discharged their cargoes by means of scows and lighters. The Illinois was the
pioneer of the immense commerce which now finds its centre in Chicago. In the
same paper, of the 6th of August, we find the whole number of votes polled in
Cook county, which then embraced the present counties of Will and Dupage, was
528. During the summer of 1834 Chicago grew very rapidly, for we find Mr.
Calhoun stating, on the 3d of September, "that one hundred and fifty vessels
had discharged their cargoes since the 20th of April previous."
We must not suppose, however, that Chicago was "out of the woods," for there
was a fine grove of timber along the river on the east side, extending south
from Madison street. Some of these trees are still standing, and we present a
plea in their behalf, that they may be spared the "remorseless axe." On Monday
morning, Oct. 6th, the citizens of this quiet town were startled by the
announcement that a large black bear was safely domiciled in this "strip of
timber." All the town of course turned out to give Bruin anything but a
generous welcome. He was soon found, and following his ancient custom, "took
to a tree." This was of course no security, and he was shot near the corner of
Market and Jackson streets. In these woods multitudes of prairie wolves were
accustomed to harbor, and in the night they would visit all parts of the town.
Excited by their success against poor Bruin, the citizens manfully determined
to give the wolves no quarter. They therefore formed several parties, and at
night it was found that they had dispatched forty of these midnight marauders.
We simply make a note, that on the spot where Chicago now stands, less than
twenty years ago, a "great hunt" was gotten up, and one bear and—probably
within the present city limits—forty wolves were killed in a single day.
Mr. Calhoun was present at the Indian payment in 1834, and has handed us the
following account of it. He says:
"On the 28th of October the first annuity was paid to the Pottawatomie and
other Indians under the treaty which was made the year previous for the
purchase of their lands in Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin. About $30,000
worth of goods were to be distributed. They assembled to the number of about
4,000. The distribution took place by piling the whole quantity in a heap upon
the prairie on the west side of the river, near the corner of Randolph and
Canal streets. The Indians were made to sit down upon the grass in a circle
around the pile of goods—their squaws sitting behind them. The half breeds and
traders were appointed to distribute the goods, and they leisurely walked to
the pile, and taking in their arms an armful of goods, proceeded to throw to
one and another of those sitting on the grass, and to whom they were appointed
to distribute, such articles as they saw fit, and then returned to the pile to
replenish. Shortly the Indians began to show an anxiety not to be overlooked
in the distribution, and at first got on their knees, vociferating all the
time in right lusty Indian 'gibberish.' Then they rose on one foot, and soon
all were standing, and then they began to contract the circle, until they
finally made a rush for the pile. I saw then a manner of dispersing a mob that
I never saw exemplified before nor since. The crowd was so great around the
pile of goods that those who were back from them could not get to them, and
the 'outsiders' at once commenced hurling into the air whatever missiles they
could get hold of, literally filling the air, and causing them to fall in the
centre where the crowd was the most dense. These, to save a broken head,
rushed away, leaving a space for those who had hurled the missiles to rush in
for a share of the spoils. The Indians were paid their annuities for two years
after the treaty, before they were removed west of the Mississippi. These
Indians were a degraded set, and did not inspire a person with any respect for
the prowess and savage character which our forefathers had to encounter. A
number were killed here at every payment in their drunken brawls."
On the 9th of September, 1833, our fellow citizen, Col. J. B. F. Russell,
advertises for forty ox teams, each team to be composed of two yoke of oxen,
to remove the Indians to the country "allotted to them West." On the first of
October Colonel Russell started with the "forty ox teams," containing the
children and baggage of the last remaining remnant of the Red Men, about 1,500
in all, and was twenty days in reaching the Mississippi. They were twenty days
more in reaching the land allotted to them west of Missouri. It is not,
therefore, nineteen years since Chicago was surrounded by Pottawatomie Indians.
In Mr. Calhoun's paper of November 25th, 1835, we find the first census of the
town of Chicago, and the county of Cook. The town then contained 3,265, and
the county 9,773 inhabitants. Mr. Calhoun speaks of this as a very encouraging
increase, as the county contained only a very few inhabitants when it was
organized in 1830. As late as the 20th of January, 1836, he regrets to learn
that Will county is to be set off from Cook, as it will probably "lessen our
political influence in the State." On Thursday, May 18, 1836, the sloop
Clarissa, the first vessel ever built in Chicago, was launched. It was an
occasion of much interest.
The Fire Department was organized on the 19th of September, 1835, as appears
by the following resolution passed by the Board of Trustees on that day:
"Resolved, That the President order two engines for the use of the
Corporation, of such description as he shall deem necessary, and also 1,000
feet of hose, on the credit of the Corporation."
The first lawyer's bill we find on the records was paid to James H. Collins,
Esq., on the 16th day of August, 1834. Some differences had arisen in
reference to the right of the city to lease certain water lots. Mr. Collins
was applied to for an opinion, for which he charged and received $5. On the
7th of October, 1835, John Dean Caton's bill against the Corporation for
counsel fees and services rendered during the years 1833-34 was paid. The
amount of the bill was $75. Our friends, the lawyers, manage at present to get
a much larger slice from the public loaf.
On the 13th of February, 1836, notice was given that the "Trustees of the Town
of Chicago will not hold themselves accountable for any damages which may
arise to any person by reason of crossing the bridges over the Chicago river,
or over the north and south branches thereof, the said bridges being
considered dangerous, and the said Trustees not having funds out of which to
repair the said bridges." Rather a sad state of affairs that.*
On the 26th day of October, 1836, initiatory steps were taken towards
obtaining a City Charter. The town being then in three districts, the
President of the Board of Trustees invited the inhabitants of each district to
select three persons to meet with the Board, and consult upon the expediency
of applying to the Legis-
---------
* The bridges over the Chicago river in 1848, when I came here, were a
curiosity. One end was fixed on a pivot in the wooden abutment, and the other
was placed upon a large square box or boat. When it was necessary to open the
bridge for the passage of vessels, a chain, fastened on or near the shore on
the side of the pier at some distance from it, was wound up by a capstan on
the float-end of the bridge, thus opening it. It was closed in the same manner
by a chain on the opposite side of it. Our present excellent pivot bridges
were, if I mistake not, introduced, and I think invented, by Mr. City
Superintendent Harper," about 1850, or soon after that year.
--------
lature for a City Charter, and to adopt a draft to accompany such application.
The district meeting was held, and the following delegates chosen:
From 1st district—Ebenezer Peck, William Stuart, E. W. Casey.
From 2d district—J. D. Caton, ----- Chadwick, W. Forsyth.
From 3d district—John H. Kinzie, W. L. Newberry, T. W. Smith.
The above delegates met with the Board on Friday evening, November 25th, at
the Trustees' room, opposite the Mansion House, and it was resolved "that it
is expedient for the citizens of Chicago to petition the Legislature for a
City Charter. Also, that a committee of five, consisting of one delegate from
each district, and two members of the Board, be appointed by the chair to
prepare a draft of a City Charter, to be submitted to this convention.
Whereupon the chair (E. B. Williams) appointed Messrs. E. Peck, District No.
1, J. D. Caton, District No. 2, and T. W. Smith, District No. 3, and from the
Trustees, Messrs. Bolles and Ogden. The committee met again, Dec. 9th, and
through E. Peck, Esq., presented their draft of a City Charter. After some
discussion and amendment, it was adopted for presentation to the citizens, and
500 copies were ordered to be printed.
The charter was passed by the Legislature, and approved March 4th, 1837. The
city of Chicago is therefore not "out of her teens." She is a buxom maiden of
only SEVENTEEN summers, and what she is destined to be when she becomes a
matron of sixty, we dare not venture to predict.
The first election for city officers was held on the 1st Tuesday of May, 1837.
It resulted as follows:
Wm. B. Ogden, Mayor.
J. C. Goodhue, Alderman 1st Ward.
J. S. C. Hogan, " 2d "
J. D. Caton, " 3d "
A. Pierce, " 4th "
B. Ward, " 5th "
S. Jackson, " 6th "
John Shrigley was elected High Constable, and at the first meeting of the
Council, May 3d, 1837, N. B. Judd, Esq., was elected City Attorney. The total
number of votes, as appears from the canvass for Mayor, then in the city, was
703.
Males and Females, 21 and over - 2,645
Males and Females over 5 and under 21 years - 831
Males and Females under 5 years of age - 513
Total white - 3,989
Total black - 77
Total - 4,066
Sailors belonging to vessels owned here - 104
Grand Total - 4,170
The census shows that there were:
4 Warehouses, 19 Grocery and Provision Stores, 398 Dwellings, 29 Dry Goods
Stores, 10 Taverns, 5 Hardware Stores, 26 Groceries, 3 Drug Stores, 17
Lawyers' Offices, 5 Churches.
Transcription Part 2
LIST OF MAYORS.
1837—W. B. Ogden.
1838—B. S. Morris.
1839—Benj. W. Raymond.
1840—A. Lloyd.
1841—Francis C. Sherman.
1842—Benj. W. Raymond.
1843—Augustus Garrett.
1844—A. S. Sherman.
1845—Augustus Garrett.
1846—John P. Chapin.
1847—James Curtiss.
1848—James H. Woodworth.
1849—James H. Woodworth.
1850—James Curtiss.
1851—Walter S. Gurnee.
1852—Walter S. Gurnee.
1853—C. M. Gray.
1854—L. L. Milliken.
We left the history of the Illinois and Michigan canal at the
laying out of
the town of Chicago in 1829, by the Canal Commissioners. Nothing
effectual was
clone till the special session of the Legislature in 1835-6,
when the canal
board was reorganized, and an act was passed authorizing a loan
of half a
million of dollars to construct the canal. Ground was broken at
Bridgeport, on
the fourth of July, 1836.
At the session of the Legislature in 1836-7, the State entered
upon a splendid
scheme of "internal improvements." The State was completely
chequered with
railroad projects, and many millions were squandered. The total
length of the
roads to be at once completed was some thirteen hundred miles,
and five
millions of dollars were expended in locating and grading them.
Amid the
general financial embarrassment which followed those years of
madness and
folly, the credit of the State went down, and bankruptcy and a
general
suspension of the public works were the consequence. In 1841 the
total State
indebtedness amounted to fifteen million's of dollars.
It is worthy of remark, however, that the only mistake the
statesmen of that
period made, was to embark the State in a general system of
internal
improvements, and in addition to this, their plans were in
advance of the
times in which they lived. Twenty years will accomplish by
private enterprise
for the State of Illinois much more than the statesmen of 1836-7
expected to
realize. Extravagant as their schemes then appeared, in another
year we shall
have more than twice as many miles of railroad in operation as
their plan
embraced. They deserve, therefore, more credit than they have
been accustomed
to receive, for the result has shown that their calculations
were based upon a
proper appreciation of the immense resources of our glorious
Prairie State.
But to return to the canal. The funds borrowed for the purpose
of completing
the canal were kept separate; but it shared the fate of being in
bad company,
and all work was abandoned in 1842. The contractors had large
claims against
the State, and in 1843 a law was passed to settle the claims of
the
contractors and liquidate the damages, provided the sum should
not exceed two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The summit level of the
canal, extending
from Bridgeport to Lockport, a distance of twenty-eight miles,
is only from
six to eight feet above the level of the Lake, and as originally
planned, this
level was to be fed from the Lake, thereby practically making a
southern
outlet to Lake Michigan by the Illinois and Mississippi rivers.
The depth and
width of the canal gave it a capacity sufficient to admit the
passage of large
sail vessels. About one-half of the summit level was completed
in accordance
with these plans before the work was abandoned in 1842.*
-----------------
* It should have been stated in the text that the summit was
supplied with
water in the spring and wet seasons, mainly from the Calumet
through
the "Sag," by damming the river near Blue Island. To provide for
any
deficiency, pumping works of great capacity were built at
Bridgeport, which,
when the supply from the Calumet failed, not only furnished the
canal with
water, but pumping the stagnant liquid from the river rendered
it pure, for
its place was supplied from the lake.
By 1865 the population of Chicago had increased to 178,900; the
city had
inaugurated and completed an extensive system of sewers, most of
which emptied
into the river. For perhaps nine or ten months of the year it
had no current,
and hence it became the source of the foulest smells that a
suffering people
were ever forced to endure; and, besides, it was evident that
something must
be done effectively to cleanse it, or the city would soon become
so unhealthy
as to be uninhabitable.
Accordingly, on the 15th and 16th of February, 1865, the
Legislature passed
Acts authorizing the city of Chicago to lower the summit of the
canal, as
originally proposed, so that the pure waters of Lake Michigan
would flow
south, thus cleansing the river and dispensing with the dam on
the Calumet and
the pumping works at Bridgeport. Authority was granted to borrow
$2,000,000 to
do this work, and with Col. R. B. Mason, of this city, and Wm.
Gooding, of
Lockport, added to the Board of Public Works, the work of
lowering the summit
of the canal was commenced, and it was completed June 15th,
1871. On that day
the hoisting of the gates at Bridgeport was made known
throughout the city by
the merry ringing of the bells, and joy pervaded all circles and
all classes
of citizens.
Thenceforward Lake Michigan has contributed a portion of its
waters to the
Illinois river, and thence it has flowed on to the Gulf of
Mexico.
On Tuesday, July 25th, the Common, Council, with a large number
of guests,
made an excursion to Lockport—other fluids besides pure Lake
Michigan water
contributing largely to the hilarity of the party. The South
Branch, except in
exceptional cases, has since been filled with pure water; and
the North Branch
is to be made so, by the Fullerton Avenue conduit.
The State reserved the right to resume control of the canal at
any time, by
paying, the city the money.
--------------------------
In the session of the Legislature of 1843-4, a bill providing
for the
completion of the canal on the "shallow cut" was passed, the
substance of
which was, that the holders of the canal bonds should advance
$1,600,000 to
complete the work. The canal lands yet remaining unsold, and the
canal itself,
with the revenue to be derived from it, were placed in the hands
of three
trustees, two of whom were chosen by the, bondholders, and one
by the State.
There were in all about two hundred and thirty thousand acres of
land, and
several hundred lots in the cities of Chicago, Ottawa, LaSalle,
and the towns
along the line placed in the hands of the trustees.
The money was advanced by the bondholders, and the canal was
completed and
went into operation in the spring of 1848. It gave an impetus to
the commerce
and prosperity of Chicago far beyond the anticipations of its
most sanguine
friends, and since then Chicago has grown very rapidly, having
more than
trebled her population in the short space of six years.
These lands have been offered for sale every six months, and
owing to the
enhanced value which the rapid increase of population in this
part of the
State has given them, the loan of one million six hundred
thousand dollars was
all paid off last fall, and quite a large amount is still due on
the lands
sold, and no inconsiderable portion of them is still in the
hands of the
Trustees. The finances of the State, as shown in the recent
message of His
Excellency, Governor Matteson, are in a very prosperous
condition. Though the
debt is still large, without imposing any
-----------------------------------
it had expended in deepening the canal. In accordance with that
noble spirit
which seemed to pervade the whole world, immediately after our
great fire on
the 9th of October, 1871, the Legislature, on October 20th,
passed a law to
refund to the city the amount she had expended, (in all,
$2,955,340 principal
and interest,) and to again assume the control and ownership of
the canal. In
her dire necessity after the fire, this was a great boon to the
city. It need
only be added here that the National and State Governments are
building a
series of locks and dams on the Illinois river, which, when
completed a very
few years hence, will give us one of the finest water lines of
transit in the
world. The connection between the Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico,
and also with
the Mississippi and all its tributaries, will be complete.
-----------------------------------
additional burdens upon our citizens, it will all be paid off in
a few years.
It is worthy of special remark, that when the New Constitution
was formed in
1847, a clause was introduced in it by which, if approved by the
people, a
special tax of two mills upon the dollar was levied, and was to
be applied to
extinguishing the principal of this debt. The people in 1848
voted upon this
provision separately, and adopted it by ten thousand majority.
This, so far as
we know, is the first instance in which the people of a State
deliberately
taxed themselves in order to pay an old and burdensome debt. It
is a fine
compliment to the integrity of the citizens of Illinois, and has
done much to
establish her character in commercial circles, both in this
country and in
Europe.
There are some interesting facts in reference to the topography
of Chicago,
only a few of which we have space to give. On the south side of
the river
there were two sloughs between the Garrison and "the point." The
first emptied
into the river at the foot of State street. It ran a little
north of the
Sherman House, crossing Clark street near the Post Office,
thence crossing
Lake street nearly in front of tbe Tremont House. The "old
Tremont House" was
on the northwest corner of Lake and Dearborn streets, and as
late as 1834
sportsmen would sit in the door of the "Tremont" and shoot ducks
in the
slough. The other slough entered the river at the foot of
LaSalle street. The
store built in 1831-2 by P. F. W. Peck, Esq., at the southeast
corner of
LaSalle and Water streets, was situated on a "high point of
land," formed by a
bend in this slough. Poles were laid across these sloughs, on
which the people
going east and west crossed for want of a better bridge.
The dwelling now occupied by Mrs. Wright, at the corner of
Michigan avenue and
Madison street, was built by John Wright, Esq., in 1839. Then it
was "way out
of town in the prairie." Randolph and Washington streets were
not
even "turnpiked," and there was nothing to indicate their "local
habitation"
save only here and there a few stakes driven eight years
previous by Surveyor
Thompson and his assistants. There were a few scattered houses
along Lake and
South Water streets.
The first deed on record is made by Governor Reynolds, in behalf
of the State,
to Robert Kinzie, assignee of B. B. Kercheval, and conveys lots
5 and 6, block
29, Original Town, for the sum of $109. It is recorded December
2,1831, by R.
J. Hamilton, Recorder. The first will on record is that of
Alexander Wolcott,
filed April 27, 1831, before R. J. Hamilton, Judge of Probate.
It is a feature of our city, more noticed by strangers than by
ourselves, who
are accustomed to it, that we are a community of workers. Every
man apparently
has his head and hands full, and seems to be hurried along by an
irresistible
impulse that allows him neither rest nor leisure. An amusing
evidence of this
characteristic of Chicago occurs in connection with the first
census of the
city, taken July 1st, 1837, when the occupation, as well as
names and
residences of every citizen were duly entered. In the record of
the population
of four thousand one hundred and seventy, among the names of
professors,
mechanics, artisans and laborers, appears, in unenviable
singularity, the
entry, "Richard Harper, loafer," the only representative of the
class at that
time in the city. From this feeble ancestry the descendants have
been few and
unimportant; and we believe there is not a city in the Union
where the
proportion of vagabonds and loafers is so small as in Chicago.*
We might extend our sketches at pleasure, but we have already
greatly exceeded
the limits we at first assigned them. It is not yet quite
seventeen years
since the city government was first organized. Then it contained
only four
thousand one hundred and seventy inhabitants; now it has over
sixty thousand.
Then there was not a canal, railroad or plank road leading out
of
-------------------------------
* It gives me pleasure to state, that I have since learned that
Harper was
very respectably connected in the city of Baltimore; that he
made his way back
to his native place, and that he was one of the six
Washingtonian reformers
who started the great temperance reformation which spread all
over the country
sometime about the year 1840, and subsequently. A great many
inebriates were
reformed, and a great deal of permanent good was the result.
-------------------------------
the city, and only three years previous there was but one mail
from the East
per week, and that was brought from Nileson horseback. The
changes which have
been wrought in seventeen years are truly amazing.
The question naturally arises, what will the next seventeen
years accomplish?
With less than the ratio of her past increase of population from
the time she
first became a city, she will, in 1871, contain more than half a
million of
people. Few, perhaps, would dare to predict such a result; but
let us look at
a few facts, and leave each one to draw his own conclusion. We
are now in
direct railroad connection with all the Atlantic cities from
Portland to
Baltimore. Five, and at most eight years, will extend the circle
to New
Orleans. By that time also we shall shake hands with the rich
copper and iron
mines of Lake Superior, both by canal and railroad; and long ere
another
seventeen years have passed away, we shall have a great National
Railroad from
Chicago to Puget's Sound, with a branch to San Francisco.
Situated in the
centre of one of the most extensive and the richest agricultural
regions in
the world; at the head of our magnificent inland seas, and
holding the key to
their commerce on each side for fifteen hundred miles; with the
certainty that
she must become the great central city of the Continent, where
the productions
of Asia, Europe and America must concentrate for exchange and
distribution
throughout the Mississippi Valley, with unrivalled facilities
for
manufactories of all kinds; and with railroads centering here
from every
principal city upon the Continent—he must be dull indeed who can
predict
anything but a glorious future for the Garden City. We have
given but the
outlines of the picture; time, we are satisfied, will fill it up
with colors
more vivid and glorious than the most sanguine imagination would
dare now to
contemplate. The results of the past seventeen years are now
matters of
history, and we leave the editors of the Democratic Press in
1871 to prepare
the record—may be we be spared to do it—of what the next
seventeen years shall
accomplish.
1853.
HISTORICAL AND COMMERCIAL STATISTICS, MANUFACTURES, BANKING,
ETC.
The River and Harbor Convention, which commenced its sessions in
this city on
the 5th of July, 1847, gave the second great and permanent
impulse to Chicago.
After the disastrous speculating mania of 1836—7, the city
gradually sunk in
public favor till 1842, when the lowest point was reached, and
business began
to revive. The progress of the city, however, was slow, till its
advantages
were in some measure appreciated and made known by the
intelligent statesmen
and business men from every part of the Union, who were present
at that
Convention. To the editors who were present is Chicago specially
indebted for
extending a knowledge of her commercial position. The opening of
the Illinois
and Michigan Canal, in the spring of 1848, gave a marked impetus
to our trade,
and tended still farther to attract the attention of the country
to the Garden
City. On the 22d of January, 1850, the Galena Railroad was
opened forty-two
and a half miles to Elgin, and in a very few months demonstrated
the important
fact that, owing to the cheapness with which railroads could be
constructed in
Illinois, they would pay a large dividend to the stockholders.
Eastern
capitalists saw that the Mississippi Valley was the place to
make profitable
investments, and in 1851 the charter of the Illinois Central
Railroad turned
the attention of the whole Union to Chicago, and made her future
pre-eminence
no longer doubtful. The completion of the Michigan Southern and
Michigan
Central Railroads in 1852, added much to the prosperity of the
city; and the
commencement of the Rock Island Railroad in the spring of the
same year, its
rapid progress and immense business, and the fact that Chicago
is one of the
greatest railroad centres in the country, have all tended to
increase our
population at the rate of fifty-seven per cent, during the past
year—a ratio
never before witnessed in the United States, except in
California.
With these improvements there has been a corresponding change in
the business
of the city. In the fall of 1847, when we first saw Chicago, the
business of
our merchants was confined mainly to the retail trade. The
produce that was
shipped from this port was all brought to the city by teams.
Some of them
would come a hundred and fifty miles. Farmers would bring in a
load of grain
and take back supplies for themselves and their neighbors. Often
has it
happened that they would get "sloughed," or break their wagons;
and between
the expense of repairs and hotel charges, they would find
themselves in debt
when they got home. During the "business season" the city would
be crowded
with teams. We have seen Water and Lake streets almost
impassable for hours
together. The opening of the canal in 1848 made considerable
change in the
appearance of the city, and when the Galena Railroad was
finished to Elgin,
the difference was very striking. The most of those old familiar
teams ceased
to visit us, and we heard some few merchants gravely express the
opinion that
the canal and railroads would ruin the city. The difference they
have made is
simply that between a small and a large business; between a
retail and a
wholesale trade. One of the principal Jewelry and Gold and
Silver
establishments in the city in 1845 did a business of $3,000;
last year the
same house sold goods to the amount of $120,000. Drug stores,
whose sales
eight years ago were from five to six thousand dollars, now do a
business of
from fifty to a hundred thousand. The Hardware, Dry Goods and
Grocery business
will show similar, and some of them still more remarkable
results. We have
made repeated efforts to get at the exact figures in each
department of trade,
that we might make comparisons between the last and preceding
years, but we
are sorry to say that many of our merchants are very reluctant
to give us any
figures, lest the extent of the commerce of Chicago should
become known, and
merchants from other cities should come here and divide their
profits. A more
narrow-minded, injurious policy, in our judgment, could not be
adopted.
The transactions in produce, since the opening of the canal and
railroads,
make but little show in the streets, but they are immense. We
can name five
houses, each of whose business foots up to from eight hundred
thousand to a
million and a half of dollars per year. To see these gentlemen
in the evening,
quietly chatting on the state of the markets, at the Tremont,
one would hardly
suspect that their purchases for the day had amounted to five or
ten, and
sometimes perhaps to fifty thousand dollars.
We have some interesting facts and figures to present, and
commence with
REAL ESTATE.
The appreciation in the value of real estate in Chicago is truly
amazing. To
those who have always lived in towns and cities on the seaboard,
that
were "finished" before they were born, the facts we are about to
give will be
scarcely credible. They are, however, plain, sober truths,
which, if any one
doubts, he can verify at his leisure. Real estate in Chicago now
has a
positive business value, below which it will never be likely to
sink, unless
some great calamity should befall the whole country.
Like all Western cities, Chicago has had her reverses. In
1835-6, real estate
had a fictitious value. The whole country was mad with the
spirit of
speculation. When the crash came, in the latter part of 1837,
hundreds in this
city found themselves bankrupt. Real estate went down to a very
low figure,
reaching "bottom" in 1842.
Since then, it has been steadily rising with the increasing
prosperity of the
country, and if the judgment of our most cautious, far-seeing
business men can
be trusted, it will never be any less. That judgment is based
upon an array of
facts, the accuracy and influence of which, upon the growth of
Chicago, eannot
be doubted. In only one year from the first of January next, we
shall have
four thousand miles of railroad centering in this city, counting
in most cases
their extension only in a single State beyond our own; and what
is of more
importance, they penetrate one of the finest agricultural
regions that can be
found in any country. By that time the Sault Ste. Marie Canal
will be done—
opening to our commerce the rich mines of Lake Superior. The
iron and the
copper of that region will here meet the coal from our State,
and build up the
most extensive manufactories upon the Continent. One of the
finest canals in
the world connects us with the Illinois and Mississippi rivers;
and in
addition to- all this, Chicago holds the key to the commerce of
our
magnificent lakes, giving us a coasting trade, when Lake
Superior is opened to
us by the Ste. Marie Canal, of three thousand miles. The most
sagacious
statesmen, and the ablest commercial men in this country and in
Europe, have,
therefore, a broad basis for the opinion that Chicago is soon to
take rank
among the three largest cities, and ere long as the second city
upon the
American Continent.
The rise in real estate, and the prices at which it is now sold
in view of
such facts, are easily explained. The following table, made up
from the
records of the original sales in this city, will be found very
interesting.
The last column, showing the present value of property, is the
average of the
prices at which they would now sell, as given us by three of our
oldest and
most reliable real estate houses in this city. Many of the
owners, we presume,
would not sell at these figures, and we have no doubt should any
of this
property be put in the market, it would readily command at least
the estimated
value given in the table. The price of "the lands" may appear
enormous, but
four of the parcels are now in the thickly inhabited parts of
the city, and
the valuation is probably below rather than above the mark.
DESCRIPTION ORIGINAL
PRESENT
FIRST PURCHASER OF LOTS. BLK PRICE. VALUE.
Sept. 27, 1830.
B. B. Kercheval. Nos 5 and 6 29 $109.00 $
21,300
Mark Beaubien. 3 and 4 31 102.00
108,000
Thos. Hartzell. 1, 8 21, 29 115.00
62,700
do 7 29 35.00
10,000
Edm'nd Roberts & Peter Menard 4 29 100.00
13,000
Edm'nd Roberts 2 18 45.00
40,000
William Jewett 5 and 6 28 21.00
17,000
James Kinzie. 5,6,7 and 8 12)
do 2,3,5,7&8 21) 418.00
131,000
do 8 and 5 41)
J. B. Beaubien. 7 16)
do 1,2,7 and 8 17)
do 1 18) 346.00
450,000
do 6 35)
do 3 and 4 36)
John Kinzie. 8 20)
do 5 and 6 32) 119.00
163,000
do 2 2)
do 2,7 and 8 5)
Alex. Wolcott. 12345678 1 685.00
128,000
Thomas Ryan. 2 10 42.00
30,000
Sept. 29, 1830.
Stephen Mack. 7 and 8 43 53.00
57,000
April 3, 1832.
Thos. J.V. Owen 5 9 39.00
40,000
Oliver Newberry 4 16 78.00
39,000
do 4 17 100.00
46,000
Jesse B. Browne 3 20 50.00
28,000
James Kinzie. 8 11 34.00
18,000
P. F. W. Peck. 4 18 78.00
42,500
April 5. 1832.
T. J. V. Owen & 5 10)
R.J. Hamilton 8 11) 170.00
83,300
John Noble. 1 56 60.00
18,000
do 6 18)
do 3 10) 80.00
100,000
Hugh Walker. 5 31 61.00
35,000
Sept. 3, 1832.
O. Goss, Washington Co Vt 2 56 70.00
18,000
Dec. 4, 1832.
Calvin Rawley. 4 38 53.00
50,000
FIRST
PURCHASER
ORIGINAL PRICE PRESENT VALUE
Sept 12, 1830. NO. ACRES.
Thos. Hartzell, W. Hf. N.E. qr. Sec. 9, T. 39 N., Range 14 E:
80 124.00 800,000
Edmund Roberts and Benj. B. Kercheval, W. hf. N.W. qr. Sec. 9,
T. 39, R 14 E:
80 100.00 400,000
Sept 28, 1830.
James Kinzie, E. hf. N.W. qr. Sec. 9, T. 39 N., R. 14:
80 140.00 600,000
Sept 29, 1830.
J. B. Beaubien, N. hf. N.E. qr. Sec. 9, T. 9N. R.14 E: 84 98-
100 424.90 85,000
J. B. Beaubien, N.W. frac. N.W. qr. Sec. 9, T. 39 N., R. 14 E:
107 66-
100 638.30 132,000
$4,490.20 $3,765,800
There is, we believe, but one of the above lots, and only a
fraction of that,
which is now in the hands of the original purchaser. That is the
lot owned by
P. F. W. Peck, Esq., and in reality he was not the first
purchaser, for it is
the same lot bought by Mr. Peck of Mr. Walker—the receipt for
which was quoted
in the "History of Chicago." That receipt was recognized by the
Commissioner,
and the deed was made directly to Mr. Peck.
Our citizens have all noticed the splendid drug store of J. H.
Reed & Co., No.
144 Lake street. The day it was opened, October 28, 1851, we
stood in front of
the store, conversing with the owner of the building, Jeremiah
Price, Esq.
Pointing to one of the elegant windows, said Mr. Price: "I gave
$100 in New
York for that centre pane of French plate glass. That is exactly
what I paid
Mr. J. Noble for this lot, eighty feet front, on a part of which
the store
stands, when I purchased it in 1833." That lot cannot now be
bought for
$64,000. Wolcott's Addition, on the North side, was bought in
1830 for $130.
It is now worth considerably over one and a quarter millions of
dollars.
Walter L. Newberry, Esq., bought the forty acres which forms his
addition to
Chicago, of Thomas Hartzell, in 1833, for $1,062. It is now
worth half a
million of dollars, and what is fortunate for Mr. Newberry, he
still owns by
far the largest part of the property. So late as 1834, one-half
of Kinzie's
addition, all of Wolcott's addition, and all of block 1,
Original Town, were
sold for $20,000. They are now worth, at a low estimate,
$3,000,000. Any
number of similar instances might be given of the immense
appreciation of real
estate in Chicago.
From the great appreciation which these figures show, many may
be led to
suppose that no more money can be made on real estate in
Chicago. Exactly the
reverse is true. As compared with their original cost, lots near
the centre of
the city can not be expected to appreciate so rapidly as in
years past; but
that they will steadily advance, there can scarcely be a doubt.
Let any
business man study carefully the facts contained in these
articles; let him
remember that within the lifetime of thousands who read these
pages Chicago
will contain her hundreds of thousands of people; and then let
him calculate,
if he has the courage, what real estate will then be worth in
the commercial
centre of the Mississippi Valley.
The following table exhibits the total valuation of real and
personal property
in Chicago, as taken from the Assessor's books, for a series of
years. It must
be remembered, however, that property is assessed at far below
its real value:
YEAR. VALUATN
1839 $1,829,420
1840 1,864,205
1841 1,888,160
1842 2,325,240
1843 2,250,735
1844 3,166,945
1845 3,669,124
1846 5,071,402
1847 6,189,385
1848 9,986,000
1849 7,617,102
1850 8,101,000
1851 9,431,826
1852 12,035,037
1853 22,929,637
The following shows the assessed value of the different kinds of
property for
the last year. The lands are within the city limits, but are not
yet divided
into lots:
Lands $ 5,481,030
Lots 12,997,977
Personal Property 4,450,630
Total $22,929,637
It will be noticed that the value of property has nearly doubled
in the year
1853. This fact corresponds very well with the increase of
population, that
being fifty-seven per cent.
CHURCHES.
We stated in our History that the Methodists were the pioneers
among all
religious sects in Chicago. They were represented here in
1831-2-3, by the
veteran Missionary preacher, Jesse Walker. The first quarterly
meeting was
held here in the fall of 1833, in Watkins' school-house. The
building stood on
the southwest corner of Clark and Old North Water streets. There
were present
at that meeting—John Sinclair, presiding elder; Father Walker,
missionary;
William See and William Whitehead,-local preachers; Chas.
Wisencraft, Mrs. R.
J. Hamilton and Mrs. Harmon. In the spring of 1834 the first
regular class was
formed. Father Walker had previously built a log church at "The
Point," which
had been occupied for holding meetings for a year or two. Soon
after the class
was formed in the spring of 1834, a small frame church was built
upon North
Water street, between Dearborn and Clark streets. The lot on
which the church
now stands, corner of Clark and Washington streets, was
purchased in 1836, and
in the summer of 1838 the church was moved across the river on
scows, and
placed upon the lot. It was enlarged several times, to
accommodate the
increasing congregation. The present church was built in the
summer of 1846.
The First Presbyterian is the oldest church in the city. It was
organized on
the 26th of June, 1833, by its first pastor, Rev. Jeremiah
Porter, now of
Green Bay. Mr. Porter was chaplain of a detachment of U. S.
troops, who came
here from Green Bay early in that year. When organized, it
consisted of twenty-
five members of the Garrison. The names of the citizens who
united with it
were:
JOHN WRIGHT,
PHILO CARPENTER,
ELDERS
Rufus Brown.
Mrs. Elizabeth Brown.
John S. Wright.
Mary Taylor.
J. H. Poor.
E.Clark.
Mrs. Cynthia Brown.
Ten churches have since been organized in whole or in part from
this church.
It is now in a very flourishing condition under the pastoral
care of Rev. H.
Curtis.
The first Catholic church in Chicago was built by Rev. Mr.
Schoffer, in the
years 1833-4. It was located somewhere in State street. It now
stands in the
rear of St. Mary's Cathedral, and is used by the Sisters of
Mercy as a school
room. St. Mary's is the oldest Catholic church in the city. It
was opened for
divine service on the 25th of December, 1843. Its pastors then
were Rev'ds
Fischer and Saint Pailais, now Bishop of Vincennes. The house
was completed by
the late Bishop Quarter, and consecrated by him December 5th,
1845.
St. James is the oldest Episcopal church in the city. It was
organized in
1834. The following were the first members:
Peter Johnson.
Mrs. P. Johnson.
Mrs. Juliette A. Kinzie (wife of J. H. Kinzie, Esq.)
Mrs. Francis W. Magill.
Mrs. Nancy Hallam.
Mrs. Margaret Helm.
The first Baptist church was organized by Rev. A. B. Freeman, on
the 19th of
October, 1833. The following were its first members:
Rev. A.B. Freeman.
Willard Jones.
S. T. Jackson.
Ebon Crane.
Martin D. Harmon.
Samantha Harmon.
Peter Moore.
Lucinda Jackson.
Nath'l Carpenter.
Betsey Crane.
John K. Sargents.
Hannah C. Freeman.
Peter Warden.
Susannah Rice.
The first church erected by this society was built on North
Water street—the
precise time we cannot give. In 1843-4 the society built a large
brick house
on the lot now owned by them on the south side of the public
square. It was
burnt down in October, 1852. A new church is now in process of
erection, which
will cost at least $25,000.
The first Sunday School in Chicago was established by Philo
Carpenter, Esq.,
and Capt. Johnson, in August, 1832. Mr. Carpenter, in company
with G. W. Snow,
Esq., arrived here on the 30th of July, 1832. The school was
first held in a
frame, not then enclosed, which stood on ground a short distance
northeast of
the present residence of Mrs. John Wright, on Michigan avenue.
It is now
washed away. The school consisted of thirteen children. It was
held during the
fall of that year and the next season above the store of P. F.
W. Peck, Esq.,
at the southeast corner of LaSalle and Water streets. Rev. Mr.
Porter also
preached in the same place. In the fall of 1832, Charles Butler,
Esq., of New
York, presented the Sunday School with a library, and it soon
increased to
forty or fifty members.
The first Congregational church was organized on the 22d of May,
1851, on the
west side of the river.
The following is the present list of churches and ministers in
Chicago:
PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL.
TRINITY CHURCH—Madison, near Clark street; Rev. W. A. Smallwood,
D.D., rector.
ST. JAMES' CHURCH—corner of Cass and Illinois streets; R. H.
Clarkson, rector.
CHURCH OF THE ATONEMENT—corner of Washington and Green streets,
West side;
Dudley Chase, rector.
ST. PAUL'S FREE CHAPEL—Sherman, near Harrison street; J.
McNamara, rector.
GRACE CHURCH—corner of Dearborn and Madison streets; C. E.
Swope, rector.
ST. ANSGARIUS CHURCH—corner of Indiana and Franklin streets;
Gustavus Unonius,
rector.
PRESBYTERIAN.
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH—corner Clark and Washington streets;
Harvey Curtis,
pastor.
SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH—corner Wabash Avenue and Washington
streets; R. W.
Patterson, pastor.
THIRD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH—Union street, between Randolph and
Washington
streets, West side; E. W. Moore, pastor.
NORTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH—corner Illinois and Wolcott streets,
North side; R.
H. Richardson, pastor.
REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH—Fulton st., corner Clinton street,
West side; A.
M. Stewart, pastor.
CONGREGATIONAL.
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH—Washington street, between Halsted
and Union
streets, West side.
PLYMOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH—corner Dearborn and Madison
streets; N. H.
Eggleston, pastor.
NEW ENGLAND CHURCH—corner Wolcott and Indiana streets; J. C.
Holbrook, pastor.
SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH—There is preaching regularly by Rev.
E. F.
Dickenson, at the church near American Car Company's Works, at
half past 10
o'clock A. M., every Sabbath. Also at 3 P. M., at the New
Congregational
Meeting House, corner of Clark and Taylor streets, near the
Southern Michigan
Railroad Depot.
LUTHERAN.
NORWEGIAN CHURCH—Superior, between Wells and LaSalle streets;
Paul Andersen,
pastor.
GERMAN CHURCH—LaSalle, between Indiana and Ohio streets; J. A.
Fisher, pastor.
GERMAN CHURCH—Indiana street, near Wells; Augustus Selle,
pastor.
BAPTIST.
FIRST CHURCH—Burned down, now worshipping in the old
Presbyterian Church, on
Clark, near Madison street; J. C. Burroughs, pastor.
TABERNACLE CHURCH—Desplaines, between Washington and Madison
streets, West
side; A. Kenyon, pastor.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL.
CLARK STREET CHURCH—corner Clark and Washington streets; J.
Clark, pastor.
INDIANA STREET—between Clark and Dearborn streets; S.Bolles,
pastor.
JEFFERSON STREET—between Madison and Monroe streets, West side;
E. H. Gammon,
pastor.
OWEN STREET—corner Owen and Peoria streets, West side; S. Guyer,
pastor.
CLINTON STREET—between Polk and Taylor streets, West side.
HARRISON STREET—near State street; F. A. Reed, pastor.
GERMAN—Indiana street, between Wells and LaSalle streets; C.
Winz, pastor.
GERMAN—Van Buren street, corner of Griswold, A. Kellener,
pastor.
METHODIST PROTESTANT.
METHODIST PROTESTANT—corner of Washington and Jefferson streets;
Lewis R.
Ellis, pastor.
CATHOLIC.
CATHEDRAL OF ST. MARY'S—corner of Madison street and Wabash
avenue; Patrie
Thomas McElhearne and James Fitzgerald, pastors.
ST. PATRICK'S—corner Randolph and Desplaines street; Patrick J.
McLaughlin,
pastor.
HOLY NAME OF JESUS—corner Wolcott and Superior streets, North
side; Jeremiah
Kinsella, pastor.
ST. PETER'S—(German)—Washington, between Franklin and Wells
street; G. W.
Plathe, pastor.
ST. JOSEPH'S—(German)—corner Cass street and Chicago avenue,
North side;
Anthony Kopp, pastor.
ST. LOUIS—(French)—Clark, between Adams and Jackson streets; I.
A. Lebel,
pastor.
ST. MICHAEL'S—corner North avenue and New Church street; E.
Kaiser, pastor.
ST. FRANCIS ASSISIUM—West side; J. B. Weicamp, pastor.
NEW JERUSALEM-SWEDENBORGIAN.
PLACE OF WORSHIP corner of Dearborn and Randolph streets; J. R.
Hibbard,
pastor.
UNITARIAN.
UNITARIAN CHURCH—North side of Washington street, between Clark
and Dearborn
streets; R. R. Shippen, pastor.
UNIVERSALIST.
UNIVERSALIST CHURCH—South side of Washington street, between
Clark and
Dearborn streets; L. B. Mason, pastor.
JEWISH.
SYNAGOGUE—Clark street, between Adams and Quincy streets; G.
Schneidacher,
pastor.
COLLEGES, SCHOOLS, ETC.
The Common Schools of Chicago are the pride and the glory of the
city. The
school fund is ample, and every child in the city can obtain the
elements of a
good English education free of charge. We have now six large
Public School
edifices, two in each division of the city. From three to seven
hundred
children are daily gathered in each.
Besides these, we have a large number of private schools and
seminaries, where
those who wish can educate their children.
We have an excellent Commercial College, at the head of which is
Judge Bell.
The Catholics have a College, and the Methodists are also about
to establish
and endow a University. We have also a most excellent Medical
College.
The educational facilities of Chicago may therefore be regarded
as of a very
high order.
BANKS, BANKING, ETC.
Had we space to write out the history of Banking in Illinois,
and especially
in Chicago, it would present some interesting topics for the
contemplation of
the financier. We have had two State Banks. The first was
established early in
the history of the State, and though the most extravagant
expectations were
entertained of its influence for good, its bills soon
depreciated very
rapidly, and for the want of silver change, they were torn in
several
fragments and passed for fractions of a dollar. It soon became
entirely
worthless. The second State Bank was chartered by the session of
the
Legislature in the winter of 1834-5. In July of 1835, it was
determined to
establish a branch here; but it was not opened till December of
that year. In
the financial embarrassments of 1837, the bank stopped specie
payment, but
continued business till 1841, when it finally suspended. For the
ten
succeeding years we had no banks of any kind in the State. These
were dark
days for Illinois. She annually paid banking institutions of
other States
immense sums of money in the shape of interest for all the
currency she used.
Tired of this system, a general banking law, modeled after that
of New York,
was passed, and on the 3d of January, 1853, the Marine Bank in
this city
commenced business. The law is regarded as rather too stringent
by our
bankers, and hence they do not procure bills for a tithe of the
capital they
employ. The following table shows the number of banks in this
city, and the
amount of bills they have in circulation:
BANKS, BILLS IN CIRC'N.
Exchange Bank of H. A. Tucker & Co, $50,000
Marine Bank, 215,000
Bank of America, 50,000
Chicago Bank, 150,000
Commercial Bank, 55,000
Farmers' Bank, 50,000
Union Bank, 75,000
Merchants' and Mechanics' Bank, 54,700
City Bank, 60,000
The capital of these banks is, in some instances, half a dozen
times the
amount of their circulation. The banking capital actually
employed to do the
business of the city must amount to several millions, and yet so
rapid is the
increase of trade, that money within the last six years has
never borne less
than ten per cent, interest. This is the legal rate established
by the laws of
Illinois. Most of the time money can be loaned from one to two
per cent. per
month, by those who are willing to take advantage of the
opportunities which
are constantly offering. We presume that hundreds of thousands
of dollars
could be safely invested at any time within a week or two, at
the legal rate
of interest. We have never seen the money market of Chicago
fully supplied at
the regular legal rate, viz: ten per cent, per annum.
The following is a list of the private bankers and brokers doing
business in
Chicago:
R. K. SWIFT.
J. M. ADSIT.
JONES & PATRICK.
F. G. ADAMS & Co.
SHELDON & Co.
N. C., ROE & Co.
DAVISSON, McCALLA & Co.
E. H. HUNTINGTON & Co.
GEO. SMITH & Co.
Several of these firms are doing a large business. R. K. Swift
is doing a very
extensive business in foreign exchange, and has arrangements to
draw on every
principal city in this country and Europe.*
We have tried to obtain the figures showing the actual amount of
exchange
drawn on New York and other American cities, and the cities of
Europe; but
some of our bankers, like a portion of our business men, are
unwilling to
furnish such facts, lest, as we infer, other capitalists should
send their
money here for investment.
Their narrow policy, we trust, will be of no avail in that
regard, for they
will always have as much business as they can possibly do; and
the fact that
the legal rate of interest is ten per cent., and that the money
market has
never yet been fully supplied, together with the certainty that
Chicago will
not be "finished" for the next century at least, will induce a
still larger
number of Eastern capitalists to invest their money in Chicago.
There is not
in the wide world a city that furnishes opportunities for safer
investments
than Chicago—whether the money is employed in banking
operations, or is loaned
on real estate security.
PRICE OF LABOR.
In a city growing as rapidly as Chicago, labor is always in
demand. Especially
is this true where every department of business is equally
active and
increasing. In dull times, and in cities which have passed the
culminating
point of their prosperity, master mechanics can select their
journeymen, and
do somewhat as they wish.
For
----------------
*It is a significant commentary upon the risks and instability
of banking,
that of all the banks and private bankers in Chicago in 1853,
only one, J. M.
Adsit, is now, March 1876, here, and doing the same business.
----------------
the last year or two, so great has been the demand for labor,
that those who
worked by the day or week were the real masters, for good
mechanics could
command almost any price they chose to ask.
The following table, carefully prepared, shows the price now
usually paid to
journeymen in this city. The range is large, but is not wider
than the
difference in the skill and capacity of different men in every
occupation:
EARNINGS PER WEEK AND
OCCUPATION. WAGES PER DAY FOR PIECE & JOB WORK
Blacksmiths & Iron wkrs $1.25 @ $2.00 -----
Blowers and Strikers .88 @ 1.00 -----
Butchers 1.00 @ 3.00 -----
Choppers and Packers 1.25 @ 2.00 -----
Carpenters 1.50 @ 2.00 -----
Cabinet Makers 1.00 @ 2.00 $ 9 [email protected] 00
Upholsterers ----- 9.00® 18 00
Coopers ----- 9 00®. 12 00
Day Laborers 1.00 @ 1.50 -----
Hatters ----- 12.00 @ 20.00
House Painters 1.25 @ 1.75 -----
Harness Mkrs & Saddlers ----- 6.00 @ 15.00
Masons and Plasterers 1.50 @ 2.00 -----
Marble Cutters 1.75 @ 2.00 -----
Machinists 1.00 @ 2.00 12.00 @ 18.00
Printers, comp 30c_1,000 1.67 12.00 @ 18.00
Rope Makers 1.50 -----
Ship Carpente's & Joiners 1.50 @ 2.25 -----
Ship Caulkers 2.25 @ 2.50 -----
Stone Cutters 1.75 @ 2.00 -----
Shoemakers ----- 6.00 @ 12.00
Trunk Makers ----- 8.00 @ 15.00
Tailors ----- 7.00 @ 11.00
Cutters ----- 10.00 @ 16.00
Tanners 1.00 @ 1.25 -----
Curriers ----- 9.00 @ 12.00
Wire Workers & Weavers 1.00 @ 1.50 14.00 @ 15.00
Wagon & Carriage Mak'rs 1.25 @ 2.00 -----
Wagon & Carriage Painters 1.2 @ 2.00 -----
CHICAGO WATER WORKS
A supply of pure water is essential to the health, and therefore
to the
prosperity of any city. The citizens of Chicago have great
reason to
congratulate themselves upon the near completion of one of the
finest
specimens of engineering that can be found in any city. The
Chicago Water
Works will very soon be the pride of all our citizens. No better
water can be
found than Lake Michigan affords; and increased health and
blessings without
number will attend its introduction throughout the city.
We are indebted to E. Willard Smith, Esq., resident engineer,
for the
following description of the works:
The water is taken from Lake Michigan at the foot of Chicago
avenue. A timber
crib, twenty by forty feet, is sunk six hundred feet from shore.
From this
crib a wooden inlet pipe, thirty inches interior diameter, laid
in a trench in
the bottom of the lake, conveys the water to the pump-well. This
well is
placed under the Engine House. The end of the inlet pipe is of
iron, and bends
down to the bottom of the well, which is twenty-five feet deep,
and at
ordinary stages of the water in the lake contains fourteen feet
of water. The
pipe acts as a syphon.
The water flows by its own gravity into the well, whence it is
drawn by the
pumping engine and forced into the mains, and thence into the
reservoir in the
South Division, from which it is distributed into the
distribution pipes in
the various parts of the city.
ENGINE.
The engine is located in the main building. It was built at the
Morgan Iron
Works, in New York, and is a first class engine, low pressure,
of two hundred
horse power. Its cylinder is forty-four inches in diameter, and
has a piston
with a nine-foot stroke. The fly wheel is an immense casting of
iron, twenty-
four feet in diameter, and weighing 24,000 pounds. The working
beam is of cast
iron, thirty feet long and four feet deep. It is supported by a
hollow iron
column instead of the usual gallows frame, four feet in
diameter, and forming
also an air vessel for the condenser. There are two water pumps,
one on each
side of this centre column, of thirty-four inches bore, six-foot
stroke. These
pumps are furnished with composition valves. The boiler, which
is located in
the north wing of the building is a marine boiler of the largest
size, being
thirty feet long and nine feet in diameter, furnished with an
admirable
arrangement of flues, and possessing an extraordinary strength
of draught. The
consumption of coal by the boiler is very small, and it proves
very
economical. The engine was put up under the care and direction
of Mr. DeWitt
C. Cregier, the steam engineer of the company. The cost of the
engine was only
twenty-five thousand dollars. This engine is capable of
furnishing over three
million gallons daily, which is a supply for one hundred
thousand persons.
DUPLICATE ENGINE.
At the opposite end of the main building is a duplicate engine,
of about one-
half of the power of the other, which is kept in reserve in case
of any
breakage or accident happening to the other. This engine was
manufactured by
H. P. Moses, of this city; it is a non-condensing or
high-pressure engine. The
engine pump works horizontally, on a heavy cast-iron bed plate,
supported by
masonry. The steam cylinder is eighteen inches internal
diameter, with a
piston of six-foot stroke. The pump is double-acting, and of the
same diameter
and stroke as the steam cylinder and piston; it is placed behind
the steam
cylinder. The steam piston passes through both heads of the
steam cylinder,
one end connecting with the pump, and the other with the crank
or fly wheel.
The fly wheel is an iron casting, twelve feet in diameter.
ENGINE HOUSE.
The engine house is built of brick masonry, in the modern
Italian style. The
main building is fifty-four feet front and thirty-four feet
deep, with a wing
on each side, each forty-four feet front and thirty-four feet
deep.
The main building is carried up two stories high, making an
elevation of
thirty feet above the principal floor. The wings are one story
high.
The roof is composed of wrought iron trusses covered with zinc
plates.
In the centre of the front of the main building a tower is
constructed,
fourteen feet square at the base, and one hundred and forty feet
in height,
surrounded by an ornamental cornice of metal. This tower forms a
striking
feature of the building. It also serves as a chimney for both
boilers, and
also has a chamber in the centre, separated from the smoke
flues, in which is
placed the standing column.
RESERVOIR BUILDING.
This building is two stories high. The principal floor is placed
three feet
above the surface of the street. The exterior for the first
story, (fifteen
feet, above the principal floor,) is made of cut stone, with
rustic joints,
surmounted by a cut stone string course. The second story is
faced with
pressed brick and rustic quoins of cut stone. The architraves of
the doors and
windows are of cut stone. The main cornice is of cast iron,
projecting four
feet from the face of the wall, and supported by ornamental
cast-iron consoles.
This cornice forms a balcony, which is surrounded by an
ornamental iron
railing.
The tank is supported by a brick column and brick arches, and is
capable of
holding five hundred thousand gallons of water.
The building when completed, with the tank, will be about ninety
feet in
height. This tank is designed to hold only a night supply for
fifty thousand
inhabitants. As the population of the city increases, it is
proposed to erect
similar reservoir buildings, with tanks, etc., in each division.
The surface
of water in the tank will be eighty-three feet above the lake.
The reservoir
is situated immediately south of Adams street and west of Clark.
RIVER PIPES.
The river pipes conveying the water across the river are made of
boiler iron
plates, riveted together, and are twelve inches in interior
diameter. About
thirty miles of distribution and main pipes are laid in the
streets, extending
over a large portion of the city—connecting with one hundred and
sixteen fire
hydrants at the corners of the streets.
STANDING COLUMN.
The standing column is a cast-iron pipe, twenty-four inches in
diameter,
placed vertically in the engine house tower. It is connected
with the pumps
and main pipes, and serves as a regulator in keeping up a
uniform head of
water in the reservoirs.
OFFICERS.
The present Board of Water Commissioners consists of John B.
Turner and
Alanson S. Sherman, Esqrs. Horatio G. Loomis, Esq., has lately
tendered his
resignation of the office of Water Commissioner, and his
successor is John C.
Haines, Esq. William J. McAlpine, Esq., is the Chief Engineer of
the Water
Works, and Mr. E. Willard Smith, Resident Engineer; Mr. Benjamin
F. Walker,
Superintendent; Mr. Henry Tucker, Treasurer; and Mr. De Witt C.
Cregier, Steam
Engineer.
It is proper to say in this connection that the plans for the
Water Works were
furnished by Mr. McAlpine, and the architectural designs for the
several
buildings above described, by Mr. Smith.
The cost of the work will be three hundred and sixty thousand
dollars. The
same work would now cost four hundred and twenty thousand
dollars.
The works are now calculated to supply a population of fifty
thousand persons
with thirty gallons of water each, every twenty-four hours,
which is equal to
one million five hundred thousand gallons daily. The work is so
planned as to
be easily extended to meet the wants of one hundred thousand
population by
laying more pipe, and building more reservoirs.
BREAK-WATER AND DEPOT BUILDINGS OF THE ILL. CENTRAL R.R.
This great work commences at the South Pier, four hundred feet
inside of its
extreme east end and extends south one thousand two hundred and
fifty-seven
feet into the lake; thence west six hundred and seventy-five
feet on the north
line of Randolph street; thence southwest one hundred and fifty
feet; thence
to a point opposite the American Car Factory, making fourteen
thousand three
hundred and seventy-seven in all sixteen thousand four hundred
and fifty-nine
feet. From the Pier to the engine house the breakwater is twelve
feet wide;
thence down to the Car Company's works half that width. The
upper portion of
the crib work is built of square timber twelve by twelve, locked
together
every ten feet, and the intermediate space filled by stone,
piles being driven
on the outside to keep it in place. The first piece of crib work
sunk, in
building the break-water, has a very stout plank bottom. The
water line of the
crib work, south of Randolph street, is six hundred feet east of
the east side
of Michigan avenue, and the outer line of the crib work, between
Randolph
street and the river, is one thousand three hundred and
seventy-five feet.
The area thus enclosed and rescued from the dominion of the
lake, is about
thirty-three acres. Upon this area the Illinois Central Railroad
proposes to
erect, first, one passenger station house, four hundred and
fifty feet long,
by one hundred and sixty-five wide, including a car shed. The
northwest corner
of this building will be occupied exclusively for offices and
passenger rooms,
and will be forty by one hundred and twenty feet, and three
stories high. A
freight building six hundred by one hundred feet; grain house
one hundred by
two hundred, and one hundred feet high, to the top of the
elevators,
calculated to hold five hundred thousand bushels.
Three tracks will run into the freight house; eight tracks into
the passenger
house, and two tracks into the grain house. The basin lying
between the
freight and grain houses will be five hundred by one hundred and
seventy-eight
feet and will open into the river. All these buildings are to be
constructed
of stone, obtained from Joliet. The cost of the breakwater will
be not far
from five hundred thousand dollars, and of the buildings not far
from two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
The work was commenced in December, 1852, and will be finished
during the year
1854. Mr. Mason having been detained as much by legal
difficulties as natural
obstacles.
The extreme length of the pile bridging for the railroad track
is two and a
half miles. Of this, one and a half miles, parallel with
Michigan avenue, is
double track, and the remainder is single. For the single track,
two rows of
piles are driven inside the breakwater, and four for the double
track. These
piles are well braced and bolted together, and form a very
substantial
structure for the railroad track.
It will be impossible to give anything like an accurate
description of the
Company's works until they are completed; for as day by day the
great
commercial promise of Chicago brightens, the extent and breadth
of the
Company's works will be increased in proportion, or at least so
far as their
depot accommodations will allow them. What was estimated to be
sufficient a
year since, has now been found inadequate. And the next six
months will
develop further change and increase.
The Michigan Central Railroad either rent the privilege of using
the road of
the Illinois Central in entering the city, or, what is more
probable, share
the expense of building the breakwater. The works are planned on
a magnificent
scale, but they will not do more than accommodate the vast
business of the two
companies which occupy them. We have very indefinite ideas of
the amount of
business which the opening of the Illinois Central R. R. will
bring to
Chicago. As soon as it is finished, a daily line of magnificent
steamers will
be put on the Mississippi river to run regularly between Cairo
and New
Orleans. Till the roads crossing the Illinois Central are
completed east to
Cincinnati, almost the entire travel between New York and New
Orleans will
pass through Chicago—and it will always be a favorite route
between the North
and the South.
MICH. SOUTHERN & ROCK ISLAND R. R. DEPOT.
These Companies are preparing to build a splendid depot between
Clark and
Sherman streets, near Van Buren street. All the plans and
arrangements for the
building are not completed, and we therefore are obliged to omit
a description
in detail. It will cost at least sixty thousand dollars.
GALENA & CHICAGO UNION RAILROAD DEPOT.
This Company within the next week or two will put under contract
a new freight
building north of the present depot and east of Clark street.
Its dimensions
will be three hundred and forty by seventy-five feet, and two
stories high. It
is expected to cost twenty-five thousand dollars. Still another
freight
building is to be immediately erected east of the present
freight depot. It is
to be two hundred and fifty by sixty feet, and two stories high.
The upper
part of the building is especially designed for storing grain.
It is to be
finished in the best style, and will cost about fifty thousand
dollars.
The Company are also preparing to enlarge their engine house and
machine
shops, at an estimated cost of twenty thousand dollars.
Several of our other roads are maturing their plans to erect
depots; but they
are not sufficiently complete to allow us to make a notice of
them.
COOK COUNTY COURT HOUSE.
This fine building stands on the public square. It was completed
during the
last summer, and is an ornament to the city. One hundred and ten
thousand
dollars, expended in building it, were borrowed on the bonds of
the county
having from seven to eighteen years to run, at ten per cent,
interest, payable
semi-annually. Sixty thousand dollars of these bonds were taken
by Col. R. K.
Swiff, of this city, and the balance of the money was furnished
by Eastern
capitalists.
TELEGRAPHS.
We might present a large number of statistics in regard to our
Telegraph
lines, but it is sufficient to say that we are in telegraphic
communication
with all the principal towns and cities in the Union. The
important incidents
that occur in Washington, New York and New Orleans, up to six
o'clock in the
evening, or the foreign news when a steamer arrives, may be
found the next
morning in the columns of the Democratic Press.
OMNIBUS ROUTES.
The two principal omnibus proprietors in the city are S. B. & M.
O. Walker,
and Parker & Co. There are in all eight routes, on several of
which each
company has a line of omnibuses. The total length of the
different routes is
twenty-two and one-half miles. The number of omnibuses now
running is
eighteen, making four hundred and eight trips per day, and eight
hundred and
two miles run by the different omnibuses. The proprietor of the
Bull's Head
Hotel, also runs an omnibus regularly to State street market.
During the
summer several other lines are to be established, and many more
omnibuses will
be employed. Parker & Co. have eleven omnibuses engaged in
carrying passengers
from the hotels to the different railroad depots.
BRIDGES, SIDEWALKS, ETC.
There are bridges across the Chicago river at the following
streets: Clark,
Wells, Lake, Randolph, Madison, Van Buren, North Water Railroad
Bridge, Kinzie
and Chicago Avenue. A new and elegant pivot bridge, similar to
that across the
river at Lake street, is to be built at Clark street during the
present
season. It will be a great and much needed improvement.
The total length of the sidewalks within the city is one hundred
and fifty-
nine miles, and of planked streets twenty-seven miles. There are
four miles of
wharves, and six miles of sewers already put down.
We think these facts show a laudable degree of enter prise in a
city not yet
quite seventeen years old. These improvements will be greatly
extended during
the present summer.
CHICAGO GAS COMPANY.
We have a very efficient Gas Company, and now that the city is
well lighted
during the night, our citizens would be very unwilling to plod
along in
darkness, as in former years. From the recent report; of the
company it
appears that during the last year there has been laid in the
city twenty-one
thousand two hundred and sixty-five feet of four inch, four
thousand two
hundred and ninety-nine feet of six inch, and three thousand
eight hundred and
fourteen feet of ten inch pipe, making, in all, five miles two
thousand nine
hundred and seventy-eight feet; and the total amount laid
throughout the
streets of the city is thirteen miles six hundred and
thirty-eight feet, the
whole cost of which has been eighty thousand seven hundred and
thirteen
dollars and three cents. Up to January 1st, 1858, there had been
placed with
all the necessary connections, five hundred and seventy-four
meters, at a cost
of fourteen thousand four hundred and eighty dollars and
ninety-seven cents.
During the last year, two hundred and seventy-nine have been
set, at a cost of
seven thousand three hundred and thirteen dollars and twenty-six
cents—making
the total amount twenty-one thousand seven hundred and
ninety-four dollars and
twenty-three cents. January 1st, 1853, there were five hundred
and sixty-one
private consumers, during the last year two hundred and
seventy-nine have been
added, making a total of eight hundred and forty, with an
aggregate of seven
thousand five hundred and thirty-two burners. There are two
hundred and nine
public lamps, which have consumed during the year, one million
three hundred
and sixty-six thousand one hundred and forty cubic feet.
Extensive improvements have been and are being made at the
works. The new gas
holder will be finished in the spring. The tank is one hundred
and four feet
in diameter, twenty feet deep, and constructed of heavy masonry.
The holder
will be telescopic, in two sections, and will hold three hundred
and fifteen
thousand cubic feet. The amount expended during the year in
enlargements and
improvements at the station is forty-two thousand eight hundred
and nineteen
dollars and eleven cents, and the total expenditure on account
of station
works to date is one hundred and thirty-five thousand seven
hundred and
seventy-four dollars and twelve cents. The total amount expended
for real
estate to date has been twenty-six thousand one hundred and five
dollars and
forty-seven cents, of which twenty-one thousand five hundred and
forty-two
dollars and seventy-five cents have been expended within the
last year.
The amount of coal used last year exceeds that of the preceding
by six hundred
and fifty-eight tons one thousand and ninety-four lbs. In 1852,
eight million
nine hundred and eleven thousand one hundred cubic feet of gas
were made, and
in the last year fourteen million four hundred and twelve
thousand three
hundred and eighty feet, showing an increase of five million
five hundred and
one thousand two hundred and eighty feet.
The receipts for the year have been as follows:
Private Consumers $39,991 45
Public Lamps 3,963 94
Coke and Tar 2,311 49
Rent and Sundries 175 94
Making a total of $46,442 82
Which sum exceeds the receipts of the former year sixteen
thousand and twelve
dollars and sixty-four cents.
At the beginning of the last year, the stock issued amounted to
four thousand
two hundred shares ($105,400); since then four thousand one
hundred and thirty-
six shares ($103,400) have been added to the capital
stock—making a total of
eight thousand three hundred and thirty-six shares ($208,400).
The number of
stockholders is sixty-six, of whom thirty-three reside in
Chicago, holding
three thousand four hundred and sixty-nine shares ($86,725). The
funded debt
of the Company is seventy thousand dollars, in bonds bearing
interest at the
rate of seven per cent, per annum.
HEALTH OF CHICAGO.
Till within a few years it has generally been supposed that
Chicago was a very
unhealthy city. There never was a more unfounded assertion.
Before the streets
were thrown up, it was very wet and muddy at times; but since
our main streets
were planked we suffer no more from this cause than most other
cities. The
ground on which the city stands is nearly level, and but a few
feet above the
lake, yet there is sufficient slope to drain the streets, and if
an efficient
system of sewerage is adopted, as we trust it soon will be, this
objection,
which has done so much to injure Chicago, will not have even a
shadow of
foundation.
The following table shows the comparison of deaths with the
population since
1847, from which it appears that the past year has been one of
remarkable
health:
NO. OF DEATHS. POPULATION.
1847 520 16,859
1848 560 19,724
1849 1,509 22,047
1850 1,335 28,620
1851 843
1852 1,649 38,733
1853 1,207 60,662
The diseases proving most fatal during past year are given as
follows:
Consumption, 198
Teething, 111
Scarlet Fever, 34
Diarrhoea, 30
Dysentery, 59
Typhoid Fever, 27
Deaths by accident or design:
Drowned, 26
Killed, 20
Suicide, 5
Poisoned, 1
Found dead, 1
Total - 53
We are willing that these figures should be compared with those
of any other
city in the Union.
It should be remembered that in the years 1849 and 1850 we had
the cholera in
Chicago, and to that cause must be attributed the increased
bills of mortality
for those years.
The statistics of the last year show a mortality but a very
small fraction
above one in sixty. It will be observed that here, as in Eastern
cities, that
terrible disease, the consumption, claims the largest number of
victims; but
we think facts will bear us out in the statement that it is not
a disease
indigenous to this part of the country. Most of those who die
with it in this
city, come here with it from the Eastern States, or have a
hereditary taint in
their constitution. We heard Dr. Mott, of New York, then whom
there is no
higher authority in this or any country, express the opinion
that in the
centre of a continent this, disease does not generally prevail.
Our
observation since residing in Illinois, confirms this opinion.
The pure
invigorating breezes, sweeping over the broad bosom of our
magnificent lake
for hundreds of miles, are a never-failing source of energy and
health to
those who make homes in the Garden City.
PLANK ROADS.
We have several plank roads leading out of the city. The
Northwestern
commences near the Galena Railroad Depot on the West Side, and
extends to the
town of Maine, seventeen miles. Seven miles from the city the
Western road
branches off and is completed seventeen miles from the city. It
is intended to
extend this road to Elgin.
The Southwestern Plank Road leaves the city at Bull's Head, on
Madison street,
and passes through Lyonsville to Brush Hill, sixteen miles. From
Brush Hill
the Oswego Plank Road extends fourteen miles to Naperville.
The Southern Plank Road commences on State street, at the south
line of the
city, and is finished to Comorn, ten miles south of the city. We
believe it is
to be extended south to Iroquois county.
THE BLUE ISLAND AVENUE PLANK ROAD
Is a more recent, and on many accounts a very important,
improvement, and
therefore merits a description more in detail. It extends from
the village of
Worth, or Blue Island, due north on the township range line
between ranges 13
and 14 east of the third principal meridian, to the southwestern
corner of the
city; thence on the diagonal street of the same name, ordered
planked by the
City Council, it is continued to the heart of the city on the
west side of the
river. It will be but about thirteen miles from Worth to the
city limits by
this road, and being on a direct line, it must command the
travel coming to
Chicago from the south, nearly all of which concentrates at
Worth. This road
is rapidly progressing toward completion, and as it runs through
a region of
country heretofore without a road, it will have the effect to
add another rich
suburban settlement to Chicago. The lands upon the line of this
road are the
most fertile in the vicinity of the city, and to facilitate this
improvement
for gardening purposes, the owners of many of them have cut them
up into ten
and twenty acre lots, and are selling them to actual settlers
and others very
low, and on good time. This arrangement will secure a dense
population on the
line of the road, and make all of the lands along it very
valuable, as it must
be one of the gardening sections of the Garden City. The very
large ditches
cut by the drainage commissioners along this road, furnish a
very high and
splendid grade, made of the earth excavated, six miles of which
cost ten
thousand dollars for ditching alone. These ditches render the
lands at all
times dry and arable. The avenue, on the prairie is to be one
hundred and
twenty feet wide; on either side of which trees are to be
planted by the
owners, so as to make it a most beautiful "drive" from the city.
The town of Brighton, at the crossing of this and the Archer
road, is to be
improved this spring by the erection of a fine hotel and other
buildings. As
by this road, cattle can be driven to the city without danger of
fright from
locomotives, and as two of the principal roads entering the city
meet at
Brighton, with abundant water at all times, and pasture and
meadow lands in
almost unlimited quantities beyond, no one can doubt its
favorable position
for becoming the principal cattle market of Chicago.
Transcription Part 3
LAKE SHORE PLANK ROAD.
This road was recently organized, is now under contract, and
commences at the
north line of the city limits on Clark street. It runs thence
northwardly
nearly parallel with the lake shore for about two miles, to the
new and
elegant hotel recently erected by Jas. H. Rees, Esq., of this
city, and E.
Hundley, of Virginia; thence through Pine Grove Addition, and to
Little river;
thence northwestwardly to Hood's Tavern, on the Green Bay road,
which is in
reality an extension of North Clark street. The whole length of
the road is
about five miles. It will open up a beautiful section north of
the city, in
which will soon be located elegant residences, surrounded by
beautiful
gardens, furnishing one of the finest "drives" from the city.
There are some
of the most beautiful building spots on the line of the road
that can be found
anywhere in the vicinity of Chicago.
COOK CO. DRAINAGE COMMISSION.
Among the most important of the recent improvements affecting
Chicago, the
drainage of the neighboring wet lands should not be omitted, as
well in an
agricultural and commercial view, as from its effect upon the
sanitary
condition of the pity and its vicinity. This highly important
improvement is
being effected by the "Cook County Drainage Commission," a body
incorporated
by act of legislature, approved June 23, 1852, in which Henry
Smith, Geo. W.
Snow, James H. Rees, Geo. Steele, Hart L. Stewart, Isaac Cook,
and Charles V.
Dyer are named as Commissioners, Dr. Dyer, 28 Clark street, is
Secretary of
the Board.
They and their successors in office are empowered to locate,
construct and
maintain ditches, embankments, culverts, bridges and roads, on
any lands lying
in townships 37, 38, 39 and 40, in ranges 12, 13 and 14, in Cook
county; to
take land and materials necessary for these purposes, and to
assess the cost
of such improvements upon the lands they may deem to be
benefited thereby.
Objection was made to the creation of this Commission, that the
powers
entrusted to it were too great, and might be abused, and the act
was passed
with some difficulty. But it was seen that full powers must be
given to the
Commissioners, in order that their efforts for the benefit of
the public and a
large body of proprietors might not be stopped or impeded by a
few
shortsighted objectors. Their powers, in effect, are simply
those given to any
railroad or canal company, for the purpose of effecting a
specified object.
The two years of their corporate existence have shown that the
Commissioners
have used their powers faithfully and efficiently. They have
located and
constructed their works generally upon the petition of the
proprietors of the
land to be drained, and it is believed that in every case these
improvements
have been followed by an immediate and commensurate advantage to
the lands
through which they pass.
Their examination showed the Commissioners that avast body of
land within the
limits of the commission, which had before been deemed
valueless, lay in fact
from four to twelve feet above the lake, and needed only a
proper drainage to
make it available for purposes of agriculture and occupation.
Acting upon this knowledge, they have expended some $100,000 in
constructing
ditches and other works, under the superintendence of an able
and experienced
engineer, with the most salutary effect upon a large extent of
country. Houses
are now being built with dry cellars upon ground heretofore
covered with
water. In one instance, a quarter section which had been
repeatedly offered
for sale at five dollars an acre, brought one hundred and
twenty-five dollars
after being drained, and a similar rise of value in lands has
been produced in
other cases. The objects of the Commission will be vigorously
prosecuted
during the coming summer, and it is hoped that the unsightly
swamps which have
heretofore disfigured this and adjoining townships, will soon,
become "smiling
gardens and rich fields of waving corn."
MANUFACTURES.
What is presented under this head can not be considered as
exhibiting anything
like a complete view of Chicago manufactures. There are many
branches, such as
the making of hats and caps, clothing, boots and shoes, fur
goods, harness,
trunks, saddlery, etc., etc., which are omitted entirely, and
others are sadly
imperfect; but the fact arises from our inability to obtain
correct data from
those engaged in the various departments of business. We have
repeatedly been
promised facts and figures which have not come to hand, and the
publication of
our article cannot longer be delayed. Enough is shown, however,
in what
follows, to establish the truth of the declaration that the
position of
Chicago is not less favorable for a manufacturing than a
commercial centre,
and that capital invested in manufactures is here sure to yield
a large profit.
CHICAGO LOCOMOTIVE COMPANY.
The attention of our business men was called last September, to
the importance
of establishing at this point the manufacture of locomotives, an
enterprise
which was demanded by the concentration of so many extensive and
diverging
lines of railroads at this place; a company was at once formed,
with a capital
stock of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and the
following gentlemen
chosen a Board of Trustees:
Wm. H. Brown.
E. H. Hadduck.
Thos. Dyer.
J. H. Collins.
Geo. Steele.
J. P. Chapin.
Robt. Foss.
W. S. Gurnee.
W. H. Scoville.
The company was fully organized by the election of the following
officers: WM.
H. BROWN, President. W. H. SCOVILLE, Treasurer. SHOLTO DOUGLASS,
Secretary. E.
H. HADDUCK, ROBERT FOSS, WM. H. BROWN, Executive Committee.
Messrs. H. H. Scoville & Son, who had been for several years
extensively
engaged in the construction of various kinds of machinery, and
the building of
railroad cars, and had large buildings well located and adapted
to the wants
of the new company, offered their establishment; it was
accordingly purchased,
and is now the headquarters of the Chicago Locomotive Company.
The Messrs.
Scoville had already commenced a locomotive, which was placed
upon the track
soon after the organization, and was the first locomotive built
in Chicago. It
was named the "Enterprise," and its entering into the service of
the Galena
and Chicago Union R. R. was made the occasion of an appropriate
celebration.
Since that time, the Locomotive Company have furnished the same
road with
another engine, the "Falcon," pronounced by all a first class
locomotive.
Their third locomotive will be put upon the track in a few days,
and will add
to the growing reputation of Chicago-built engines. In a short
time the
company will employ about two hundred men at their works and
will be able to
turn out two engines per month, every portion of which will be
manufactured
from the raw material in this city. We are happy to learn that
the company are
supplied with orders for sometime to come, and from the
arrangements they have
made for the best material and most skillful workmen, together
with an
abundance of capital, it is certain that a short time will
demonstrate that it
is no longer necessary for railroad companies to order,
locomotives
exclusively from Eastern manufacturers. The G. & C. U. R. R.
have rebuilt
several locomotives at their extensive machine shop, and within
a few weeks
they have turned out an entirely new first class engine, which
may properly be
called a Chicago locomotive, since the drafting and all the work
was done at
their shop, except the boiler and driving wheels The "Black
Hawk" compares
favorably with the best Eastern locomotives, and is doing daily
duty for its
builders, never yet having been "behind time."
AMERICAN CAR COMPANY.
The American Car Company commenced business in the fall of 1852,
but did not
get fully under way until the following March, when all the
various
departments of the factory were properly organized. Their works
are situated
on the lake shore, in the southern part of the city, about three
miles from
the mouth of the harbor, and the buildings, with the necessary
yard room,
cover thirteen acres. The Michigan Central and Illinois Central
Railroads pass
by the factory, so that the location is most favorable on many
accounts. They
have a foundry where they cast wheels and boxes and all the
casting requisite
for cars—in fact, they manufacture every portion of their cars
from the raw
material, except cloths, and such ornamental trimmings as belong
exclusively
to other branches of manufacture. The American Car Company has
constructed
about seven hundred cars of all kinds, the great majority of
them being
freight cars. Nothing can exceed the passenger cars which they
have furnished
the Illinois Central road for completeness of arrangement and
perfection of
finish. The number of men employed at the works varies from two
hundred and
fifty to three hundred. The value of finished work sent out from
the factory
up to the first of January, 1854, is a little beyond four
hundred and fifty
thousand dollars. D. H. Lyman, Esq., is the able and energetic
Superintendent
of the Company.
UNION CAR WORKS.
A. B. Stone & Co. are the proprietors of this establishment. The
ground it now
occupies was an unbroken prairie in September, 1852, when they
commenced the
erection of their buildings. In February, 1853, they had their
buildings and
machinery erected, and turned out the first car; since which
time they have
furnished two hundred and fifty freight, and twenty first class
passenger, ten
second class passenger, and ten baggage and post-office cars.
Their machinery
is driven by a seventy-five horse power steam engine. They have
consumed in
the past year about one and a half million feet of timber; six
hundred tons of
wrought iron; one thousand tons of cast iron, two hundred tons
of coal, and
employed 150 men. They have the equipping of the C. & R. I. R.
R. and the
western division of the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad. In addition
to the iron
work for their cars, they have manufactured all the iron for
Messrs. Stone &
Boomer, used in the construction of bridges, turntables, etc.
They have
enlarged their buildings and increased their facilities
sufficiently to enable
them to turn out five hundred freight and forty passenger cars
per year.
BRIDGE BUILDING, ETC.
Messrs. Stone & Boomer, builders of Howe's Patent Truss Bridges,
Locomotive
Turntables, Roofs, etc., occupy for their framing ground and
yard several lots
adjoining the Union Car Works. They have had contracts the past
year for
bridges on twenty-four different railroads in Illinois,
Missouri, and
Wisconsin, embracing one hundred and fifty bridges, the
aggregate length of
which is thirty-seven thousand linear feet.
This company has a capital invested of one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars,
and employ upon an average three hundred men. They have used two
thousand tons
of iron, and five and a half million feet of lumber. Bridges
completed, ten
thousand linear feet; bridges not completed, twenty-seven
thousand linear
feet. Turn-tables completed, nineteen; not completed, twelve.
Cubic yards of
masonry—completed and not completed, nine thousand. Gross
earnings, eight
hundred thousand dollars.
ILLINOIS STONE AND LIME COMPANY.
This new Company was organized in this city in December last,
purchasing the
entire interest of Messrs. A.. S. & O. Sherman in the celebrated
stone quarry
at Lemont, twenty-five miles south of Chicago, upon the Illinois
and Michigan
canal, also the lime kiln property near Bridgeport. The
following are the
officers of the company:
W. S. GURNEE, President.
M. C. STEARNS, Secretary and Treasurer.
A. S. & O. SHERMAN, Superintendents.
The stone obtained at the quarry now worked by this company, is
nearly a milk
white limestone, and forms one of the most beautiful building
materials to be
found in the Western States. The edifices which have already
been completed
with fronts of this stone, attract the attention and command the
admiration of
all who visit the city, and are pointed out with an extreme
degree of
satisfaction and even pride, by our citizens.
The existence of this quarry at so short a distance, of
inexhaustible extent,
and accessible by water communication, is a most fortunate
circumstance
connected with, the building up of our city. The stone can be
furnished where
it is wanted, so that the cost of a wall of this material is
only one-third
greater than that of Milwaukee brick with stone dressings, while
in the beauty
of the two styles there is hardly room to institute a
comparison.
The Company have been making, during the past winter, extensive
preparations
for the activity of the opening season, having in their employ,
at the quarry
and at the yards here, about three hundred men. We are informed
that contracts
have already been made for furnishing fronts of this stone to
twelve buildings
on business streets, besides several private residences, all
going up this
summer. The Company expect to increase the number of men
employed to five
hundred, also to increase their facilities for transportation,
and provide
additional machinery and steam power, in order to fully meet the
demand upon
their resources.
MARBLE WORKS.
There are several establishments in the city for dressing marble
for
cemeteries, interior decorations for buildings, furniture, and
various other
purposes, but we have only space to speak of one of the
principal. Messrs. H.
& O. Wilson have extensive buildings with necessary yard room,
at the corner
of State and Washington streets, erected last summer. The amount
of business
last year, exceeded fifteen thousand dollars. We mention as a
single item,
that one hundred marble mantles were sold by them last year.
BRICK YARDS.
The subsoil of Chicago and vicinity is a blue clay, underlying
the surface
from three to six feet and affording an exhaustless supply of
material for the
manufacture of brick, which are strong, heavy and durable. We
are not able to
ascertain accurately the number of brick manufactured here last
year, but have
gathered enough information to show that it must have reached
twenty millions.
These brick were all used in the erection of buildings last
season, in
addition to those imported from Milwaukee and other lake ports,
which fell but
little short of three millions. In the spring of 1853 contracts
for Chicago
brick delivered at the buildings were closed at four dollars and
twenty-five
cents per thousand, but they advanced during the summer to six
dollars. The
contract price for quantities, this season, ranges from six
dollars to six
dollars and fifty cents. The following are among the principal
manufacturers
of brick: G.W. Penney; F.T. & E. Sherman; Elston & Co.; Anthony
Armitage;
Louis Stone.
COACHES, CARRIAGES AND WAGONS.
The manufacture of vehicles of various descriptions to supply
the demand of
the city and country has kept pace with the increase of other
departments of
business, and from small beginnings in board shanties, has taken
possession of
large edifices of brick and stone, resonant with the whirl of
multiform
machinery driven by steam power, where the division of labor
among the bands
of workmen, each skillful in his own line, results in the
production of
articles finished in the best manner for the purpose at the
lowest possible
cost. It is a noficeable fact that the importation at this place
of vehicles
from Eastern factories has almost entirely ceased, and is
confined to buggies
and light carriages, mostly destined for the interior. We have
not space to
speak of all the wagon factories in the city; large and small
they number
nearly one hundred. We therefore mention only some of the
principal.
B. C. Welch & Co. occupy an extensive establishment on Randolph
street, and
devote themselves entirely to the production of buggies,
carriages, omnibuses
and coaches. The following figures will give an idea of the
business of this
house, whose work will in all respects compare most favorably
with those
imported from builders enjoying only a more extended reputation
and of longer
standing. The capital employed in this establishment is
thirty-two thousand
dollars, and the amount of finished work disposed of last year
reached the sum
of forty-five thousand dollars. The average number of men in the
factory is
about seventy. The number of carriages sold during the year was
one hundred
and eighty-five, of which fifteen were omnibuses for the various
lines in the
city, ranging in price from five hundred to five hundred and
fifty dollars
each. Among the number were five close carriages, ranging from
five hundred to
eight hundred dollars each.
Ellithorpe & Kline are also engaged in the exclusive manufacture
of carriages,
ranging through all the styles from the light open buggy to the
heavy family
and lively carriages; and they have already acquired an enviable
reputation in
their line. Their establishment is in the West Division, at the
corner of
Randolph and Morgan streets. Their sales last year amounted to
fifteen
thousand dollars. It is their intention to more than double
their business
during the present year, in doing which they will employ
constantly from fifty
to sixty men.
P. Schuttler has a large factory at the corner of Randolph and
Franklin
streets, where the business is confined exclusively to the
manufacture of
lumber wagons. A steam engine furnishes the motive power for all
requisite
machinery, and about thirty-five men are constantly employed in
the
establishment, as carpenters, blacksmiths, painters, etc. The
number of wagons
made annually somewhat exceeds four hundred, and their value
amounts to nearly
thirty thousand dollars.
J. C. Outhet has a factory on Franklin street, from which he
sold last year
one hundred and fifty wagons, besides numerous drays, carts and
buggies, sales
amounting to about seventeeen thousand dollars. The number of
men employed
here is about eighteen. Mr. Outhet proposes to enlarge his
establishment and
introduce steam power, by which his business will hereafter be
greatly
extended.
H. Whitbeck unites the manufacture of wagons, buggies and
carriages with that
of plows. Within the fast year he has greatly, enlarged his
factory by the
erection of a large brick building of four stories, for
machinery, besides
numerous smaller shops for various purposes. The capital
invested in this
establishment is in buildings and machinery, twenty thousand
dollars; in
stock, fifteen thousand dollars; total, thirty-five thousand
dollars. The
amount of sales for the preceding year exceeded forty thousand
dollars. The
number of vehicles manufactured for the same period is five
hundred and eighty-
nine, and the number of plows, one thousand. This establishment
now gives
employment to from forty to fifty men, and it is the intention
of the
proprietor to increase his business during the present year.
FURNITURE.
This forms another very extended department of manufacture in
our midst, and
in which very many persons are engaged. Our limits will allow us
to speak of
but one or two of the largest establishments. Numerous as they
are, and many
of them employing a large capital, they are called upon beyond
their power to
meet the demand, and there is probably no other branch of
manufacture more
inviting at present, than the one under consideration. The rapid
growth of the
city is to be supplied, and the wide expanse of country
penetrated by our
railroads, filling up with new settlers, while the old ones are
increasing
wonderfully in wealth and in wants. We have often paused in the
railroad
depots to notice the immense quantities of furniture
accumulating for
distribution in the interior, bearing cards of Chicago
manufacturers.
C. Morgan occupies a building on Lake street, twenty feet front
by one hundred
and sixty-three deep, and running up entire five stories. The
two lower floors
are used to exhibit samples, and three upper devoted to the
workmen. Although
keeping a general assortment, Mr. Morgan is engaged principally
in the
manufacture of chairs and the more expensive kinds of furniture,
embracing all
the recent styles of pattern, finish and material. His sales
last year
amounted to thirty thousand dollars, the establishment affording
employment to
over forty men.
Ferris & Boyd have their show rooms on Lake street, and their
shop on Van
Buren street. In the latter their machinery requires an engine
of fifteen
horse power, and the increase of their business has compelled
them to add
forty feet of shafting within a few months. They employ
constantly about fifty
men, while their machinery does the work of twenty-five or
thirty hands. Their
manufactured articles are rather more in the common and useful
line than the
luxurious and expensive, while neatness of finish and elegance
of style
characterize all their productions. They connect with their
business the
manufacture of frames for pictures and mirrors. We believe it is
the only
establishment in this city where gilt frames are made to any
extent. They turn
out very fine work in this line; some of their frames go as high
as one
hundred dollars each. Their entire sales last year reached fifty
thousand
dollars.
Among the other furniture manufacturers in the city, doing a
large business,
we mention the names of Boyclen & Willard, D. L. Jacobus & Bro.
and Thomas
Manahan.
CHICAGO OIL MILL.
Messrs. Scammon & Haven are the proprietors of this
establishment—the only one
in the city. It is capable of manufacturing one hundred thousand
gallons of
oil per annum. Owing to the difficulty of supplying themselves
with seed, only
forty thousand gallons were the product of the mill during the
last year.
Before the commencement of this important enterprise, in 1852,
there was very
little flax raised by our farmers, and in the spring of that
year Messrs.
Scammon & Haven imported several thousand bushels and sold it to
the farmers
at cost, in order that they might be able to supply their mill
by the time it
could be put in operation. They paid for seed during the past
year from one
dollar to one dollar twelve and a half cents, and are now
selling oil at
eighty-five cents. Before this mill was established, flax seed
was scarcely
known in this market, and what did arrive sold at sixty to
seventy-five cents
per bushel. It will be seen, therefore, that the amount of
business done by
this mill is a clear gain to Chicago, and the region of country
that is
tributary to the city. It is a great convenience to our painters
to be able to
purchase a first rate article of oil in our city. The
neighboring towns and
cities also find it for their advantage to purchase their oil of
Messrs.
Scammon & Haven, as they are sure to get an article of very
superior quality.
The machinery is propelled by an engine of fifteen horse power,
and the
processes by which it is manufactured are exceedingly
interesting and curious.
Between three and four thousand barrels of oil cake were sold in
this city and
shipped East by Messrs. Scammon & Haven during the past year.
Another important department of this establishment is the
manufacture of
putty. About two hundred thousand pounds were manufactured
during the past
year.
The total amount of capital invested is between twenty-five and
thirty
thousand dollars.
SOAP AND CANDLES.
The large amount of packing at this place, especially of beef,
affords a good
opportunity for the extensive manufacture of soap and candles.
There are
several large establishments in the city, besides numerous small
factories. As
we are not furnished with data for giving the total business of
the city in
this line, we take one of the principal establishments, that of
Charles
Cleaver, Esq., situated at Cleaverville, upon the lake shore
south of the
city. The manufacture and sale by this establishment last year
was as follows:
Candles, pounds, 495,000
Soap, pounds, 682,000
Lard Oil, gallons, 43,500
Tallow, pounds, 884,300
Lard, pounds, 334,341
In connection with his business Mr. Cleaver has imported within
the year three
hundred and fifty tons of rosin, soda, etc., etc.
MACHINERY.
It is a source of gratification that Chicago is not only able to
nearly supply
the demand for machinery within her own limits, but contributes
largely to aid
in the erection of mills and factories at other localities, some
of which are
far from being in our immediate vicinity. Engines, boilers, and
machinery of
all kinds are continually going out from the shops, while the
demand increases
faster than the facilities for supplying it. As we stood in a
boiler shop but
the other day, the hammers were ringing upon the rivets of seven
boilers, four
of which were for mills in Michigan, one for a town in Indiana,
one for
Davenport, Iowa, and one for Rockford. We have gathered the
following facts in
relation to several establishments.
Charles Reissig has a steam boiler factory from which last year
the finished
work sent out amounted to twenty-eight thousand dollars and the
value of
material purchased was eighteen thousand dollars. The number of
boilers made
at this shop last year was one hundred and seventeen, which,
together with the
other blacksmithing, afforded constant employment to about
twenty-five men.
Messrs. Mason & McArthur employ at their works on an average
forty men. They
build gasometers, purifiers, governors, and all the wrought iron
work for the
gasworks; also steam boilers, water tanks, together with sheet
iron work and
black-smithing in all its branches. The amount of business
carried on by them
may be estimated from the fact that they expended last year for
iron and labor
thirty-eight thousand dollars.
P. W. Gates & Co., proprietors of the Eagle Works, are large
manufacturers of
railroad cars, steam engines and boilers, and machinery of all
kinds. They
have a capital of fifty-five thousand dollars invested. The
manufactured work
of last year amounted to one hundred and ten thousand dollars,
giving
employment to one hundred and fifty men. Among the articles
turned out by them
were one hundred and twenty-five railroad cars and twenty steam
engines.
H. P. Moses is the proprietor of the Chicago Steam Engine Works,
on the South
Branch, the oldest machine shop in the city. He is confined to
the manufacture
of steam engines, mill-gearing, etc. Last year he constructed
thirteen
engines, ranging from ten to one hundred horse power, their
valae amounting to
$55,000. He employs sixty-five men, and his engines have a good
reputation.
There are now in his hands nineteen engines which will be
finished within the
next three months. We will remark here, that he is now building
one to run
our presses, which will be a model engine of its size. It rates
in common
parlance at ten horse power, but with the boiler we shall put up
with it, its
builder says it will run up to twenty.
LEATHER MANUFACTURE.
In this department we are furnished with statistics of the
operations of three
establishments. That of W. S. Gurnee tanned last year eighteen
thousand hides,
out of forty-five thousand handled, in which was consumed nearly
one thousand
eight hundred cords of bark. The tannery, with yards, drying
sheds and other
buildings, occupies two acres on the South Branch. The
establishment employs
fifty men, and a large steam engine is used to drive all
necessary machinery.
Messrs. C. F. Grey & Co. tanned, last year, thirteen thousand
eight hundred
and nineteen hides, and the sales of leather amounted to
sixty-two thousand
dollars. They employ upon an average thirty-two men in this part
of their
business. We mention here that the firm of S. Mies & Co., in
which they are
partners, have manufactured since August 1st, 1853, about
eighteen thousand
pounds of pulled wool, taken from pelts purchased for tanning.
Another establishment which employs twenty-five men furnishes us
with the
following figures of their business for the last year: Number of
hides and
skins tanned, 6,984; sides of harness leather, 3,395; bridle,
1,479; collar,
965; upper, 4,577; calf skins, 1,636; belting, 281.
STOVES.
We have but one establishment of long standing, the Phoenix
Foundry, of
Messrs. H. Sherman & Co., which has been doing a large business
for several
years, and become well known by the extent of its operations and
the quality
of its wares. We are not able to state how many stoves were sent
out from this
foundry last year, but the proprietors employ constantly fifty
men, and cast,
daily, six tons of metal. Connected with the sales room on Lake
street is a
shop for making furniture for stoves, where, in the fall and
winter, a number
of tinsmiths are employed.
Vincent, Himrod & Co. have established a stove foundry during
the year, from
which they are prepared to turn out from four to five thousand
stoves per
annum, and will, within a short time, enlarge their works so as
to manufacture
double that number.
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.
In addition to the manufacture of plows, already mentioned, we
have factories
for making threshing machines, corn shellers, fanning mills, and
other farming
utensils, but we are without figures to exhibit the amount of
business.
J. S. Wright has commenced here the manufacture of Atkins'
Self-Raking Reaper
and Mower. Last season, the first of the enterprise, he turned
out sixty
machines. He has now in hand three hundred machines, which will
be finished in
time for the coming harvest, and furnished at one hundred and
seventy-five
dollars on time—one hundred and sixty dollars cash. The
establishment at
present employs about seventy-five men, but will be greatly
enlarged during
the year, as it is the intention of the manufacturer to build
one thousand
machines in time for the following season. McCormick's Eeaper
Factory has been
in successful operation for so many years, and the machines
constructed have
attained such a world-wide celebrity, that it is unnecessary for
us to more
than briefly notice it here. It occupies extensive buildings and
grounds on
the north side of the river, near the mouth of the harbor, and
the time was
when its tall chimney formed, perhaps, the most prominent
landmark for vessels
approaching the harbor. Now we have hundreds as large and high,
like volcanic
craters belching forth clouds of smoke, suggestive of the mighty
toil of the
elements beneath. The number of reaping and mowing machines
manufactured and
sold in 1853, amounted to a little less than one thousand five
hundred,
which, at an average price of one hundred and thirty dollars,
gives one
hundred and ninety-five thousand dollars as the amount of sales.
The number of
combined reaping and mowing machines turned out during the
present year will
be at least one thousand five hundred, furnished at one hundred
and fifty
dollars each. The number of men employed at the works is about
one hundred and
twenty.
[From our COMMERCIAL REVIEW for 1853, only the conclusion and
the note
appended to the third edition of 5,000 copies of "Our Pamphlet"
are here
quoted.]
CONCLUSION.
It is scarcely necessary for us to recapitulate the facts which
we have
already stated. Business men will not be slow to draw their
conclusions in
reference to the prospects of Chicago. No one who has studied
her unrivaled
commercial position, and the richness, beauty and extent of the
country by
which she is surrounded, can doubt for a moment that Chicago, at
no distant
day, is destined to become the great central city of the
continent. In the
centre of one of the most fertile agricultural regions on the
globe;
surrounded by exhaustless mines of lead, iron, copper and coal;
having a water
communication with the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, and
holding the key to
a coasting trade of three thousand miles, with more than a dozen
railroads
branching off for thousands of miles in all directions, every
element of
prosperity and substantial greatness is within her grasp. She
fears no rivals,
confident that the enterprise and energy which have heretofore
marked her
progress will secure for her a proud and pre-eminent position
among her sister
cities of the Union. She has to wait but a few short years the
sure
development of her "MANIFEST DESTINY."
NOTE.
The past has been an eventful Summer for Chicago. The Spring
opened with an
unusual degree of prosperity. Improvements of all kinds were
going forward
with great rapidity, and business of all kinds was very active.
So healthy was
the city that the Board of Health had not thought it necessary
to make regular
reports.
The week succeeding the 4th of July was excessively hot, and on
Friday,
Saturday and Sunday, July 7th, 8th and 9th, the cholera came
upon us like a
thunderbolt. The most extravagant stories were widely circulated
in reference
to its fatality in the city; a portion of our citizens, without
stopping to
investigate the facts, fled in "hot haste," and for a week or
two everything
was at a stand.
When time had been allowed to investigate the facts, it was
found that Chicago
had not suffered so much from the disease as some other
neighboring cities.
The reports of the City Sexton showed that the total deaths on
the days above
named had averaged only from forty to forty-four, and thirty-six
was the
highest number that had died of cholera on either of the days
above named.
During several of the succeeding weeks the deaths by cholera
averaged from
twelve to twenty. This, for a city of seventy thousand
inhabitants, is not a
large mortality. When the statistics for the year are made out,
we are
satisfied that Chicago will fully maintain the position she has
heretofore
acquired, of being one of the healthiest cities in the Union. By
the first of
August business began to revive, and it has been steadily
increasing, till we
now find our streets crowded to overflowing. Our merchants, our
mechanics, and
manufacturers of all kinds, have all the business they can
possibly do. Yet
those who love to work, and who know how to do it, come to
Chicago. There is
not a spot in the wide world where honest industry is so sure of
a competence—
we might say, a fortune. Our railroads are pouring an immense
flood of trade
and travel into the city, and Chicago is making rapid progress
in wealth,
population and substantial improvement. Our best informed men
are satisfied
that the coming new year will find at least eighty thousand
people in Chicago,
and by another year from that time the footings will be very
handsomely beyond
a hundred thousand.
We owe an apology to our friends for delaying this edition to so
late a day in
the season. The truth is, our job office has been so crowded
with work that it
was impossible to get anything done for ourselves. Our presses
now run by
steam, and we have otherwise largely increased our facilities to
meet the
wants of our growing city. The public may rest assured that no
effort shall be
spared by the editors and proprietors of the Press to advance
the interests
and secure the commercial supremacy of the Empire City of the
Mississippi
Valley.
CHICAGO, Oct. 7th. 1854.
HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
1854.
From our Commercial Review for 1854, published early in 1855,
the following
extracts are taken. They were written by my associate, the late
J. L. Scripps.
CHICAGO THE GREATEST PRIMARY GRAIN PORT IN THE WORLD.
A little over one month since, the Democratic Press announced
the important,
fact that Chicago had already attained the rank of the greatest
Primary Grain
Port in the World. The statement was accompanied by figures and
estimates
showing the grounds upon which the claim was based. That article
has been
copied and commented upon throughout the Union, and gone the
rounds of
newspaper doubt, ridicule and criticism. We are now enabled to
present our
readers with the actual figures which establish that position
beyond the reach
of a doubt. From the published tables of grain receipts for
January 1st, 1855,
we compile the following statement of
TOTAL RECEIPTS OF FLOUR AND GRAIN.
Wheat, bu 3,038,955
Corn 7,490,753
Oats 4,194,385
Rye 85,691
Barley 201,764
15,011,540
Flour (158,575 bbls.) 792,875
into Wheat
Total 15,804,423
In like manner may be presented the shipments for the season,
viz:
Wheat, bu 2,106,725
Corn 6,837,899
Oats 3,229,987
Rye 41,153
Barley 148,421
12,364,185
Flour (107,627 bbls.) 538,135
into Wheat
Total 12,902,320
These figures leave a balance for City consumption, etc., etc.,
of nearly
three millions of bushels, of which it is not at all improbable
that some
portion may have been shipped without representation in our
columns. But a
small amount is requisite to make up full thirteen millions of
bushels,
actually exported, though this is immaterial, as in either case
the position
claimed is sufficiently established. That there may be no ground
for
incredulity we proceed to lay before our readers the statistics,
gleaned from
authentic sources, which confirm this statement. In the table
which follows we
have in all cases reduced flour to its equivalent in wheat,
estimating five
bushels of the latter to one of the former. The exports from the
European
ports are an average for a series of years—those of St. Louis
for the year
1853, those for Chicago and Milwaukee for the current year, and
those for New
York are for the first eleven months of the same year. With
these explanations
we invite attention to the following table:
CITIES Wheat, bu. Ind. Corn, bu. Oats, Rye & Barley Total, bu.
Odessa 5,608,000 ----- 1,440,000 7,040,000
Galatz & Ibrelia 2,400,000 5,600,000 320,000 8,320,000
Dantzic 3,080,000 ----- 1,328,000 4,408,000
St. Petersburg ----- all kinds ----- 7,200,000
Archangel ----- do ----- 9,528,000
Riga ----- do ----- 4,000,000
St. Louis 3,082,000 918,384 1,081,678 5,081,468
Milwaukee 2,723,574 181,937 841,650 3,787,161
New York 6,812,452 627,883 ----- 9,430,335
Chicago 2,644,860 6,837,899 3,419,551 12,902,310
By comparing the exports of the different places mentioned in
the above table,
it will be seen that the grain exports of Chicago exceed those
of New York by
3,471,975 bushels—those of St. Louis by more than two hundred
and fifty per
cent., those of Milwaukee nearly four hundred per cent. Turning
to the great
granaries of Europe, Chicago nearly doubles St. Petersburg, the
largest, and
exceeds Galatz and Ibrelia, combined, 4,582,810 bushels.
Twenty years ago, Chicago, as well as most of the country from
whence she now
draws her immense supplies of bread-stuffs, imported both flour
and meat for
home consumption—now, she is the largest primary grain depot in
the world, and
she leads all other ports of the world, also, in the quantity
and quality of
her beef exports!! We say the largest primary grain depot in the
world,
because it cannot be denied that New York, Liverpool, and some
other great
commercial centres, receive more breadstuffs than Chicago does
in the course
of the year, but none of them will compare with her, as we have
shown above,
in the amount collected from the hands of the producers.
What a practical illustration the above facts afford as to the
wonderful, the
scarcely credible, progress of the West—what an index it
furnishes to the
fertility of her soil and to the industrious and enterprising
character of our
people—what a prophecy of the destiny that awaits her when every
foot of her
long stretches of prairie and her rich valleys shall have been
reduced to a
thoroughly scientific tillage! How long, at this rate, will it
be before the
centre of population and of wealth will have arrived at the
meridian line of
our city, and Chicago will have vindicated her right to be
recognized as the
great commercial metropolis of the United States? We verily
believe such is
the destiny that awaits her.*
The following article was written for the Democratic Press by
Rev. J. A.
Wight, for many years editor of The Prairie Farmer, now of Bay
City, Michigan.
I insert it for the permanent value of the facts it contains.
A TOPOGRAPHICAL VIEW OF CHICAGO AND VICINITY.
Capacity for Drainage—Character of Soil, with its adaptation to
Culture.
SOIL.
The soil upon which Chicago is situated, together with that of
its immediate
vicinity, is, like that of the whole western country, alluvial.
The chief
difference which obtains between it and that of the rolling
prairies inland,
is the probable result of the fact, that it is of later
deposite,
corresponding in this respect to its greater proximity to the
Lake Shore. It
consequently exhibits marks of rawness, as if, at no distant
period, it had
lain under water. The surface consists of a loam, varying not
much in
thickness from one foot, of an exceeding fineness, as if ground
in a mortar,
generally black in color but possessing in its native state no
very decided
strength.
This soil is underlaid in some places with sand, especially
along the Lake
Shore, of from one to five feet in thickness, when we come upon
abed of
reddish calcareous loam, extending downwards to the blue clay,
which underlies
the bed of the Lake, and all the country adjoining. Near the
rivers, and
westward from the Lake Shore, the sand is mostly wanting, except
in mixture
with the loam, which latter is often eight or ten feet in
thickness. The blue
clay before spoken of is
-----------------------
* These facts did much, to advertise Chicago. Even then it would
scarcely have
been believed that in successive years Chicago would be proved
to be the
largest lumber, beef and hog market in the world. Such has long
since been the
fact.
-----------------------
of exceeding pureness and tenacity, and extends downward from
twenty to one
hundred feet in depth. The calcareous subsoil is far superior in
quality to
the black soil above it, possessing, in fact, great resources
for production
if properly free from water, and aerified. The chief
characteristic of the
soil, mechanically considered, is its fineness. To this all its
good and bad
qualities are attached. As a consequence, it is in the best
condition to
promote an active growth of vegetation, but packs closely, and
holds water
with great tenacity, and resting as it does on a close subsoil,
it must of
necessity be wet until provided with a suitable drainage. It is
to this
mechanical condition of the soil that the region owes its
character of
wetness, and not to its want of height above the Lake, or of
variety in
service, as will easily be seen when another topic is
considered. That is
HEIGHT OF LAND.
The general idea of Chicago and vicinity is, that it is "low,"
"not higher
than the Lake," and consequently undrained and undrainable. The
eye says
that "it is a dead level;" and as the evidence of the eyes is
considered
beyond appeal, its character so passes. There is, however, an
authority on
such subjects higher than the eye, and to that we resort. That
authority is an
instrument called a "level," and as this instrument has traveled
over every
part of the region, and noted its observations in figures, we
shall have no
difficulty in reaching correct results.
Beginning then at a point four miles north of the mouth of the
Chicago river
on the Lake Shore, we find the bank of the Lake varying within
the compass of
a half mile, from twenty to forty feet above the Lake. Starting
thence due
west on a section line, and going one-half a mile, we find the
height—always
above the Lake—to be twenty-one and a fourth feet; thence still
west to the
bank of the North branch of the Chicago river, the height is six
feet and
thirty-nine hundredths. Still west two and a half miles the
elevation is
twenty-nine and a half feet.
Taking another and parallel section line, two and a half miles
north of the
mouth of the Chicago river, we find the Lake Shore elevated
seven and a half
feet; due west of this the river bank is eight and a fourth
feet; while at one
and a half miles still west we have a fraction less than twelve
feet, and at
two and a half miles twenty-seven feet elevation.
On the parallel section line half a mile north of the mouth of
the river, and
where that line crosses the city limit, the elevation is
twenty-three and a
third feet.
Coming south and taking Madison street, which commences about
half a mile
south of the mouth of the river, and following it westward till
it crosses the
city limit, the height is a little over ten feet, and at a point
three miles
still west, it is twenty-three and a third feet.
Following Twelfth street westward, the bank of the river is six
and a half
feet. At two miles west, the height is ten feet, and three
miles, nineteen
feet.
On the parallel section line commencing three and a half miles
south of the
mouth of the river and at the southern city limit, the elevation
is fifteen
and a fourth feet, and one mile still south it is sixteen and a
half feet.
At the junction of the Southern Michigan and Rock Island
Railroad, the
elevation is twenty feet, while the head of Blue Island is
seventy-six feet.
Within the city proper, the height of Michigan and Wabash
avenues varies from
ten to fifteen, feet, while the bank of the river is from five
to eight feet.
It is a truth, however, that there is an ebb and flow of the
Lake, extending
through periods of from five to ten years, equal to three or
four feet. These
periods of ebb and flow correspond entirely with the succession
of wet or dry
seasons which prevail, and which succeed each other. During the
succession of
five or eight years of continued wet weather, there will be a
continued rise
of the Lake which will give way during a similar period of
drouth. Our later
built stores and dwellings, all have or may have cellars beneath
them. At
present grades those along Lake and Water streets are from four
to six feet,
but as the grade rises year by year, as new buildings arise, the
height of
cellars increases in a corresponding ratio; and there is no
doubt that
buildings on these streets, erected five years hence, will have
six and eight
feet cellars—a thing which might just as easily have been
secured five years
ago as five years hence, had proprietors and city functionaries
been as quick
to see forward as laterally and backwards. Our dwellings might
have cellars of
any height we desire.
From this view it will be seen that our reputation of being a
wet city is not
due to want of elevation. For all practical purposes, we are as
well off as
New York or New Haven; and in fact as well off as though lifted
a hundred feet
more into the atmosphere. Had we a coarse gravely soil, our
streets would be
as dry as our rivals say we ought to be. Five years since, if
you walked out
upon an adjacent prairie, you might pass land which you would
pronounce to be
on a "level with the Lake," "a dead level," and "incapable of
drainage." To-
day it as dry as Rock Prairie. The "level" came along, and said
it was
eighteen feet high, and the ditch that followed the "level"
agreed with it.
Mud Lake, which was of old the cradle of pollywogs and leeches,
and swimming
ground, for ducks, is now tolerably fine ground, and this brings
us to the
next point.
DRAINAGE.
There are within the city four and a half miles of sewers put
down at a depth
of from five to eight feet below the surface. These extend along
our principal
streets, in the business portion of the city, and so far as the
removal of
surface water is concerned, answer, so far as they go, a
complete purpose.
This may be inferred from the facts already stated in regard to
cellars, since
a cellar without a drain is only a pool or an eel pit. Before
these sewers
were put down, no cellar could be dug either upon Lake or Water
streets except
in the dryest of seasons. There was never perhaps a city with
features better
fitted for drainage than this. The peculiar shape of its river,
with its two
branches, gives easy and short access to it from every section
of the town;
while there is, from every square rod of its surface, a gradual
and sufficient
inclination to the adjacent bank.
These sewers only need to be extended as they have been begun to
render the
town as dry as is desirable. As they are, however, of a
temporary and
experimental make, if they are also to be made channels of the
filth of the
town, they will require to be laid in a more permanent manner.
The lands adjacent to the city are correspondingly better
provided with
drainage than those within the limits. A law instituting a
commission for the
drainage of wet lands in Cook County was passed in the
Legislature of 1852 and
went immediately into operation, with Col. Henry Smith, Dr. C.
V. Dyer and
others as Commissioners, with Mr. J. L. .Hanchett, a competent
and experienced
engineer, as Surveyor. The work has been steadily prosecuted
until the present
time, nor has it yet been entirely completed. The assessments,
so far, amount
to above sixty thousand dollars, and seventy-six miles of ditch
have been
excavated. All of it, with the exception of seven or eight
miles, is made
double; that is, it consists of two parallel ditches with the
earth thrown up
between them so as to be used for roads if desired, in the end.
They are all upon section lines excepting one of three or four
miles; and
nearly all empty into the Chicago and Calumet rivers and their
branches.
The lands drained are those lying immediately adjacent to the
city, extending
about four miles north, five west, and ten south.
CAPACITY FOR PRODUCTION.
Every city is in a considerable degree dependent on its
immediate vicinity for
articles of consumption. The vegetables consumed here have
always, to a large
extent, been produced here. There is, perhaps, no better soil
for their
production than ours. The warm sands of the Lake Shore avail for
all early
products, and the strong loams on all sides, give ample returns
through all
the season. The soil exposed to the air, and supplied with
manures, which may
always be had in abundance for the hauling, produces with
remarkable
luxuriance, and of superior quality. No finer beets, or onions,
or cabbages,
or pie plant, or asparagus, or celery, can anywhere be found.
One thousand
bushels of onions are sometimes grown to the acre, and other
vegetables in
proportion. All the crops usual to the Northern States flourish
luxuriantly,
and of fruits, none refuse to ripen except such as are forbidden
of the
climate. At the same time grass is the more natural product, and
with culture
can be grown to any extent, either for pasturage or hay, in any
direction
landward from the town.
Of fruits, the apple and plum are more natural to the soil,
among the larger
fruits; while among the smaller, currants, gooseberries, and
strawberries, are
most at home. Cherries, pears and grapes are more or less
cultivated, and have
been these ten years. They are all grown with sufficient skill,
but are more
or less precarious everywhere on this side of the Lake, and some
of them on
all sides of it. Of the large cities in this latitude, we know
of no one which
on the whole has the advantage of ours in respect to
agricultural and
horticultural productions.
1855.
The railway article which I prepared for 1855 was the last of
the series of
our statistical reviews for that year. It contains a condensed
statement of
all of them.
The following are the closing paragraphs:
RAILWAYS.
The following list embraces the trunk roads and branches how
actually in
operation which have Chicago as their common focus:
Chicago and Milwaukee............................miles, 85
Racine and Mississippi..................................46
Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac.......................82
Galena and Chicago Union...............................121
Fox River Valley........................................32
Beloit Branch of the Galena.............................20
Beloitand Madison.......................................17
Galena Air Line........................................136
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy.........................210
Quincy Branch..........................................100
Chicago and Rock Island................................181
Mississippi and Missouri, 1st Division..................55
" " 2d " ..................13
Peoria and Bureau Valley................................47
Peoria and Oquawka......................................44
Chicago, Alton and St. Louis...........................260
Illinois Central.......................................626
Fort Wayne and Chicago..................................20
Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana.................242
Monroe Branch...........................................30
Michigan Central.......................................282
New Albany and Salem...................................284
Total miles of completed Road, 10 Trunk and
11 Branch Lines.............................miles, 2,933
Taking the sections and branches of the above roads that are in
the State of
Illinois, and adding the lengths to the last four mentioned in
our sketch,
which run east and west through the State, we find that there
are now in
actual operation in the State of Illinois TWO THOUSAND FOUR
HUNDRED AND TEN
MILES of railroad. Four years ago to-day there were only
ninety-five. The
world has never before seen so much physical progress in so
short a period.
The total number of trains, which now (mid-winter) arrive and
depart from the
city daily amount to fifty-eight passenger and thirty-eight
freight trains, in
all ninety-six. It is safe to add from 12 to 20 per cent, for
the number as
soon as the spring business opens, so that on the first of May
the number will
be at least from 110 to 115.
We know not how the earnings of our roads will compare with
those centering in
other cities. Let them publish a table showing, their receipts
and the public
will be able to make the comparison. Here is ours.
The following table shows the receipts of the railroads
centering in Chicago,
for the year 1855:
Passengers Freight Mail, etc.
Total
Chi. & Mil., our estimate ------ ------ ------
275,000.00
Chi., St. P. & Fond du Lac 25,507.38 47,721.41 ------
73,528.79
G. & C. U. 844,421.50 1,404,294.19 26,895.09
2,272,610.78
Chi., B. & Q. 810,062.83 432,570.13 13,221.43
1,255,854.39
Chi. & R. I. 728,966.26 570,712.69 27,350.00
1,327,028.95
C., A. & St. L., our estimate ------ ------ ------
600,000.00
Illinois Central 693,048.93 630,934.91 208,134.97
1,532,118.81
M. S. & N. I. ------ ------ ------
2,595,630.22
Mich. Central 1,461,414.41 1,098,650.15 90,170.92
2,650,235.37
N. A. & Salem 345,588.54 348,555.54 22,020.00
716,193.78
Total
13,298,201.09
In the above table we have not footed up the receipts for
passengers, freight,
mails and miscellaneous, as they were not furnished us by all
the roads. We
think, however, that the total receipts, more than thirteen
millions and a
quarter, will do very well for a city, which only four years ago
had only
forty miles of railroad completed and in operation.
As this is the last of four leading statistical articles,
published since the
first of January, it remains that we should give a brief
synopsis, that our
readers may see at a glance the progress of the last and the
three previous
years. We present the following
GENERAL SUMMARY.
Total number of miles of railroad centering in Chicago Feb.
16th,
1852...................40
Total number of miles now completed and in
operation..................................2,933
Increase in four years, or more than 700 miles per
year...............................2,893
Total number of miles projected, to be completed in from five to
eight
years..........6,449
Total number of miles of railroad in operation in the State of
Illinois Feb.
16th, 1852, four years
ago.............................................................95
Total number of miles now in
operation................................................2,410
Increase in the State in four
years...................................................2,315
The total earnings of all the railroads (40 miles) leading into
the city
during the year 1851,
say...........................................................$40,000
Total earnings of the road leading into the city for the year
1855..............$13,298,201.09
Increase in four years, thirteen and a quarter millions of
dollars..............$13,258,201.09
Total number of trains arriving and departing now (mid-winter)
daily, 96.
Add 12 to 20 per cent, when the spring business opens and the
number
will be
about.........................................................................1
10
Number of points at which the Chicago railroads reach the
Mississippi.....................8
Population of Chicago in
1852........................................................38,783
Population of Chicago in 1855, or nearly 150 per cent, in three
years................83,509
Total receipts of grain at Chicago for the year
1854....................bushels, 15,804,423
Total receipts of grain for 1855. Increase about 33 per
cent............bushels, 20,487,953
Total shipments of grain from the port of Chicago for the year
1855.....bushels, 16,633,813
Total number of hogs handled in Chicago for 1854-
5..................................138,515
Total value of the beef packed in Chicago in
1855................................$1,152,420.96
Receipts of lumber at the port of Chicago for
1855........................feet, 326,553,467
Now laid up in the port of Chicago, steamers, propellers, sail
vessels,
etc.............233
Total number of vessels arriving in Chicago during the last
year......................5,410
The total tonnage of vessels arriving in this port for
1855................tons, 1,608,845
Amount of imposts received on foreign goods at the Chicago
Custom
House............$296,844.75
Total amount of capital invested in manufactures during the year
1855;
showing $2,075,000 increase over the previous
year.............................$6,295,000
Total number of men employed in manufacturing (increase in 1855,
3,740)...............8,740
Total value of manufactured articles, (increase in 1855,
$3,161,491)............$11,031,491
Total amount expended in improvements, stores, dwellings,
hotels, etc.,
(increase in 1855,
$1,296,344).................................................$3,735,254
Had we time and space we might be tempted to dwell at length
upon the glowing
picture, suggested by the facts in the above general summary.
The figures are
themselves much more eloquent and absorbing than any language at
our command.
When the citizens of Chicago and the State of Illinois are
charged with
exaggeration by those who dwell in the finished cities and
States at the East,
they can point with Confidence and pride to the above facts, and
say, "gentlemen, here are the figures, sober, stubborn figures,
which cannot
lie." Such figures are more potent and convincing than a
thousand arguments,
and while they afford an index to a just conception of what the
West and its
great commercial centre now are, they point with unerring
significance to a
bright and glorious future. It has been asserted that the
kingdoms of Europe
were sifted of their most enterprising and their noblest men to
settle the
American colonies; and it may with equal justice be said, that
all the States
north of Tennessee and the Carolinas, have sent their most
energetic,
intelligent citizens, with a mighty host of untiring, energetic
men from
Europe, to settle and subdue that vast and magnificent country
lying between
the western shore of Lake Michigan and the Rocky Mountains.
Could any other
men and any other country have produced such results?
In canvassing these results, it should be remembered that twenty
years ago
Chicago was not a city. She was only an insignificant town at
the southern end
of Lake Michigan, and within that period, the wolves during the
night roamed
all over wThere the city now stands. It is but little more than
twenty-two
years since the Indians were removed west of the Mississippi,
under the
direction of Col. RUSSELL. Twenty years ago only an occasional
schooner of two
or three hundred tons visited Chicago; two hundred and
thirty-three vessels
are now wintering in her harbor, and the arrivals for the past
year were five
thousand four hundred and ten. Then Chicago imported most of her
provisions;
last year the beef packed in the city was worth $1,152,420.96.
She exported
16,633,818 bushels of grain, the value of which must have been
from twelve to
fifteen millions of dollars. She is now acknowledged to be the
greatest
primary grain port in the world, and purchasers from Europe find
it for their
advantage to buy largely in this market. The wheat that last
year was grown on
the prairies of Illinois, is now feeding the far-off subjects of
Victoria and
Napoleon. During the last year the citizens of Chicago
manufactured articles
to the value of eleven millions of dollars, and invested three
millions seven
hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars in substantial
improvements. Her
lumber trade reached the enormous amount of three hundred and
twenty-six and a
quarter millions of feet. When we contemplate our railroad
system the progress
is still more marked and amazing. Four years ago we had only
forty miles of
road leading into the city; now we have 2,933 miles completed
and in
operation. Our lines reach the Mississippi at eight different
points. Nearly a
hundred, and as soon as navigation opens, more than a hundred
trains of cars
will arrive and depart daily; and, if possible, more astonishing
than all this
is the fact that, for the last year, the earnings of these roads
have reached
the enormous sum of thirteen and a quarter millions of dollars.
The population
of Chicago has increased, in the mean time, from thirty-eight to
eighty-five
thousand—nearly one hundred and fifty per cent, in the short
space of three
years.
And yet, for all these railroads, Chicago, in her corporate
capacity, has
never expended a single dollar. Eastern and foreign capital,
proverbially
cautious, and even skeptical though it be, has done the mighty
work. There has
been no spasmodic effort to accomplish it. All has been done
quietly; the
wealth of soil, and the mineral treasures beneath it, affording
a sure basis
for a profitable, return for every investment. Compared with
other cities,
Chicago owes but a mere nominal sum.
Her principal debt is for her water works, and the revenue
derived from water
rents will, ere long, pay the interest, and in the end liquidate
the debt. She
has now adopted a general and it is believed an efficient plan
of sewerage,
for which an additional loan will be made, but the advantages to
be derived
from it will be a hundred fold more than the cost. Most of the
streets yet
remain to be paved, from the necessities of the case, plank
having been
heretofore used; but for this the adjoining property is taxed,
and we see no
occasion for an increase of her debt beyond the expense of the
sewerage and
the water works.
Does any one ask, are these things to continue? Is the progress
of the past
four years to go forward in the same ratio? These are questions
we dare not
answer.
Reader, while perusing these paragraphs, place your map before
you, attend
carefully to a few facts, and then answer these questions for
yourself.
Between the western shore of Lake Michigan and the Rocky
Mountains there are
700,000 square miles of territory, enough to make 14 States as
large as Ohio.
The productions of 50,000 square miles of that territory,
certainly with not
half its resources developed, have made Chicago what she is in
less than
twenty, and built her thousands of miles of railroads in four
years. Great and
astonishing as have been the achievements of our railroad kings,
they have as
yet merely penetrated the borders of this vast and magnificent
country. For
richness of soil, the character and extent of its mineral
treasures, for
manufacturing and commercial resources, and capacity for
sustaining a dense
population, its superior cannot be found upon the face of the
globe.
The progress of the city for the last four years has indeed been
wonderful;
but all intelligent men know that it has by no means been able
to keep pace
with the growth of the country that is tributary to it. As fast
as the
resistless advancing wave of population rolls over this vast
fertile country,
the railroad rushes onward and pours its commerce and its wealth
into the lap
of Chicago. Look at our mighty inland seas. Suppose it to be
May. Yonder noble
steamer is bound a thousand miles away to the head of Lake
Superior; that
propeller making the harbor has just arrived from Buffalo, a
voyage of another
thousand miles; and that joyous barque loaded with wheat has
cleared for
Ogdensburg, thirteen hundred miles, away beyond Lake Ontario on
the St.
Lawrence. Four years ago the commerce of these lakes had already
exceeded in
value the entire foreign commerce of the whole Union. And now
with these facts
before him, situated, as Chicago, is, at the head of these vast
inland seas
and holding the key to their commerce; with her railroads
piercing the vast
country that is tributary to her in all directions; and with a
ceaseless, ever-
deepening stream of the vigorous, the intelligent and the
enterprising
population of the Eastern States and of Europe, rolling over it
with ever-
increasing power; with the achievements and the progress of the
last four
years before him, he would be a bold, almost an insane reasoner
who should
dare to predict what the next ten years will accomplish.
Again our task is finished. The figures which represent the
commerce, the
manufactures and the improvements of our city for the past year,
and the
condition and the earnings of our railroads, have been placed
before the
readers of the Democratic Press. If our labors, year by year, in
this regard
have promoted in anywise the interests of our city and our great
and glorious
Northwest; if they have reached the dwellers among the bleak and
barren hills,
and the rock-ribbed mountains of the Eastern and the Middle
States, and
enticed the more enterprising away toward the setting sun; if
they, have had,
or hereafter may have, any influence in changing our broad
prairies into
fruitful fields, and in bordering our beautiful groves with
ample farm houses—
the homes of comfort, plenty, intelligence, virtue and
peace—though among the
many millions who are soon to people this mighty valley our
names should be
forgotten, may we not hope that we have contributed somewhat to
the happiness
and the progress of our race. Let us be assured of that, and we
have obtained
our greatest and most coveted reward.
THE GEORGIAN BAY CANAL.
Like all those who indulge in pets and pet measures, it is quite
likely, that
more space is given to the Georgian Bay Canal than it deserves;
but as I still
think the vast commerce of the Northwest will in some way be
quite sure to
force the building of it at no distant day, I deem it best to
preserve a
record of the articles and the measures that secured the survey
of the route
and attracted very wide attention to the project.
Probably the first knowledge that the people of Chicago and the
Northwest ever
had of the route for a ship-canal from the Georgian Bay to
Toronto, was
derived from a paragraph in an article by the late Andrew
Harvey, signed
ALPHA, on the Commercial Position of Chicago; published in the
Democratic
Press, February 3rd, 1853. He described the route in a general
way and gave a
very correct estimate of the effect its construction would have
on the
commerce of the city, and of the Northwest. He spoke of the
project as having
for a long time been discussed in Canada, but nothing had ever
been done even
to determine whether the work was feasible.
A few days after, while studying the map for some subject in
relation to the
growth or the development of the Northwest, I happened to notice
Lake Simcoe,
and the narrow strip of country between it and the Georgian Bay
on the one
side, and Lake Ontario on the other, and remembering the article
of Mr.
Harvey, I determined to find out all I could in reference to the
feasibility
of the route for a ship-canal. Going down to Water street I
found Col. G. S.
Hubbard, and Capt. McIntosh, who gave me the facts, from which I
prepared and
published next morning, February 10th, the following article. It
was headed—
SHIP CANAL FROM LAKE HURON TO TORONTO.
Our correspondent "Alpha," a few days ago stated that the plan
of a ship-canal
had been proposed, several years since, from Lake Huron through
Lake Simcoe to
Lake Ontario, at Toronto. The matter at once interested a large
number of our
business men, as well as ourselves, and we have been making
inquiries in
regard to the practicability of the work. Years ago our fellow
citizen,
Guerdon S. Hubbard, Esq., came from Montreal to this city with a
party of
voyagers, by this route. He expresses the conviction that the
work is entirely
feasible. Yesterday, with one of Mitchell's large maps of the
United States
before us, we learned a variety of facts from Capt. David
McIntosh, which
will; be interesting to our readers. Capt. McIntosh commanded a
steamer
running on Lake Simcoe for three years, and is perfectly
familiar with the
whole country.
Lying to the northeast of Lake Huron, and generally included in
the same name,
is in fact another lake called Manitouline, (Georgian Bay)
nearly as large as
lake Ontario. At the southeast end of this lake is Notawasaga
Bay, into which
a river of the same name enters. This river is navigable for
some distance,
and from the head of navigation to Kempenfeldt Bay, an arm of
Lake Simcoe, is
a distance of only twelve miles. Capt. Mcintosh says this is one
of the most
beautiful lakes on the Western Continent, seventy miles long and
twenty-eight
broad. The country between the Notawasaga river and Lake Simcoe
is free from
hills and very favorable to the construction of such a canal.
This route, both
Mr. Hubbard and Captain Mcintosh think, would be much more
favorable for a
canal than to improve the navigation of the Severn, the outlet
of the lake, as
it is much more direct, and the canal could be built, with much
less expense.
Having arrived at Lake Simcoe, let us see what obstacles are to
be overcome in
reaching Toronto. On the map a small river is put clown as
entering Lake
Simcoe from the south, called the Holland river. This river
Captain Mcintosh
says is navigable twelve miles, and from the head of navigation
on this stream
to Toronto, the distance is only thirty-six miles. This would
give us at most
forty-eight miles of canal to build.
The greatest difficulty that occurs to us is the feeding of the
summit level
between Lake Simcoe and Manitouline and Ontario. But from the
appearance of
the map before us, and from the information furnished us by
Captain Mcintosh,
this obstacle, it would seem, can be readily surmounted. The
summit of the
country between Lake Simcoe and Toronto lies on a low ridge
about sixteen
miles south of Lake Simcoe, and if the canal were put through
this range, it
could be fed from Lake Simcoe through to Lake Ontario. Lake
Simcoe, so far as
we can learn, is about 120 feet above Lake Manitouline, and 450
above Lake
Ontario. Immediately at the north end of Lake Simcoe is a fall
of some ninety
feet. A dam might probably be thrown across the Severn above the
falls,
raising the level of the lake very considerably so as to make it
feed both
summits. If it should not furnish water sufficient to feed the
canal, the
Trent, a large river running a few miles east of the lake, can
very easily be
turned into it, and will furnish any amount of water that may be
necessary.
Though the cutting should be one, two or even four hundred feet
for the first
few miles south of Lake Simcoe, the necessities of commerce will
fully warrant
the expenditure. Captain Mcintosh thinks the whole expense of
the work would
be far less than the cost of the Welland canal. It will be of
vastly greater
importance to our city and the entire West.
Let us suppose for a moment that the St. Lawrence is opened to
our shipping,
and we have reciprocal free trade with Canada. Our produce could
be shipped
direct to Europe with only a single transshipment at Montreal,
and that only
from vessel to vessel. The trade that would at once spring up
between this
city and Europe no sane man would now dare to estimate. And
again goods would
be imported direct to this city from Europe and Asia, and
Chicago would become
the great store-house and distributing centre of the whole
Mississippi valley.
Our warehouses would rival those of the Atlantic cities, and our
merchants,
the expressive language of the Scriptures, would be "princes."
The advantages
to our Canadian neighbors would be equally great. Montreal and
Toronto,
especially, have an immense interest at stake in the success of
this
enterprise. Has the proposed route ever been surveyed? Will our
Canadian
friends "agitate" the matter and give us their opinions and give
us what facts
they may have upon its practicability?
If nature has thrown "insurmountable" obstacles in the way we
give it up. What
we of the West want is free access to the ocean by every
possible outlet. Our
commerce and immense productions will tax them all to their
utmost capacity.
The late George Steele, a sturdy Scotchman who had lived several
years in
Canada, and one of the best business men Chicago ever had, sent
marked copies
of the Press containing this article to all the leading papers
in Canada, and
probably every one in the entire country published the article
and had
something to say upon the subject. We felt on this side that the
route for the
canal was in their country, and it was not our place to offer
any advice as to
its construction or the means by which it could be accomplished.
It continued
to be more or less discussed, and on June 12th, 1855, at the
close of a long
article on IMPROVING THE NAVIGATION" OF THE ST. LAWRENCE, I
published the
following paragraphs:
We have another suggestion to make to the commercial men of
Toronto and
Montreal, and to the Canadians generally, which we think well
worthy of their
attention. It is that instead of enlarging the Welland Canal,
they at once
build one of sufficient capacity to pass our largest propellers
from the head
of the Georgian Bay to Toronto. It will save at least 500 miles
of lake
navigation, avoiding the St. Clair Flats, the Detroit river,
Lake Erie, and
the Welland canal. We have understood from those who have
examined the ground
that the route is perfectly feasible, and there are only
forty-eight miles of
canal to build. Build this canal, and Chicago is practically as
near to
Montreal as it is to Buffalo, for so far as we can judge from
measuring on the
map, there is not a hundred miles difference in the distance
which a propeller
would have to steam in making the two ports. It is true that the
tolls on the
canal would make the freights to Montreal dearer than to
Buffalo; but when you
come to foot up the cost of transporting pork, beef, flour, and
produce to New
York or to Europe, it would show figures vastly in favor of the
Canadian
route. Will not our Canadian friends examine this subject and
give us the
result of their investigations?
The entire Northwest is deeply interested in the opening of all
new lines to
the seaboard, and in whatever will increase the capacity of
those now in
operation. So rapid is the settlement of our magnificent
prairies going
forward, and so vast are their agricultural resources, that
every line of
communication is already taxed almost to its utmost capacity,
and five years
will find them all utterly incapable to do the business which
will force
itself upon them. Let the Canadian capitalists build their
canals as fast as
possible, the West will crowd them with business as soon as they
are finished.
The Press of June 12th, 1855, contains another article on the
same subject. In
it I give further facts derived from Hon. Thomas Steers, of
Barre, Lake
Simcoe, and a subscription is proposed for surveying the route,
which Mr.
Steers started with a handsome sum. Other subscriptions were
made in Canada,
and I got some hundreds of dollars subscribed by our banks and
business men.
The Press of July 25th, 1854, has another article in which is
quoted the
action of the Toronto Board of Trade, in which a committee is
appointed to
raise subscriptions and arrange for a survey.
July 30th, a meeting of the Chicago Board of Trade is reported,
and favorable
resolutions were passed. A committee, to raise funds was
appointed, and to act
with committees of other cities. George Steele, Thos. Richmond,
B. S.
Shepherd, T. Jones, C. T. Wheeler, Hiram Wheeler, Wm. Bross,
Thos. Steers, and
R. S. King, were the committee. August 1st, I published a column
of extracts
from Canadian papers, and editorial on the same subject.
Important information
is added to what was then known in regard to the project.
Finally, the Toronto
Board of Trade invited delegates from similar bodies in the lake
cities to
meet there on the 13th of September, 1855, to elicit whatever
facts there
might be bearing on the feasibility of the work. Geo. Steele,
Thos. Richmond,
and myself, were appointed delegates. Mr. Richmond could not go;
Mr. S. and
myself attended. In order to show the Canadians the importance
of the work as
best I could, I made the following address to the convention:
Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Committee:
Mr. Crocker has presented you with some very interesting figures
in relation
to the lessening of the cost of transportation, if facilities
for using larger
vessels be afforded. Will you allow me to give you some facts
which may assist
you, and more especially that portion of the business public who
may not have
examined the subject, to appreciate the importance of a ship
canal from the
Georgian Bay to Toronto. It is proposed to construct another
great highway for
the commerce of the Upper Lakes to Lake Ontario, and thence to
the ocean.
Whether the labor and expense necessary to complete the work, if
they fall
within a reasonable estimate, after a careful survey shall have
been made,
would be usefully and profitably employed, must be determined by
the present
commerce of those lakes and its prospective extent and value in
the future.
The growth of that commerce for the last twenty years is one of
the most
astonishing facts in the commercial history of the world, and
forms an index
by which we may judge what is likely to be its history
hereafter. The report
of Mr. Andrews made to the Secretary of War, under the direction
of the
Congress of the United States, gives the value of the commerce
of the lakes
for the year 1851 at 326,000,000 of dollars, being more than the
entire
foreign commerce of the Union. We have no means to determine how
much of this
trade is due to Lake Michigan, but we have some figures by which
we can form
some idea of the value of that trade for the past year; and if
we consider the
extent of the territory from which that trade now comes, and the
vast region
from which it is TO COME, it will enable us to form some idea of
the
importance of the proposed canal to the future commerce of the
lakes.
The territory which has built up the city of Chicago, does not
extend beyond
the Mississippi, say two hundred miles west, and a hundred miles
north by a
hundred and fifty miles south would mark its bound aries in
these directions.
This gives us an area of fifty thousand square miles. Any of the
gentlemen
present, who may have traveled over the country west of Chicago,
know that its
resources are but very imperfectly developed. What was the trade
of Chicago
for the past year? She shipped 12,902,310 bushels of grain,
making her the
largest primary grain port in the world. She packed and shipped
alive over
100,000 hogs. There were slaughtered 23,691 cattle, and 10,957
were shipped
East alive.
The lumber receipts amounted to 248,336,783 feet.
The arrivals of vessels were 443 steamers, 409 propellers, 114
barques, 436
brigs, 3,049 schooners, and 70 sloops—total, 4,527. The total
tonnage as
registered in the Custom House, was 984,144 tons. The total
receipts of the
Custom House were for
1854.........................$575,802.85
1853..........................260,671.17
Increase in a single year....$315,131.68
The population of Chicago for a series of years will enable you
to form some
conception of its rapid growth, and the development of the
resources of the
country west of it:
1840.......4,479
1843.......7,580
1845......12,088
1846......14,169
1847......16,859
1848......20,023
1849......23,047
1850......28,269
1852......38,733
1853......60,652
1854......65,872
1855......83,509
The figures for the present year as given in the above table
include our
marine population, which were not included in the amount as
published in some
of the papers.
The total number without the marine is 80,028. The value of the
manufactured
articles as given in the census just taken is $9,827,700.
These are a specimen of some of the items in the trade of
Chicago for the past
year. What the trade of Waukegan, Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee
was, we have
no means of determining; but they were of course very
considerable, and tended
very materially to swell the trade of Lake Michigan. It should
be remembered
that so far as Chicago is concerned her trade was gathered from
about 50,000
square miles.
Let us now turn our attention to the country west of Lake
Michigan and
endeavor to form some idea of its extent and resources, that we
may estimate
as best we may what the trade of Lake Michigan is to be a few
years hence. Let
us take a stand-point at the mouth of the south fork of the
Platte River, say
nine hundred miles west of Chicago. Draw a line through this
point north and
south, and, though we are a long way east of the Rocky
Mountains, call the
rest of the country south of the Black Hills a desert. It will
be observed
that all the territory on the Yellow Stone and the Upper
Missouri lies west of
this line.
For our north and south line we begin at or near Alton at about
the thirty-
ninth degree of north latitude and go up to the northern
boundary of Minnesota
and Nebraska. The total distance will not vary much from six
hundred and fifty
miles. This gives us an area of territory of 585,000 square
miles. Add to this
115,000 square miles for the beautiful country on the Upper
Missouri and the
Yellow Stone and we have seven hundred thousand square miles of
as fine
country as can be found upon the face of the earth, whose
productions and
trade will swell beyond the figures of the wildest fancy the
commerce of the
lakes.*
It may be said that our north and south line reaches too far
south. All the
trade as far south as Alton will not seek the lake route, but a
large portion
of it will; and as you extend the radius west, say to
Independence, Missouri,
the line becomes very direct through Quincy to Chicago.
It is very easy to repeat the figures— 700,000 which represent
the number of
square miles contained in the territory we have named; but it is
a far
different thing to form a definite idea of the immense country
which yet
remains to be developed Avest of the Lakes. Let us make a few
comparisons to
assist us in our estimate of the future of the great Northwest.
It should be remarked, however, that there are many beautiful
valleys in the
Rocky Mountains, capable of sustaining a large population, and
more fertile
and beautiful than Switzerland, and enough to form half a dozen
such States.
Add up the number of square miles in all the States east of the
Mississippi,
except Wisconsin, Illinois and Florida, and you will find that
you will have
only 700,000. If you are startled and can scarcely believe the
figures, take a
newspaper and cut it in the shape of the territory I have named
east of the
Mississippi, and lay it on that west of Lake Michigan,
-----------------------
*This geographical fact was, so far as I know, first proved in a
long article
prepared by myself, June 27th, of the same year.
-----------------------
and study the map in every possible form and you will be forced
to the
conclusion that the Northwest contains a territory larger than
the twenty-
three older States we have alluded to east of the Mississippi.
These States
contain some 20,000,000 inhabitants.
But again, England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland contain in all
115,000 square
miles, only one-sixth of the Territory of the Northwest, and
have a population
of 26,000,000. Were the territory we have named equally
populous, it would
contain 156,000,000. Turkey, Austria and France, have in the
aggregate 361,000
square miles and a population of 84,000,000. Need it be wondered
at that in
speaking of the Northwest, Western men are obliged to use terms
which
venerable old fogies regard as extravagant and even absurd? The
simple fact is
that this territory is large enough to make fourteen States of
50,000 square
miles each, and is vastly more fertile and capable of sustaining
a population
many times larger than all the older States of the Union.
A few words as to the resources of the country under
consideration. In
minerals it is especially rich. It contains the largest and the
richest
deposits of lead and copper that are known to exist anywhere
upon the globe. I
need hardly say that I allude to the copper mines of Lake
Superior, and the
lead district of which Galena is the centre. Iron and coal are
also found in
great abundance.
In speaking of its climate and productions, it should be known
that the
isothermal or climatic lines bend far away to the north as we go
west toward
the Rocky Mountains. If we mistake not, it is nearly as warm at
the north bend
of the Missouri as it is at Chicago. Owing to this fact and the
richness of
the country, the buffalo range nearly up to the south line of
British America.
The agricultural resources of these 700,000 square miles are
absolutely beyond
the power of man to estimate. It is the opinion of some of the
best informed
men that the great plains over which the buffalo now range in
countless
thousands, must after all become the great corn-growing sections
of the Union.
There too will be reared the countless herds of cattle and the
hogs, driven to
Chicago, to be packed in beef and pork to feed the Eastern
States, with an
abundance to spare for all the nations of Europe.
And now, Mr. President and gentlemen, with the vast extent and
the
agricultural and mineral resources of the country west of the
Lakes before us,
what is the commerce of these lakes to be in the next twenty
years? It is
settling with most astonishing rapidity. Our railroads are
piercing this vast
territory in all directions. They now reach the Mississippi at
Cairo, Alton,
Burlington, Rock Island and Dubuque; and more than a hundred
trains a day
arrive at and depart from Chicago. They will soon be extended
through
Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, and no one can tell where they
will end till
they reach the Pacific. If the products of the West, gathered
from only 50,000
square miles, have built up a city of 83,000 people in the short
space of
eighteen years—for it is only a few months more than that since
it was
incorporated—who dares to estimate what the next twenty years
will accomplish?
I once heard Captain Hugunin, a veteran sailor of our city, who
commenced his
eventful career on Lake Ontario in 1812, after referring to the
growth and the
endless prospective value of the products of the West, say that
"the great
God, when he made the mighty West, made also the Lakes and the
mighty St.
Lawrence to float its commerce to the ocean;" and I might add,
as well attempt
to lead the boiling current of Niagara to the sea in hose pipe,
as to ship the
products of these 700,000 square miles to the ocean by the Erie
and the Well
and Canals, and all the railroads now or hereafter to be
constructed. The West
needs the Georgian Bay Canal and every other avenue to the ocean
that can
possibly be opened.
The result was the survey of the route by Kivas Tully, and Col.
R. B. Mason,
of Chicago, as consulting engineer. It was proved perfectly
practicable but
expensive, costing by their estimate at prices then ruling,
$22,170,750. The
financial crash of 1857-8 stopped all further proceedings in
regard to it; but
the charter for the work passed into the hands of a Company of
which F. C.
Capreol, Esq., is, and for a long time has been, President. By
his
indefatigable labors the enterprise has been kept before the
public and its
feasibility and great practical value to Canada and the
Northwest has been
proved and thoroughly illustrated. Pity it is that the work is
not likely to
be completed in his lifetime. It will be, when completed, in my
judgment, to
the commerce of the Lakes what the Suez Canal is to that of
Europe and the
world.
A brief statement of the character of the work will be found in
an address
made at Des Moines, January 22nd, 1873, to be found towards the
close of this
volume.
Transcription Part 4
1856.
At the close of my railway article for 1856 I made the following
synopsis of
the railways and the business of the city for that year.
The following list embraces the trunk roads actually completed
and in
operation, with their branch and extension lines, centering in
Chicago:
Miles.
Chicago and Milwaukee..........................85
Racine and Mississippi.........................86
Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac.............121
Milwaukee and Mississippi, Western Divis'n....105
Galena and Chicago Union......................121
Fox River Valley...............................33
Wisconsin Central...............................6
Beloit Branch..................................20
Beloit and Madison.............................17
Mineral Point..................................17
Galena (Fulton) Air Line......................135
Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska.....................13
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy................210
Burlington and Missouri.......................30
Northern Cross................................100
Hannibal and St. Joseph........................30
Chicago and Rock Island.......................182
Mississippi and Missouri, 1st Division.........55
do do 3rd do ..........13
Peoria and Bureau Valley.......................47
Peoria and Oquawka............................143
Chicago, Alton and St. Louis..................283
Illinois Central..............................704
Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne and Chicago..............383
Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana........242
Cincinnati, Peru and Chicago...................28
Michigan Central..............................282
New Albany and Salem..........................284
11 Trunk and 17 Branch and Extension lines..3,676
Taking the portions of the above lines which lie in the State of
Illinois, and
adding the length of the different roads completed in the
central portions of
the State, we find that Illinois now contains TWO THOUSAND SEVEN
HUNDRED AND
SIXTY-ONE MILES OF COMPLETED RAILWAY. Five years ago we had only
ninety-five
miles. These facts show a most gratifying progress, of which
every citizen of
Illinois may well be proud.
The total number of trains which now (midwinter) arrive at and
depart from
Chicago daily is 104. Adding 15 per cent. for the number as soon
as navigation
opens, and we have 120. The amount of freight, the number of
passengers, and
the wealth and the business which these trains daily pour into
the lap of
Chicago can easily be appreciated by those who are on the ground
and will take
pains to examine the subject for themselves.
The earnings of our different railway lines during the past year
have been of
the most satisfactory character. We should like to see the
receipts of the
different lines centering in other cities, that a comparison
might be made.
When it is remembered that five years ago we had but forty miles
of railway,
earning perhaps $40,000, the contrast is truly amazing. We
present the
following TABLE, showing the Earnings of the Railroads centering
in Chicago,
for the year 1856.
Passengers Freight Mail, etc.
Total
Chi. & Mil., our estimate ------ ------ ------
275,000.00
Chi., St. P. & Fond du Lac 25,507.38 47,721.41 ------
73,528.79
G. & C. U. 844,421.50 1,404,294.19 26,895.09
2,272,610.78
Chi., B. & Q. 810,062.83 432,570.13 13,221.43
1,255,854.39
Chi. & R. I. 728,966.26 570,712.69 27,350.00
1,327,028.95
C., A. & St. L., our estimate ------ ------ ------
600,000.00
Illinois Central 693,048.93 630,934.91 208,134.97
1,532,118.81
M. S. & N. I. ------ ------ ------
2,595,630.22
Mich. Central 1,461,414.41 1,098,650.15 90,170.92
2,650,235.37
N. A. & Salem 345,588.54 348,555.54 22,020.00
716,193.78
Total
13,298,201.09
MOVEMENT OF PASSENGERS.
The movement of passengers forms a new and interesting feature
in our railway
statistics. The returns of the four principal roads running west
from the city
show the following
West East
Thro'. Way. Total. Thro'. Way. Total.
C., St. P. & F. 2,217 26,846 29,063 2,530 26,579 29,109
G. & C. U. 72,707 199,766 272,473 42,552 169,907 212,459
C., B. & Q. 31,433 100,540 131,973 25,492 95,940 121,431
C. & R. I. 48,978 157,178 206,157 30,439 138,575 169,014
Total 155,335 484,330 639,666 101,013 431,001 532,013
This table shows that these four railways alone have taken west
107,653
passengers more than they brought back people enough to redeem
another
sovereign State from the dominion of the panther and the savage,
and add
another star to the banner of our glorious Union. During the
early part of the
year a large emigration found its way to Kansas and Nebraska
over the Chicago,
Alton & St. Louis Railway, by land, and also on the Ohio and
other tributaries
of the Mississippi. Many were also landed from the lower lake
and the
Collingwood steamers at Milwaukee and other cities north of us,
so that there
can scarcely be a doubt that at least 250,000 people found their
way west of
the meridian of Chicago and north of the southern line of
Missouri during the
past year.
If the passenger movement on the Michigan Southern corresponds
with that on
the Michigan Central, the above results agree with sufficient
accuracy with
those of the four leading Western lines. They would be as
follows:
West East
Thro'. Way. Total. Thro'. Way. Total.
Mich. Central. 117,662 215,119 332,781 64,187 194,697 258,884
M.S. (estimate) 117,662 215,119 332,781 64,187 194,697 258,884
Total 235,324 530,238 665,562 128,374 389,394 517,768
This table would show, on the above hypothesis, that these two
lines brought
147,794 passengers west more than they took back, leaving about
40,000 to
remain in this city or to find their way west of us by other
lines. If we make
a fair estimate for the movement of passengers on the Milwaukee
and St. Louis
roads, from which no returns were received, the total movement
on the
principal railway lines centering at Chicago would be about
3,350,000
passengers.
This is the last of four leading statistical articles published
since the
first of January lust, and we now give at a single glance the
main facts
contained in all of them. We present, therefore, the following
GENERAL SUMMARY.
Total number of miles of railway cen-
tering in Chicago Feb. 20, 1852...........................40
Total number of miles now completed and in operation.....3,676
Increase in 1856...........................................915
Total number to be completed in from five to
eight years............................................6,929
Total number of miles of railway in the State of
Illinois now in operation..............................2,761
Increase in 1856 (Only 95 miles were completed five
years ago.)..............................................351
Increase in the State in five years,
(over 500 miles per year)..............................2,666
Total earnings of all the railways centering in
Chicago for the year 1856 (Five years ago they
were only $40,000)...............................$17,343,242.83
Increase in five
years..............................17,303,242.83
Increase of 1856 over
1855...........................4,045,041.74
Total number of trains arriving and departing
daily (midwinter) 104; adding 15 cent, as
soon as navigation opens.................................120
Population of Chicago in 1852...........................38,783
Population of Chicago Jan. 1, 1857, estimate
(in June, 1855, it was 83,509).......................110,000
Total receipts of grain in Chicago for
the year 1855, bushels............................20,487,953
Total receipts of grain—being the largest
primary grain port in the world—for the year 1856
(increase in 1856 over 20 per cent.) bushels......24,674,824
Total shipments of grain from the port of
Chicago for the year 1856, bushels................21,583,221
Total amount of corn received in 1856, bushels......11,888,398
Total amount of wheat received in 1856, bushels......9,392,365
Total number of hogs alive and dressed
received in Chicago for 1855-6.......................308,539
Total number of shipments alive and dressed............170,831
Averaging the weight at only 200 lbs. and the
price at $5 per hundred, the value of the hogs
received would be.................................$3,585,880
Number of barrels of beef packed in 1856................33,058
Receipts of lumber at the port of Chicago for
the year 1856—being the largest lumber market
in the world-feet................................456,673,169
Receipts of lead for the year 1856, lbs..............9,527,506
Now-laid up in the port of Chicago, steamers
and sail vessels.........................................245
Total number of vessels arriving in
Chicago for the year 1856..............................7,328
Total tonnage of vessels arriving in
this port for the year 1856........................1,545,379
Amount of imposts received at the Chicago
Custom House on foreign goods for the past year.....$162,994.31
Total amount of capital invested in manufactures
during the year 1856—showing an increase of
$1,464,400 over 1855..............................$7,759,400
Total number of hands employed—showing an
increase over 1855, of 1,833..........................10,573
Total value of manufactured articles,
showing an increase of $4,483,572................$15,515,063
Total amount invested during the year 1856 in
improvements, stores, dwellings, hotels, etc.
showing an increase over 1855, of $1,973,370......$5,708,624
Total number of passengers carried west by
four principal railways leading out of Chicago.......639,666
Total number remaining west above those who
returned on these four lines.........................107,653
Total number of passengers moved on all the roads
centering in Chicago...............................3,350,000
The above facts and figures will be regarded with special
satisfaction by all
our citizens, and by the people of the Northwest generally. They
show a
healthy, but rapid and most astonishing progress. It may be
doubted whether
the whole history of the civilized world can furnish a parallel
to the
vigorous growth and rapid development of the country which has
Chicago for its
commercial metropolis.
When it is remembered that twenty years ago she was not an
incorporated city,
and less than a quarter of a century since, the Indians still
had possession
of the largest portion of this magnificent country, these facts,
stubborn and
incontestible though they be, seem more like the dreams of some
vagrant
imagination than sober matters of reality, which scores of men
still among us
have themselves seen and realized.
Twenty years ago Chicago was an insignificant town at the
southern end of Lake
Michigan, importing nearly all her produce from Western New York
and Northern
Ohio.
Last year she shipped 21,583,221 bushels of grain, and her total
receipts were
over twenty-four and a half millions. Half a dozen years ago she
had only a
single railroad some twenty miles long entering the city; now
she has 3,676
miles completed and in operation, and the earnings of these
lines for the last
year amount to the enormous sum of $17,343,242.83. The increase
of earnings
during the past year is over four millions of dollars. More than
a hundred
trams of cars arrive and depart daily. Her trade in lumber
exceeds by far that
of any other city in the world, amounting to 456,673,169 feet.
Ten years ago
her manufactures were in their infancy and were scarcely worthy
of
commendation. Last year the capital invested amounted to
$7,759,400, and the
value of manufactured articles to more than FIFTEEN MILLIONS AND
A HALF OF
DOLLARS. Half a dozen years ago Chicago was reproached as being
a city of
wooden shanties; last year she invested in magnificent stores,
many of them
with superb marble and iron fronts, elegant palatial residences
and other
improvements, $5,708,624. And wonderful as has been the progress
of the city,
it has not been able to keep pace with the improvements of the
country by
which she is surrounded.
The statistics of the movement of population westward show that
people enough
found their homes west of Chicago during the past year to form
two entire
States. Nor is this a movement of mere human bone and muscle; it
is a
concentration upon our rich rolling prairies and amid our
beautiful groves of
a vast host of active, vigorous, intelligent men, who plant
schools and
churches wherever they settle, and bring with them all the
elements of an
enterprising Christian civilization—a deep, controlling, ever
abiding
reverence for liberty and for law. They are laying the
foundations for an
empire of whose wealth, intelligence and power the sun in all
his course has
never seen the equal. Ere the next quarter of a century shall
have rolled
away, the beautiful valleys of the Upper Missouri, the Yellow
Stone, the
Platte, and the Kansas, aye, and even that of the Red River of
the North, will
all have been settled, and this ever-deepening current of
emigration will meet
an equally resistless stream from the Pacific coast, and roll
back in mingling
eddies from the summits of the Rocky Mountains. Fourteen States
as large as
Ohio, but on an average more wealthy and populous, will have
grown up on the
magnificent country between the Lakes and the Rocky Mountains,
and how many
will repose upon the "Pacific slope" we dare not attempt to
predict.
During the last year our steamers have run without interruption
to the head of
Lake Superior, and our exports to the Atlantic seaboard have
largely
increased. Nor is this all. The Dean Richmond was loaded with
wheat at the
wharves of Chicago and Milwaukee and discharged her cargo into
the warehouses
of Liverpool. The practicability, and the profit too, of direct
trade with
Europe have been demonstrated; and as soon as navigation opens,
other vessels
will follow in the track of the Dean Richmond; and in the
judgment of those
who have most carefully studied this subject, a very few years
will render the
departure of vessels for the grain-consuming countries of Europe
so common as
scarcely to excite remark. Our Canadian neighbors are becoming
fully convinced
that their best interests require greater facilities for the
transit of
western produce to the ocean and the enlargement of the Welland
Canal and the
construction of the Georgian Bay or the Ottawa Ship Canal is now
regarded as a
prime necessity of commerce. Our railway lines are constantly
being extended
through the magnificent country west of us a country whose
mineral,
agricultural and commercial resources no man has yet had the
nerve to
estimate. To the citizen of Chicago who has at heart the
material, social and
religious welfare of the millions who are to succeed us, every
aspect of the
horizon east, west, north and south, is full of promise and
joyous hope.
Presenting our congratulations to the readers of the Press, we
offer to them,
to all, the inspiring motto, COURAGE! ONWARD!!
The following little address contains some facts which perhaps
will excuse its
insertion here:
EXTENT AND RESOURCES OF THE NORTHWEST, TRADE WITH CANADA, ETC.
Remarks of Wm. Bross, Esq., at the Great Railway Celebration at
Montreal,
Wednesday, Nov. 12th, 1856, in response to the toast "The City
of Chicago," as
reported in the Montreal Gazette, Nov. 13th.
Wm. BROSS, ESQ., Editor of the Chicago Democratic Press,
responded. He thanked
the last speaker for the flattering mention that had been made
of Chicago, and
said:
This is eminently, Sir, a practical age. And while this is true,
it is not
wanting in those elements which appeal to and arouse the nobler
and more
generous emotions of the soul. The facts and the figures, which
represent the
onward progress of our Christian civilization, so far from being
dry and
uninteresting, are themselves eloquent and absorbing, and even
the most
exalted genius has not disdained to embody them in our
literature, and to
celebrate their benign influence upon the happiness of mankind
in the magic
numbers of poetry. Next to Christianity itself, commerce has the
most direct
and powerful influence to bind together, in a community of
interest and
feeling, all the families of our race, and to cultivate those
kindlier
sympathies which teach man to recognize a brother in his fellow
man in
whatever land or clime he may be found.
This celebration is intended to honor the opening of another
great
thoroughfare from the teeming prairies of the West to the
Atlantic seaboard.
While others have enjoyed the pleasing task of dwelling on the
social themes
suggested by this event, and believing as I do in the eloquence
of facts and
figures, will you permit me, Sir, to notice its great commercial
importance.
Canadian enterprise was never more wisely employed than when it
devoted its
energies to complete another highway from the Mississippi to
Montreal and
Quebec, and to Portland in Maine, the most eastern, as she
certainly is one of
the fairest stars in our glorious galaxy of States.
Permit me, in this connection, to notice briefly the extent and
rapidity of
settlement, and the resources of the magnificent country of
which Chicago is
the commercial centre, and which you have bound to your City by
iron bands by
the completion of the Grand Trunk Railway. Let any one study
carefully the map
of the Northwest, and he will find within the bounds of the
United States,
lying between Lake Michigan and the Rocky Mountains, and within
the reach of
the trade of the lakes south, say the latitude of Alton, 700,000
square miles
of territory—enough to form fourteen States as large as Ohio. It
is very easy
to repeat these figures, but let us make some comparisons in
order that we may
form some just and definite conception of their magnitude. All
the States east
of the Mississippi, except Wisconsin, Illinois and Florida,
contain only about
700,000 square miles. Again, England, Ireland, Wales and
Scotland,
constituting the British empire, leading, as her position is in
the
civilization, wealth and power of the world, contain only
115,000 square
miles, and yet they have a population of 26,000,000. The
countries of Turkey,
Austria and France contain in the aggregate 361,000 square
miles, and sustain
a population of 84,000,000.
The climate of the region under consideration is exactly fitted
to produce a
hardy and enterprising people. Its mineral deposits of iron,
lead, copper and
coal are unsurpassed in extent and richness, and, unbroken by
mountains, its
agricultural resources are exhaustless and truly amazing. It is
said by
competent authority that every acre will maintain its man; but
giving ten to
each, within the next half dozen centuries, if peace and
prosperity crown the
land, it is destined to contain 450,000,000 of people. Such is
the vast and
magnificent country with which you have become socially and
commercially
connected at all times and in all seasons by the Grand Trunk,
the Great
Western, and the Michigan Central Railways.
The rapidity with which the borders of this immense region—for
at least five-
sevenths of it is still the home of the panther, the buffalo and
the savage—is
one of the most astonishing wonders of the age. Within half the
lifetime of
many who hear me, there were not ten thousand white inhabitants
in all this
territory; their number now will range from one and a half to
two millions.
Twenty years ago Chicago was a small town at the southern end of
Lake
Michigan, and at night the howl of the prairie wolf might be
heard from all
its dwellings; now it is a city of more than a hundred thousand
inhabitants.
Twenty years ago Chicago imported nearly all her pork, beef and
flour; this
year she will export 20,000,000 bushels of grain, and her beef,
both in
quantity and quality, leads the markets of the world. Five years
ago the State
of Illinois had completed 95 miles of railways; now she has more
than 2,400.
At that time there was but one railway, forty miles long,
entering Chicago;
there are now ten trunk and a great number of branch lines, and
counting in
most cases but a single State beyond our own, there are now more
than three
thousand miles of railway centering in the city, and on these
more than a
hundred trains of cars arrive and depart daily. The earnings of
these roads
last year reached the enormous sum of $13,300,000, and this year
they will
amount to from 17 to 20,000,000 of dollars. What is a matter of
special pride
is, that some of these lines are among the best paying roads in
the Union. But
the country is increasing, if possible, much faster than
Chicago, its
commercial metropolis. Only some seven or eight years ago,
Minnesota was
organized into a territory, and her white inhabitants were told
by a few
hundreds; now she has at least 130,000, and will knock at the
door of Congress
at the next session for admission as a sovereign State.
But, Sir, it may be interesting to you to know what the extent
of the trade
between the ports of Canada and Chicago is. And here let me
acknowledge my
indebtedness for these figures to J. Edward Wilkins, Esq., the
very able and
excellent Consul of Her Britannic Majesty at Chicago:
IMPORTS.
Vessels. Tons.
1854 5 1,193 £5,178 2 6 $24,855
1855 77 16,617 28,856 6 8 138,520
1856, to Nov. 1 95 22,664 40,892 8 4 194,843
EXPORTS.
Vessels. Tons.
1854 6 1,482 £16,429 7 6 $79,101
1855 61 13,010 173,922 1 8 834,826
1856, to Nov. 1 97 23,377 174,838 5 9 829,223
These figures, it should be borne in mind, represent the trade
in British
vessels alone. The exports from Chicagd to Canadian ports are
much larger than
the figures here given, as produce is shipped largely by the
Collingwood and
the Michigan Central lines, by Ogdensburg and by independent
American vessels.
The total amount of sales this year at Chicago to Canadian
merchants is
estimated by Mr. Wilkins at about $2,500,000. This large trade
has sprung up
mainly within the last two years, and owes its success to the
enlightened
statesmanship of those who framed and secured the passage of the
reciprocity
treaty. But, Sir, we, of Chicago, hope that this trade is but in
its infancy.
The Creator when he formed the great Lakes and the St. Lawrence,
intended that
the commerce of the mighty and teeming West should be borne on
their broad
bosom to the ocean, and I think, Sir, it requires no great
amount of
geographical and philosophical sagacity to discover that while
Chicago is to
be the great central commercial city of the North American
continent, Montreal
is to bo one of the great commercial emporiums of the seaboard.
That is
virtually your position. It needs but the enlarging of the
Welland Canal and
the construction of another great work, the Georgian Bay and
Ontario Ship
Canal, to secure for Montreal this proud position beyond a
peradventure. We
have an earnest of what can be done. Only a few weeks ago the
Dean Richmond
was loaded at Chicago and Milwaukee, passed out through your
magnificent river
and canals, and landed her cargo of wheat on the docks of
Liverpool. This,
Sir, I regard as one of the greatest triumphs of commercial
enterprise. But
let not the merchants of Montreal fear that, if the Georgian Bay
Canal be
built, and the Welland enlarged, the rich trade of the West will
go by her. So
far from that, it will make one of its chief depots here. Lines
of propellers
will bring the produce of the West here, and from them it will
be transhipped
in Ocean going steamers. May we not hope, Sir, that Montreal
merchants will
give us such a line next year on the opening of navigation? Let
it be
understood that Chicago merchants can import speedily nnd surely
goods from
Europe by this line, and our word for it, it will not be three
years before
Montreal will secure the lion's share of the trade of the West.
I am well
aware, Sir, that these remarks may be condemned, and perchance
excite the
ridicule of my friends on the other side of the line. The
far-seeing sagacity
of DeWitt Clinton planned, and New York enterprise built, the
Erie Canal, thus
securing for a time for the great American metropolis the vast
trade of the
mighty West. But, Sir, there is enough for them and for you.
Commerce knows no
national lines. Protect her, and she blesses alike the loyal
subjects of the
British Queen and those who recline proudly beneath the Stars
and Stripes of
our own glorious Union. Aye, Sir, she has bound us, and may she
continue to
bind us together in a community of interest and feeling, and
accursed be the
hand that would sever these bonds, so productive of everything
that promotes
the onward progress of Christian civilization. I give you, Sir,
in conclusion—
"Montreal and Chicago — England, Canada, and the American Union;
in all
efforts to promote the arts of peace, and to secure the
advancement of our
race in intelligence and Christian civilization, may they be
'NOW AND FOREVER,
ONE AND INSEPERABLE.'"
1857
From our railway review for 1857, prepared by myself, the
following synopsis
is taken.
The following list embraces the trunk roads actually completed
and in
operation, with their branch and extension lines, centering in
Chicago:
Miles.
Chicago and Milwaukee................................85
Kenosha and Rockford.................................11
Racine and Mississippi...............................86
Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac...................131
Milwaukee and Mississippi, Western Divis'n..........130
Galena and Chicago Union............................121
Fox River Valley.....................................34
Wisconsin Central.....................................8
Beloit Branch........................................20
Beloit and Madison...................................17
Mineral Point........................................32
Dubuque and Pacific..................................29
Galena (Fulton) Air Line............................136
Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska...........................36
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy......................210
Burlington and Missouri..............................35
Quincy and Chicago..................................100
Hannibal and St. Joseph..............................65
Chicago and Rock Island.............................182
Mississippi and Missouri, 1st Division...............55
do do 2nd do..................20
do do 3rd do..................13
Peoria and Bureau Valley.............................47
Peoria and Oquawka..................................143
Chicago, Alton and St. Louis........................284
Illinois Central....................................704
Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne and Chicago....................383
Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana..............242
Cincinnati, Peru and Chicago.........................28
Michigan Central....................................282
New Albany and Salem................................284
11 Trunk and 20 Branch and Extension lines........3,953
The above table shows an increase to the Chicago system of
railroads during
the past year, of 277 miles. Though falling very far short of
the progress of
each of the past few years, considering the season of disaster
and panic of
the past few months, it is all and even much more than could
have been
expected. Most of this increase has been added in the State of
Iowa.
Adding the length of the completed lines in the central part of
the State to
that portion of the lines in the above table that lie within her
boundaries,
we find that Illinois has TWO THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND
SEVENTY-FIVE' MILES
OF RAILWAY completed and in operation. The exact figures may
vary a trifle
from this result, but the difference cannot be a dozen miles
either way. In
1850 Illinois had only 95 miles of railway completed. Such a
result in so
short a period is a just cause of honest pride to every citizen
of our noble
State.
The number of trains arriving and departing daily does not
differ materially
from that of the previous year, when we found them to be one
hundred and
twenty. There is not an hour in the day unbroken by the
screaming whistle of
the locomotive, and some hours the screeching is scarcely
interrupted for a
moment.
The earnings of the railroads centering in the city, all things
considered, it
is believed will fully meet expectations. When it is remembered
that six years
ago the earnings of all our railroads did not exceed $40,000, 40
miles of the
Galena road only being completed, this result is truly
astonishing. No other
country in the world has ever witnessed such progress.
The following table shows the earnings of all the railways
centering in
Chicago for the year 1857:
Passengers Freight Mail, etc. Total
Chi. & Mil. ------ ------ ------ 522,731.92
Rac. & Mis. ------ ------ ------ 271,608.44
C., St. P. & F. 239,308.19 178,452.66 11,544.54 429,305.39
Mil. & Mis. 1/2 (vide receipts in full) 441,408.94
G. & C. U. 726,909.58 1,321,737.67 69,258.72 2,117,904.97
F. R. Val. (our estimate) 30,000.00
Min. Pt. 8,465.29 14,465.87 650.35 23,581.51
Du. & Pa. 28,720.07 22,676.09 273.89 51,660.05
C. I. & N. 1,552.21 11,630.39 448.05 19,830.65
C., B. & Q. 592,565.81 1,280,522.76 16,497.92 1,889,586.49
B. & Mo. 30,618.45 17,836.38 589.75 49,044.58
Q. & C. 145,422.12 173,011.04 18,890.73 337,323.89
C. & R. I. 742,949.84 882,384.16 55,967.57 1,681,101.57
Miss. & Mo. 147,911.35 148,244.30 ------ 296,155.74
C., A. & St. L. 442,434.18 523,806.43 32,068.86 998,309.47
Ill. Cent. 1,064,978.46 1,037,987.55 190,998.56 2,293,964.57
P., F. W. & C. 941,175.14 653,916.61 53,787.48 1,652,727.95
M. S. & N. I. 1,316,478.21 833,053.80 31,592.96 2,186,124.97
Mich. Central 1,447,526.78 1,130,819.25 78,125.33 2,656,471.36
N. A. & S. (our estimate) 631,868.00
Total 18,590,520.26
Several new lines have been added to the above list during the
past year, but
in order that we may form definite ideas of the aggregate effect
of the panic
on our railways, we present the earnings of the twelve roads
then reported for
each year.
EARNINGS.
1856 1857
C. & M. $650,000.00 $522,731.92
C., St. P. & F. 137,303.67 429,305.39
G. & C. U. 2,456,045.80 2,117,904.97
F. R. V. 50,000.00 30,000.00
C., B. & Q. 1,627,029.61 1,899,586.49
N. C., 6 m 215,222.79 347,323.89
C. & R. I. 1,751,704.60 1,681,101.57
C., A. & St. L. 1,000,000.00 998,309.48
Ill. Cent. 2,469,533.67 2,293,964.57
M. S. & N. I. 3,114,756.06 2,186,124.97
Mich. Central 3,128,154.10 2,656,471.36
N. A. & S. 743,492.53 631,868.00
Total $17,343,242.83 $15,784,692.60
This table certainly affords us a most gratifying result. Amid
all the panic
and disaster of the last year, with all the satanic efforts of
certain
journals in New York and other cities to destroy all railway
values, the
earnings of twelve railways centering in this city for 1857,
fell short of
their aggregate earnings in 1856 $1,558,550.23, which is some
ten per cent.
less than their receipts in a year of great prosperity and
progress. In all
the dark days through which we have passed, the Daily Press has
steadily
labored to inspire confidence and hope, and the results of
careful comparisons
in every department of business show that our positions were
correct. We have
the satisfaction also of knowing that our reasonings have saved
many of our
readers from despair and utter ruin.
MOVEMENT OF PASSENGERS.
The movement of passengers, as might be expected, falls short
somewhat of that
of the previous year; but the results show a steady and very
large western
movement.
The following table shows the passenger traffic on our two great
eastern lines:
West East
Thro'. Way. Total. Thro'. Way. Total.
M. S. & N. I. 105,370 192,211 279,581 54,621 182,347 236,968
Mich. Central 108,995 178,630 286,415 64,746 169,227 233,973
Total 214,365 370,841 565,996 119,437 351,574 470,941
This table shows that our two great eastern lines brought to
this city 94,998
passengers more than they took east from it. The figures of the
four principal
lines leading west from this city give the following
RESULTS.
West East
Thro'. Way. Total. Thro'. Way. Total.
C., St. P. & F. 43,518 46,199 89,717 35,046 45,026 80,073
G. & C. U. 57,786 196,802 254,786 37,724 178,880 916,010
C., B. & Q. 16,091 183,610 199,701 14,205 182,577 196,882
C. & R. I. 31,784 171,073 207,857 25,851 156,407 182,259
Total 149,179 597,684 752,061 112,826 562,990 675,224
According to these figures, these four lines of railway carried
west 76,837
passengers more than they brought back to the city. If we
estimate the immense
numbers that come down the Ohio river in steamers, and thence up
the
Mississipppi, at an equal number, and add a reasonable number
for those who
crossed the Station the east and west lines south of this city,
and also those
who went west on the Wisconsin lines, and further, remember the
vast numbers
who annually emigrate West in their own wagons, TWO HUNDRED
THOUSAND people at
least, during the past year, found happy homes west of Chicago.
These people
are the intelligent, the enterprising, and the industrious,
sifted out from
the old stationary communities of the Eastern States, and from
the nations of
Europe. All comment as to the rapidity with which the Western
States are
growing in wealth, population, and power, is entirely
unnecessary.
As this is the last of our leading statistical articles showing
the business
of the city for the past year, it may be well to make a
summation of the
facts, that we may view them all at a glance. We present,
therefore, the
following
GENERAL SUMMARY.
Total number of miles of railway centering in
Chicago Feb. 20, 1852......................................40
Total number of miles now completed and in operation......3,953
Increase in 1857............................................277
Total number to be completed in from six
to ten years............................................7,234
Total number of miles of railway in the
State of Illinois now in operation......................2,775
(Only 95 miles were completed six years ago.)
Total earnings of all the railways centering
in Chicago for the year 1857......................$18,590,520.26
Increase in six
years................................18,550,520.26
Total number of trains arriving and departing daily.........120
Total number of passengers carried west by four
principal railways leading out of the city............752,061
Total number remaining West above those who
returned on these four lines...........................76,837
Total number moved West on two Eastern roads
above those who returned East..........................94,098
Population of Chicago in 1852............................38,783
Total vote at the last municipal election................16,123
Estimated population from the above returns
—allowance being made for the great numbers
of unnaturalized people among us......................130,000
Total receipts of grain in Chicago for the year
1857—flour being reduced to wheat, bushels.........22,856,206
Total shipments of grain from the port of Chicago
for the year 1857, bushels.........................18,032,678
Total receipts of wheat for the year 1857,
bushels............................................12,525,431
Total shipments of wheat for the year
1857, bushels......................................10,783,292
Receipts of corn for the year 1857, bushels...........7,409,130
Shipments of corn for the year 1857, bushels..........6,814,615
Total number of hogs alive and dressed received
in Chicago for the years 1856-7.......................220,702
Number of barrels of beef packed in 1857.................42,100
Receipts of lumber at the port of Chicago for the
year 1857—being the largest lumber market in
the world—feet....................................459,639,189
Total number of vessels, steamers, etc., in
the port of Chicago during the past winter................250
Total number of vessels arriving in the port
of Chicago during 1857..................................7,557
Total tonnage of the vessels arriving in the
port of Chicago during the past year................1,753,413
Amount of capital invested in buildings, public
improvements, etc., past year......................$6,423,518
These figures are themselves far more eloquent than any mere
human language.
The extent of our commerce, its rapid growth and certain
increase in the
future, are made apparent to the most skeptical reader. Let such
remember that
it is not twenty-one years since Chicago became a city. Let them
contemplate
our magnificent system of railways, all the work of the last
seven years, and
earning during the last year EIGHTEEN MILLIONS AND A HALF OF
DOLLARS. The
lands along the line of these roads are but just beginning to be
developed.
And yet those lands sent to this city, as a part of their
surplus products,
12,524,431 bushels of wheat and 7,409,130 bushels of corn. So
rapidly are they
improving that Chicago received the enormous amount of
459,639,198 feet of
lumber to supply her own building material and that of the
magnificent country
by which she is surrounded.
It is a source of great satisfaction that the tide of population
is largely
and steadily westward. The change will in almost every instance
secure for the
people who emigrate a great increase of property, and thereby
afford them the
means of greater physical comfort and a more generous
expenditure for their
intellectual improvement and social elevation. Who can estimate
the influence
which the two hundred thousand people who sought homes west of
the Lakes
during the past year will have upon the social progress and the
physical
development of the Mississippi Valley? They are not the ignorant
starveling
serfs of grinding despotism, nor yet the poor degraded "white
trash" of the
Southern States, but intelligent, energetic, honest freemen, who
plant schools
and colleges and churches wherever they go. They bring with them
skill, and
strength, and capital too, and under their intelligent,
ceaseless toil our
magnificent prairies will be made to yield up their golden
treasures as earth
never yielded them up before. Let the stream of human energy
continue to flow
westward with equal power for the next twenty years, and still
there will be
ample room for the succeeding score of years for as many more to
find rich,
happy homes between the Lakes and the Rocky Mountains.
The recent season of panic and revulsion through which we have
passed will
prompt to greater caution, and therefore greater safety, in the
future. With
all its evil effects, it has clearly demonstrated that there is
a solid basis
for the prosperity of our city and the West generally, and this
fact will be
of immense value hereafter. It must inspire confidence in the
future, and
enable the West to command the means to provide highways for the
rapidly
increasing commerce. The Georgian Bay Canal and the Pacific
Railway are still
to be built, and may we not hope the coming wave of prosperity,
which must ere
long roll over the land, will bear upon its bosom the means to
accomplish
these and similar improvements? There is good ground to hope
that, so far as
the latter great national highway is concerned, the solemn
warning voice of a
free people will ere long reach the ears of our tardy
rulers—once proud of
being called servants—at Washington, commanding them to lay
aside sectional
strife, and to address themselves to the glorious work of
binding together the
States of the Atlantic and the Pacific by iron bonds, never,
never to be
broken, so long as the "star spangled banner" floats proudly
"O'er the land of
the free and the home of the brave."
In closing our sixth annual review, we congratulate our readers
on the bright
prospects which it can scarcely be doubted are opening before
them. With a
large surplus of last year's crop still in hand, the West is
abundantly able
to meet all her liabilities, and have sufficient means to make
large and
substantial improvements in the future. We are on the eve of a
great,
permanent and propitious social advancement, and let every
Western man summon
all his energy to act his part wisely and well. With prudent but
firm step,
let the watchword be— "Forward!"*
-----------------
* After this year the Board of Trade issued a very comprehensive
review, and
we ceased to publish our several statistical articles in
pamphlet form.
Elaborate articles, however, have been published every 1st of
January, in
advance of the Board.
JOHN LOCKE SCRIPPS, AND DR. CHAS. H. RAY, MY DEPARTED
ASSOCIATES.
I deem it proper to extract from the files of the Tribune the
following
tributes to the memory of my associates, whose names are above
given. To me,
and to many others, their "memory is blessed," for they were
among the very
best men I ever knew. I take the extracts as written, from the
paper. The
first in relation to MR. SCRIPPS was published September 23rd,
1866.
The announcement of the death of John L. Scripps will be
received, not alone
in this city, but throughout the State of Illinois and the
entire Northwest,
with feelings of profound grief by his large circle of friends
and
acquaintances. Although his health had been failing for a long
time, from an
affection of the lungs it was not until last winter and
immediately after the
death of his wife, that his friends became alarmed. He at once
gave up active
business, but finding that rest from care did not improve his
health, he acted
upon, the advice of his friends, and went to Minneapolis,
Minnesota, hoping to
find in the bracing air and salubrious climate of the Upper
Mississippi, that
invigoration and strength which medical skill, unaided, could
not afford; but
years of unremitting and patient toil, added to severe domestic
afflictions
which had visited him, had sapped the strong constitution past
human help,
and, sustained by an unfaltering trust in Providence, and a
conscience void of
offence, he calmly passed away, at peace with man and his Maker,
at
Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday, September 21st, 1866.
John Locke Scripps was born February 27th, 1818, in Jackson
County, Missouri,
a few miles west of Cape Girardeau. While still young his
parents moved to
Rushville, Illinois, and since that time the lamented deceased
has been
identified with the growth and history of the State. He
graduated at McKendrie
College, Lebanon, Illinois, an institution of the Methodist
denomination, with
high honors, and immediately after his graduation took the
professorship of
mathematics, in the same institution. His father was a prominent
member of
that church, a fact which had a powerful influence upon the
whole life of the
son, although it was during his last sickness that he formally
identified
himself with the membership of that organization.
A short time after his graduation he studied law and came, to
Chicago in 1847
to engage in its practice. In 1848 he bought one-third interest
in the Chicago
Tribune, then published by John E. Wheeler and Thomas A.
Stewart. It was at
that time a Free-Soil paper, and labored zealously for the
election of Martin
Van Buren. Mr. Scripps was its principal writer and editorial
manager. The
press of Chicago was then in its infancy, and an infancy by no
means
respectable. He at once, by his dignified labor, gave tone and
character to
it. He commenced writing up the financial and commercial
interests of the
Northwest. He originated the first distinctive review of the
markets of
Chicago, going about the city, mingling in daily intercourse
with the
merchants of that day and inspiring confidence in the reports by
their
accuracy and fidelity as well as respect and admiration for the
editor. About
that time, in company with William B. Ogden and John B. Turner,
he canvassed
Northern Illinois, in behalf of the projected railroad from
Chicago to Galena.
Mr. Scripps' careful analysis and research, furnished the
statistics with
which to appeal to the people for aid, while his pen did a great
work in
advancing the completion of this important enterprise.
During his connection with the Tribune, the Gem of the Prairie,
a weekly issue
of the former sheet, was started. It was almost purely of a
literary character
and enjoyed a large degree of success, but was finally dropped
and merged in
the regular Weekly Tribune. Mr. Scripps' literary abilities were
of a high
order, his style very chaste, lucid and simple, his reasoning
powers always
strong and cogent, his arguments well timed, condensed and
straight to the
point. His invariably dignified and gentlemanly bearing, joined
with these
qualities, resulted in the elevation of the Chicago press, and
formed the
foundation of the power it has since become.
In the winter of 1851-2 the Whigs of Chicago had a controlling
interest in the
Tribune. Mr. Scripps was a Free-Soiler, with Democratic
proclivities, and sold
out his interest in the paper. Shortly afterwards, in
conjunction with
Lieutenant Governor Bross, he started a Democratic paper, under
the name of
the Democratic Press, the initial number of which was issued
September 16th,
1852. The Press was a Free-Soil paper, but sided strongly with
Douglas and
advocated his claims, until the question of the repeal of the
Missouri
compromise came before the country. The paper then left Mr.
Douglas, and
finally hoisted the Republican flag in June, 1856, when the
party was formally
organized under the leadership of J. O. Fremont. In the
meantime, through the
unremitting labors of its editors, the Press achieved a wide
commercial
reputation, and labored earnestly to develop the resources of
the Northwest.
July 1st, 1858, the Press was consolidated with the Tribune,
under the name of
the Press and Tribune, and Mr. Scripps with his associate went
into the new
concern.
In 1861 Mr. Lincoln (between whom and Mr. Scripps existed a warm
personal
friendship) became President, and shortly after Mr. S. was
appointed
Postmaster of Chicago, a position which he filled with great
ability for four
years. It is not saying too much, nor is it injustice to the
others who have
held that office, to say that he was the best Postmaster Chicago
ever had. His
labors were constant and unremitting. Although retaining his
interest in the
Tribune, his time was given to his official duties, and not a
day passed that
did not find him in his accustomed place in the Post Office. He
rapidly
comprehended the routine of the office, and his quick
perceptions suggested
radical and important changes, both in and out of the office,
which were
adopted by the Department, and have since proved of great value.
During his administration the war was in active progress. Mr.
Scripps'
sympathies were actively enlisted on the side of freedom. He
urged on the good
cause with all the sagacity of his counsel and lavish
contributions from his
pursed With his own means he organized, equipped, and sent to
the war Company
C, of the 72nd Illinois regiment, well known as the Scripps
Guards, to the
soldiers of which company, who shared his hospitalities and
enjoyed the
comforts his attentions bestowed upon them, the sad news of his
death will
come with double force.
After his resignation of the office of Postmaster, he disposed
of his interest
in the Tribune, and associated himself as senior partner in the
banking firm
of Scripps, Preston & Kean, of this city. A few days later he
was seized with
a sudden attack of pneumonia, and for some time his recovery was
considered
doubtful. The disease turned, however, in his favor, when a
sudden and
terrible visitation of Providence again prostrated him. His
wife, Mary E.
Scripps, who for so many years had been his beloved companion
and counsellor,
on New Year's day, while in the midst of those graceful
hospitalities she
could so well dispense, and while talking with friends, fell
dead in an
instant from an affection of the heart. Mr. Scripps was at this
time just
convalescent from his long illness, but the suddenness and
severity of the
blow fell upon him with a terrible force, and for some time it
was doubtful
whether he would recover. He rallied from it, however,
sufficiently to pay a
few visits to his relatives in this city and State, and then
undertook his
journey to Minneapolis, from whence came the sad tidings of his
death. His
remains will leave St. Paul to-day (Monday), arriving here on
Tuesday. He
leaves a son about 16 years of age, and a little daughter of 3
years.
In the death of Mr. Scripps, Chicago has lost one of her noblest
men. No
citizen of this or any other community ever commanded a more
hearty and
thorough respect from his fellows than he. Candor, integrity and
courage were
the marked traits of his character. He feared God, but feared no
man. He would
no more have thought of compromising a principle or abating an
iota of his
personal honor, than he would have commitied suicide. With a
heart full of
kindness for all men, with a lofty sense of the proprieties of
life and of
intercourse with his fellow men, a house ever open to the calls
of
hospitality, and a purse which never failed to respond to the
call of
suffering, he was the firmest man among ten thousand to the
convictions of his
conscience. A mean act, an unworthy motive, a cowardly thought,
had no room in
his soul. He was not insensible to public approbation, but never
for an
instant would he resort to the arts so common among politicians
to secure
popularity.
He avoided the very appearance of evil. His uprightness of
character and
urbanity of demeanor had made him hosts of friends in city and
State, and it
is not too much to say that, in the meridian of his life, with
his ample
fortune, his unsullied record and his conspicuous talents, he
might have
aspired to almost any position in the gift of his fellow
citizens.
To those who have been associated with Mr. Scripps in the
editorial
profession, and who know better than others the nobility of his
character and
the usefulness of his life, the tidings of his death come with
peculiar force
and poignancy. No man ever labored more earnestly and more
effectively to
impress right principles upon the public mind through the medium
of the press.
A large share of the success achieved by the Chicago Tribune
during his
connection with it was due to his thoughtfulness, earnestness
and unwearied
perseverance. His works live after him. The seeds which he has
sown will
continue to bear their fruit. A noble life, filled with good
deeds, adorned
with the accomplishments of a Christian gentleman, has been
garnered up in the
treasury of the eternal kingdom. Though he be dead, he shall
rise again.
Every line and every word in the article is true in every
particular. A more
honest man, a truer, nobler patriot, a sterner advocate of the
right, never
lived than John Locke Scripps; and, withal, he was a most
genial, accomplished
gentleman. I first knew him at 171 and 171 1/2 Lake street. We
used the same
front door and hall in common, the Tribune on one side and the
Prairie Herald
on the other. Deacon Wight, now Rev. Ambrose Wight, of Bay City,
Michigan, and
myself, printed our own paper and the Tribune, for its
proprietors, on an old
Adams power press, the first ever brought to the city, propelled
by Emery's
horse power, on which trudged, hour by hour, an old blind, black
Canadian
pony. Our acquaintance soon ripened into friendship and he often
urged me to
buy out his partners and become associated with him in the
Tribune. This I
respectfully declined to do, and sold out my interest in the
Herald to Mr.
Wight, in the fall of 1857, and as stated in the article he sold
his interest
in the Tribune a few months later. He at once submitted his
plans for a new
Democratic paper, and we finally joined our fortunes in the
enterprise.
To start a newspaper even in that early day required an
abundance of grit. The
$6,000 loaned us by friends, for which we gave them ample real
estate
security, all sunk out of sight in machinery and expenses in six
weeks, and
not till January 1st, 1855, did either of us draw one cent from
the paper that
we did not pay back. At one time Mr. Scripps would sell a piece
of real
estate, put the money into the concern and draw it out gradually
as family
expenses required, and I would do the same. Thus the paper grew
and prospered,
but no two men ever toiled more earnestly or constantly in any
enterprise,
than we did to achieve it.
The above article was written by Mr. George P. Upton, with the
exception of
the last two paragraphs, which were added by Horace White, Esq.
They knew Mr.
Scripps very well, it is true, but it was not possible for them
to know him as
intimately as I did. In all the years of our intimacy as editors
and
proprietors, we never had one word of dispute on any subject. Of
course on
matters of policy we sometimes judged differently; of right
never. Discussion
soon convinced one or the other, and each addressed himself with
all his might
to the work. At our perfect harmony of thought and action I
often wondered. He
was born in Missouri, brought up and educated as a Methodist,
with a thorough
devotion to all the best principles—none of the bad—of the
Southern chivalry.
One branch of his family came from an old English stock; after
one of them,
the great logician and metaphysician, John Locke, Mr. Scripps
was named. My
ancestry were mainly of Huguenot origin, myself born and brought
up as a
Presbyterian in the Delaware Valley, educated in a New England
college, and
yet we harmonized in all the trying business and political times
through which
we passed, perfectly. The fact is one of my most pleasant and
cherished
memories, its explanation I do not care to discuss. He rests in
peace, and has—
who can doubt it?—the reward of a good man and a life well
spent, in the
mansions of the blessed.
DR. CHARLES H. RAY.
The following article was written by Geo. P. Upton, Esq., now
and for many
years one of the editorial writers of the Tribune. It was
published September
25th, 1870.
Dr. Charles H. Ray is dead! The sudden and unexpected
intelligence, briefly
announced in our issue of yesterday, has cast a deep gloom over
his large
circle of acquaintances and friends, and will come with all the
force of a
personal bereavement to the thousands of readers in the
Northwest who have
known him, for many years past, as a powerful, influential, and
successful
journalist. It was only a few days ago that we talked with him
half an hour or
more. He was unusually hopeful of himself, and spoke so
encouragingly of his
future prospects, and had so many well laid journalistic plans,
that we were
encouraged to think he would, before long, be restored to his
former
usefulness and vigor, although he seemed to us as feeble as a
child, compared
with his former robust and powerful physical habit. We had an
earnest
conversation with him upon the best means of giving a higher
standing and
character to Art in Chicago—a subject in which he was always
deeply interested—
and then we parted. We missed him for a few days, and then the
shadow of death
came between us, and he passed evermore from our sight.
Dr. Charles H. Ray was born at Norwich, Chenango County, N. Y.,
March 12,
1821, and removed to the West in 1843. He commenced his Western
life in the
practice of medicine at Muscatine, Iowa, and subsequently
settled in Tazewell
County, Ill., where he pursued his profession for many years
with success.
During these years he was married to Miss Jane Yates Per-Lee, a
most estimable
lady, who died in this city, in June, 1862, leaving, as the
fruits of the
union, one daughter and three sons, all of whom are living. In
the year 1851,
Dr. Ray removed to Galena, and bought the Jeffersonian, a daily
Democratic
journal, and conducted it with remarkable success, until the
time of the
Kansas-Nebraska struggle, when his strong impulses toward
freedom induced him
to take open issue with Judge Douglas, and eventually led to the
disposal of
the paper and his identification with the Republican party, then
in the
preliminary stage of organization. In 1854-55, Dr. Ray was
Secretary of the
Illinois Senate, and presided as such during the exciting
canvass in that
body, which elected Lyman Trumbull United States Senator over
his opponent,
Abraham Lincoln. He gave his influence to the former, but in
such an open,
manly way that it never disturbed the close personal friendship
which existed
between himself and the latter, and which continued to exist to
the time of
Mr. Lincoln's death.
When the Legislature adjourned, Dr. Ray came to Chicago with the
intention of
starting a penny Republican paper. During the Legislative
session he had been
the Springfield correspondent of the New York Tribune, and his
masterly
letters to that paper had brought him into extensive public
notice as a
writer. He wrote to Mr. Greeley on the subject of a partner,
asking him to
recommend some suitable person, to which Mr. Greeley replied
with a letter of
introduction to Joseph Medill, Esq., of the Cleveland Leader,
who was just
about coming to Chicago with the object of connecting himself
with the press
of this city. Mr. Medill arrived in Chicago at about the same
time as Dr. Ray,
and, after an interview, the former abandoned the idea of a
penny paper, and
joined the latter in buying as much of the Tribune establishment
of General
Webster and Timothy Wright, Esq., as their means would allow. He
had
identified himself editorially with the Tribune in April, 1855,
but did not
assume his proprietary interest until June of the same year,
which he held
until November 20, 1863, at which time he sold his interest and
severed his
editorial connection with the paper, to engage in other
pursuits. Those
pursuits not proving successful, he returned to the Tribune, May
25, 1865, as
an editorial writer, and after laboring ten weeks, he left the
paper and
embarked in another business. Two years later, he was offered a
favorable
interest in the Evening Post of this city, which he accepted and
retained
until he died.
With Dr. Ray's connection with the Tribune, and his manly,
straightforward,
and vigorous editorial conduct during the Chicago riots, the
excitements of
the Kansas war, the war of the rebellion, and all the great
events which
culminated in the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency,
the public
are familiar. His writings were so sharp and trenchant, so
eloquently
denunciatory of wrong and so searching in criticism, that they
were copied far
and wide, and exerted a powerful influence—always upon the side
of the right,
and did much to establish its reputation as a fearless,
outspoken journal. He
wrote with an untiring vigor and with a searching analysis which
went down to
the very heart and core of the matter, whether he was exposing
some iniquitous
political scheme or moral wrong, or was exhibiting some military
official in
the light of his incompetency. There was not a "conservative"
drop of blood in
his veins. He always expected, and demanded, progress, both
political, moral
and humane. He never needed any urging in a radical direction;
but, on the
other hand, his zeal sometimes needed restraint. He never
consulted policy,
for he had no policy in his disposition. He never looked at
consequences when
he believed himself right, for he was absolutely fearless. When
once settled
upon a course, he would say to his associates. This is the right
course, and
we must pursue it to the end, regardless of consequences. He
cared for no
pecuniary injury as the result of advocating an unpopular
doctrine. When
subscribers dropped off, as a consequence, he would say, "Let
them go. We are
right. They will all come back in a few weeks, and bring others
with them,"
and his words were more than once verified.
When Dr. Ray left the Tribune, in 1863, it was with the idea of
acquiring a
fortune for his children, and giving them and their education
more personal
attention than he could do while engaged in the pressing demands
of editorial
duties. His speculations were at first very successful, and he
amassed a
handsome competence.
Shortly after, he married Miss Julia Clark, a daughter of Judge
Lincoln Clark,
for a long time a prominent public man in Iowa, but then
resident in Chicago,
two daughters being the result of this second union. Blessed
with the deep and
strong affections of his family, and enjoying financial
prosperity, everything
seemed bright. About the time of this marriage he wisely
concluded to settle
on his wife and children half his property, which, through
trustees, was
invested in improved real estate in this city, and which has
since largely
advanced in value and yields them a respectable support. With
the remainder of
his means he embarked in new enterprises, which proved, in the
common decline
of values, unsuccessful, and he resolved once more to return to
the editorial
profession, in which he worked with his old energy and vigor.
His excessive
labor in the exciting canvass in this county, last fall,
superinduced an
attack of brain fever, in December last, followed by many weeks
of intense
suffering and utter mental and physical prostration. He at last
recovered
sufficiently to go to Cleveland, where he received medical
treatment.
He then went to Northampton, Mass., where he remained for
several weeks,
returning to Chicago early in the summer. He at once resumed his
position in
the Post as editor-in-chief. Since that time, he has written but
little. But
his articles showed the old fire, and some of them struck with
the old force,
but it soon became evident that the man was wearying, that the
pen was
dropping from the reluctant fingers, and that the great brain
could not much
longer stand the demands upon it. On Tuesday last his old
disease returned
with twofold violence and resulted in death at a quarter past
one o'clock on
Saturday morning.
It would be useless for us to say anything further of Dr. Ray as
a journalist.
The public knows how well he has filled that difficult position
during the
past fifteen or more years in this city; and his able and
vigorous editorials
have always been a mirror in which the public could see the
writer. It was
impossible for the veriest dullard to mistake the meaning of
anything he
wrote. In our professional association with him, which has
extended over many
years, we learned to prize him as a man, and to hold him dear as
a friend. He
was not one, perhaps, to attract numerous friendships, for he
was brusque and
impetuous in his manner, and specially impatient of annoyance.
But those who
knew him best, knew how genial he was at heart, how strong his
affections
were, and how almost faultless he was in critical taste. He was
intense in his
likes and dislikes. He was bitter against an enemy, but he could
not do too
much for a friend. We have seen him fairly crush insincerity
with an explosion
of his wrath, and then turn and relieve the wants of a traveling
beggar, and
give him kindly advice. He was the best friend a young man
commencing
newspaper life could have, for the reason that he was chary of
praise and
never slow at pointing out faults, and suggesting the remedy.
Perhaps the most
striking feature of his character was his hatred of cant and
sham. He
recognized a hypocrite instinctively, and he never stopped to
select choice or
elegant phrases in exposing him. We cannot remember a man so
plain-spoken in
denunciation of humbug or hypocrisy. He hit it with all his
might, and his
might was immense. And yet, this Samson was full of humanity,
kindly courtesy,
and noble, hearty manliness. With all his multifarious duties,
private and
public, which were often very perplexing, he found time to
devote much
attention to literature and art, and, in these directions, his
taste was
fastidious, and his manner quick and resolved. He was as
impatient of sham in
a book, in a painting, or in the music room, as he was of a sham
in life, and
his criticism was almost always just, even though it was
excoriating. The
class of men who can not be politic enough to compromise with
hypocrisy is so
scarce that it is refreshing to recall this trait in Dr. Ray's
character. It
made enemies, of course, but that was of little account to him.
The man who
has no enemies must be all things to all men. He was a hard
worker, and, in
his prime, was capable of an immense amount of labor, for he was
physically
very strong. Few men in the journalistic profession, indeed,
have combined
such power to labor, such keen perceptions, such a nervous,
trenchant style,
and such manly and vigorous grappling with private and public
evils.
But the pen rests forever. The busy brain, so active that it
wore upon itself,
is silent. We who are left behind, shall long miss his hearty
welcome, his
cheery, outspoken voice, and his manly presence. Of those who
were identified
with the Tribune in the early days of its existence, three are
now gone—
Scripps, Ballantyne, and Ray. Who next? His memory remains with
us, and that
is precious, and we can recall nothing in his long and useful
career which did
not bespeak the man and the gentleman. May his rest be peaceful
after the
fitful fever of his life!
With every sentiment and every word of the above I most
cordially agree. Dr.
Ray was one of the ablest, and in spite of the brusqueness to
which Mr. Upton
refers, one of the best men I ever knew. I first came to know
him well, I
think, in the summer of 1854, when he was editing the Galena
Jeffersonian. The
anxiety and the hard work which the terrible onslaughts of Mr.
Douglas and his
friends made upon our paper for opposing the repeal of the
Missouri
compromise, broke Mr. Scripp's health and he had to give up all
writing and
betake himself to his home for two months or more before the
election, and for
nearly as long after it. Of course I had the entire management
of the paper
and was glad to get an article from any friend that offered. Dr.
Ray would
sometimes come into the office and volunteer half a column or
more. Some of
the strongest and most effective articles that appeared in the
Democratic
Press or any other paper during that canvass were written by Dr.
Ray.
These were only occasional favors, but they were always timely
and most
valuable. In 1858, we, J. L. Scripps, Dr. Ray, Mr. Medill and
myself, came
together as partners and equal owners in the Tribune, Mr. Cewles
having then a
smaller interest. For the five years that I was the most
intimately associated
with Dr. Ray, we never had a word of dispute on any subject.
Once, indeed, he
gave me "a piece of his mind," rather emphatically, but it was
all on his
side, for I was thoughtlessly, though really in the wrong, in
some things that
I published. I acknowledged my fault and all was well. In all
the years we
were associated together, the discussion of the question Is it
right?
controlled the policy of the paper. Sometimes it required a
great deal of care
and investigation to determine it. For instance, I was with
Prentiss' army on
its march from Ironton to Cape Girardeau, and became satisfied
that Fremont,
as a general, was a failure, and so wrote home to my associates.
Then Mr.
Medill went with the army to Jefferson City and came back with
the same
report. Dr. Ray then went down to St. Louis and got a great
variety of facts
from his friends in that city, and finally Mr. Scripps did the
same thing; and
then after full consultation Dr. Ray wrote a four or five column
article in
his most vigorous, trenchant style, calling for Fremont's
removal, and giving
the reasons for it. It created a tremendous excitement, and cost
us hundreds
of subscribers and thousands of dollars. The course of the
Tribune during and
before the war was the result of the matured opinions of four
independent
thinkers, and hence it was always right. With two such honest,
able, patriotic
and scholarly men as Mr. Scripps and Dr. Ray, not to mention Mr.
Medill, with
his sharp, discriminating mind, his wide acquaintance with men
and things, and
his acute journalistic and broad common sense, and with whatever
I could
contribute to the common stock, is it any wonder the Tribune
achieved a
national reputation? It had the credit, and justly, of bringing
out Mr.
Lincoln, and doing more than any other paper to secure his
nomination, and of
doing most effective work in his election to the Presidency.
During the entire
war it never flinched nor faltered for a moment. It led and
guided public
opinion in the Northwest; inspired confidence amid defeat and
disaster; always
advocated the most vigorous measures to put down the rebellion;
drove the
Copperheads to their holes, and to say the least, it has
probably done as much
as any other journal or influence in the country to bring back
the peace and
the security which it now enjoys. With such men as Scripps and
Ray editing and
inspiring their own journal, and through it giving right
direction to the
press of the country, it will indeed ever remain "the palladium
of our
liberties," the unflinching foe of all that is false and wicked;
and be ever
ready to use all its influence and its power to promote the
social, the
intellectual and the moral welfare of the race.
1871.
From the Chicago Tribune, March 29th, 1871.
CANADIAN WATER ROUTES.
THE CHICAGO COMMITTEE AT OTTAWA, CANADA.
The committee (Messrs. Bross, Holden, and McMullen) sent by a
public meeting
at the Board of Trade rooms to Ottawa, Canada, to represent to
the Dominion
Parliament the importance of increased facilities of transit by
the St.
Lawrence route between the Upper Lakes and the seaboard,
returned to the city
yesterday. They report the very best of feeling in Canada in
relation to this
important subject, and that their reception was of the most
cordial and
friendly character. The Railway and Canal Committee of the
Canadian Parliament
is composed of some fifty of the leading members, and other
gentlemen were
also present when the Chicago Committee were invited to appear
before this
large body, and to lay before them any communication they might
wish to make.
The following account of the proceedings is taken from the
Ottawa papers of
the 24th:
Increased Facilities of Transit for the Commerce of the Lakes to
the Ocean.
Remarks of Ex-Lieutenant Governor Bross, of Illinois, before the
Canal and
Railway Committee of the Canadian Parliament, March 23, 1871.
Honorable Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee:
I thank you most cordially, in behalf of myself and associates,
for your very
kind invitation to appear before you. We are here simply to
express to you our
deep interest, and that of our city and the West generally, in
the progress
and development of your great lines of internal improvements,
and to assure
you that, in due time, the West will furnish them with all the
business they
can possibly do. The West will be thankful for the use of any
and all the
means of transit to the seaboard which you now have or may
hereafter
construct. Hence, we trust that you will enlarge the Welland
Canal, and open
the Ottawa route; but, from our stand point, knowing how rapidly
the vast
resources of the Northwest are developing by the extension of
our railways,
many of our leading business men have come to the conclusion
that the Huron
and Ontario Ship Canal, avoiding entirely the St. Clair Flats,
Lake Erie, and
the Welland Canal, with only eighty miles of canal and slack
water navigation,
and with the capacity to pass vessels of a thousand or twelve
hundred tons
burden, and a corresponding enlargement of the St. Lawrence
Canals, is the
only channel adequate to the real wants of the commerce of the
country west of
Lake Michigan.
I can scarcely hope to state anything new to this large assembly
of learned
and eminent gentlemen in regard to this subject; but I beg to
introduce a few
facts in relation to the growth of the Northwest which we trust
may be worthy
of your consideration. I hold in my hand the report of the
survey of the Huron
and Ontario Ship Canal, made by Mr. Tully, as engineer, and
Colonel R. B.
Mason, now Mayor of Chicago, as consulting engineer, and
published in 1857. In
that report there is a table showing what were then the
population and
resources of the several Northwestern States, with an estimate
of their
probable increase, and of its effects upon the revenues of the
canal for a
series of years, based on an increase of 29 per cent, for every
five years
1850 to 1855. In that table the population of the States of
Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, is given, in
1857, at
3,090,000. On the ratio as above, they are estimated to be, in
1870,
5,907,716, and in 1880, 9,980,776. The census for 1870 shows
that they now
have a population of 10,759,981, nearly twice the estimate for
1870, and
nearly a million more than the estimate for 1880.
So certainly are all the figures of our boldest statisticians
far exceeded by
the actual facts as time rolls onward. Leaving out of the
account the
population of the two great States, Ohio and Indiana, the
remaining States
above mentioned, for whose business the canal could legitimately
compete, with
the exception, perhaps, of the eastern half of Michigan, which
would be more
than balanced by the trade of Nebraska, have now a population of
6,419,510.
The city of Chicago, in 1857, had a population of 130,000; it
has now 300,000.
The shipments of grain in that year from Chicago were 18,483,678
bushels; last
year they were 54,745,903; just about three times what they were
thirteen
years previous. The revenues of the canal, estimated from a
careful analysis
of the commerce of the Lakes previous to 1857, would have been
in 1865, had it
then been completed, $1,126,758, and for 1870, $1,450,577. As
the population
of the Northwestern States from 1857 to 1870 increased
threefold, it will be
safe to double the estimates for the receipts of the canal for
tUe last year.
This would give for last year a total revenue of $2,907,034; and
by 1880 on
the same premises it would exceed $4,000,000.
We are well aware that the construction of this canal would cost
a large
amount of money. But the country to furnish it with business is
vast in
extent, and unbounded in resources. There are 700,000 square
miles of
territory between Lake Michigan and the Rocky Mountains, not
counting your own
rich fertile region in the valleys of the Red River and the
Saskatchewan
enough to form fourteen States as large as Ohio. On an average
the land is
richer and far more productive than the soil of that State. This
country is
now filling up with a hardy, industrious, enterprising
population more rapidly
than was ever before known in the history of our Republic. Our
city and the
Northwest are greatly obliged to Canada for the large number of
excellent
citizens she has sent us. Through this vast fertile country
railways are
penetrating in all directions. The great central line is
finished, and the
cars run from ocean to ocean. The North Pacific Railway will,
undoubtedly, be
done in five years, and the extent of the commerce which all
these lines will
pour upon Lake Michigan, no sane man would dare to put down in
figures had he
the ability to do it. To accommodate it, the West looks mainly
to the Lakes
and the mighty St. Lawrence. We know full well, to quote a
remark I made years
ago, "that national pride and immense capital and the beaten
track of commerce
are on the side of New York; but God and nature are stronger
than all these,
and let any intelligent man compare the 'Erie ditch' with the
mighty St.
Lawrence, and a canal to pass vessels of 1,000 tons burden from
the Georgian
Bay to Lake Ontario, and he cannot doubt for a moment on which
side the
immutable laws of commerce will decide the contest." What the
West wants are
the cheapest and the largest possible outlets to the ocean. She
cares not a
rush for New York. While that city nurtures such men as
Vanderbilt, who waters
the stock of his railway two or three times over, and the
demands from the
West full rates on the results of his "ways that are dark" and
tricks that are
villainous; while Fisk and Gould flourish in that city, the West
is purely
free to cultivate the most intimate relations with their
neighbors across the
line. What if our commerce benefits Canada; what if it builds up
Toronto and
makes another New York of Montreal or Quebec, always we trust
bating the
rascality of Wall street; the benefits will be mutual and
entirely reciprocal
to the people of the West. We think we can safely assure you
that a large
majority of the West are in favor of reciprocal free trade with
Canada and
with all mankind as well; and what is more, they are determined
to have it. If
our legislators now at Washington will not give it to us, the
West will send
men there who will. With the Lakes and one of the great rivers
of the world to
make their commercial relations close and almost identical,
speaking the same
language, and with the same progressive Christian civilization,
Canada and the
Northwestern States of America have a common and an absorbing
interest in all
that can elevate and enoble our common humanity.
I close, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, with an expression of the
most cordial
thanks for the very kind and courteous manner in which you have
received us.
Hon. Mr. Holton thanked Mr. Bross for his able and eloquent
speech. He
believed there was no division of sentiment on this subject
among parties in
Canada. The views which had been expressed coincided exactly
with his own.
There were questions, of course, as to the choice of route of
proposed canals,
but he would assure the gentlemen from Chicago that the views of
the people
were in unison with what had been so ably expressed by Mr.
Bross.
Sir F. Hincks expressed his gratification at what he had heard,
and agreed
generally with what Mr. Bross had said. He therefore had much
pleasure in
moving a vote of thanks to the Hon. Mr. Bross and the gentlemen
who
accompanied him for the information they had given and the
kindly sentiments
they had expressed.
Mr. Shanley said he had listened with great pleasure to what had
been said on
this important subject. We in Canada had the great natural
outlet for the
immense trade of the West; our position on this continent was
unequaled, owing
to the St. Lawrence and the great Lakes, yet we had done but
little to improve
our great natural advantages. This subject had been spoken of
for years, but
had never found a more practical result than reports.
Hon. Mr. Anglin hoped the government would take this question
earnestly in
hand, and should they do so they would have the support of the
people of the
Eastern Provinces in carrying it out. [Hear, hear.]
Mr. Capreol then addressed the committee. He pointed out the
great advantages
of public works for promoting immigration.
Sir A. T. Gait was glad to welcome the gentlemen from Chicago.
The reason why
the route to the West had not been opened up was the want of a
good
understanding with the United States, but he hoped for a better
state of
things in the future. He had much pleasure in seconding the
motion of Sir F.
Hincks.
Hon. Mr. Holden then rose and expressed his gratification on
meeting the
members of the committee. He hoped the result of this meeting
would be
gratifying to both parties concerned. He supported the views
expressed by Mr.
Bross, and thanked the committee for the kind reception extended
to them.
Sir G. E. Cartier said he was glad to hear the clear and
forcible exposition
which had been made by the Hon. Mr. Bross, and was happy to
learn that the
Western people properly estimated the influence of New York. The
Treasury at
Washington bad pursued a policy calculated to build up the
Atlantic cities at
the expense of the interior country. According to his views
there was a
natural commercial bond between Canada and the Western States,
and a feeling
of sympathy that we were willing to cultivate if the United
States Treasury
would pursue a more equitable policy. He thought the Western
people should
consider our country their natural seaboard while we regarded
their trade and
commerce a part of our own as their prosperity was, rightly
considered, the
prosperity of the Dominion. [Hear, hear. ] The motion was then
put and carried
with applause. The committee then adjourned until noon to-day.
The committee were invited to breakfast on Friday morning by Sir
Francis
Hincks, and, by invitation, dined with His Excellency Lord
Lisgar, Governor
General of the Dominion, on Saturday evening. Thos. Reynolds,
Esq., the
Managing Director of the Ottawa Railway, sent them to Prescott
in his own car.
At Toronto they spent half a day with F. C. Capreol, Esq., the
indefatigable
President of the Huron and Ontario Ship Canal Company, who was,
throughout,
most efficient in contributing to the comfort of the committee
and advancing
the commercial interests of Canada and the West.
The following article is from the Ottawa Times of Friday, the
24th:
FROM LAKE TO OCEAN.
We direct the especial attention of our readers to the speech of
the Hon.
William Bross, ex-Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, on the
subject of the
transport of produce from the Western States to the ocean. The
subject is one
to which we have often alluded as being of the utmost
importance, and perhaps
no one is more thoroughly able to deal with it intelligently
than the
gentleman to whose remarks we refer.
Whatever may be the views adopted by our government in reference
to the exact
nature of our canal policy, and whether or not they may feel
justified in
agreeing to the propositions made by Mr. Bross and the other
delegates from
Chicago, we may rely upon it that nothing but good can spring
from the visit
of these American gentlemen to the Canadian capital, and from a
free
interchange of thought and opinion between them and our leading
public men.
Our neighbors will find that but one desire exists here, as far
as our social
and commercial relations with the United States arc concerned,
viz.: that they
shall be of the most intimate and friendly character—and without
at the
present moment entering into a discussion as to the respective
merits of the
various canal schemes proposed, we feel justified in saying on
behalf of the
government and people of this Dominion, that they are thoroughly
alive to the
importance of establishing a commodious water highway from the
Western Lakes
to the Atlantic Ocean, through the Valley of the St. Lawrence,
and are
disposed to work energetically with that end in view.
Transcription Part 5
THE GREAT CHICAGO FIRE, OCTOBER 9, 1871.
As the great fire of October 9th, 1871, is to be ever memorable
in the history
of Chicago, and as the most extensive and destructive that ever
occurred in
any age or nation, it is well that each citizen put on record
his own
observations and experience, so that the future historian can
from them
condense a true account of that wonderful event. In the first
place, the city
had for six or eight weeks been preparing, under a scorching sun
and strong
south and southwest winds, for that terrible fire. It was
probably the
longest "spell" of that kind of weather the city had ever
suffered. Scarcely
any rain had moistened a roof or lain the dust. The internal
structures of the
buildings, and in hundreds, perhaps thousands, of cases the
frame work as
well, were of wood, and under the burning sun for so many weeks
the whole city
became virtually a tinder box. When the fire broke out among the
wooden houses
and stables in the southwestern part of the city, a fierce wind
was blowing
from the southwest, which under the influence of the fire soon
became a gale.
Once fairly under way no fire department in the world could
stand before it.
Tinder like circumstances every other city in the United States
would burn up,
for every other city, like Chicago, is mainly built of wood.
Till more
incombustible materials are used in this as they are in the old
country, and
until rigid rules for building substantially are adopted and
enforced, the
cities of the United States will never be safe from such
calamities as befell
Chicago.
Some few incidents are inserted here to show how terrible was
the fire. When
it had reached the business centre of the city it ceased to be
governed by any
of the ordinary rules that are commonly attendant upon even
great fires, as
the terms are usually understood. In places the heat could only
be compared to
that from the combustion of oxygen and hydrogen by means of the
blow-pipe. In
places it would strike great iron columns nearly two feet
square, and for four
or five feet, perhaps more, the iron would be all burned up. No
residuum would
be left. Sometimes car wheels standing on the track would be
half burned up.
Safes if exposed to these jets of heat were of no account
whatever. Geo. C.
Smith, Esq., banker, told me that they had standing in a back
office a large
safe full of ledgers and other books. That safe and its contents
were all
burned up. Not a vestige of it remained to mark where it stood.
Many safes
that stood where brick walls soon fell on and protected them
were all right,
and as usual the manufacturers made a great noise about them;
but in no case
that I heard of, if they stood in exposed positions were their
contents
preserved. Brick vaults with safes inside were all right. The
Tribune vault
among other things had a linen coat and a box of matches inside,
which were
not injured, and the painted figures on the safe door were not
even blistered.
It should be added, that the vault was near the centre of the
building, north
and south, and was protected by the south as well as its own
wall. Some of the
freaks of the fire are scarcely credible. Very reliable
gentlemen reported
that they saw jets of flame dart across an entire block and in
an instant
envelop the building it struck in a winding sheet of lurid
flame. The heat of
the burning city was felt far away on the lake, and I have been
assured by
gentlemen on whose word I place implicit confidence that so hot
was the wind
over at Holland, Michigan, a hundred miles or more northeast of
Chicago, that
some parties there on the afternoon of Monday, were obliged for
some
considerable time to get down behind a hedge and let the
scorching blasts pass
over them. They were unable then to account for the heat, and
greatly feared
that the time had come when "the earth and all things therein
would be burned
up."
The fire commenced an hour or more before midnight, near the
corner of
Jefferson and DeKoven streets. Soon after starting it became a
great river of
fire, and from its central track at first not more than a block
or two on
either side, swept directly through the business portion of the
city, reaching
the water works and, the old cemetery before daylight. But on
either side of
that track it kept up its destructive work till noon of Monday,
and perhaps in
some localities even later than that. Along all great rivers
there are eddies,
and it was these eddies of wind charged with flame that enabled
the fire to
work westward in the heart of the city to the river, and
eastward to Michigan
avenue as far south as Congress street. This comparison of the
central track
of the fire to a great river and its eddies on each side of that
track, will
probably explain its action better than any other comparison
that could be
made.
Following out the idea that each citizen should give the
incidents happening
to himself or under his own observation, I mention that never
did friends toil
more loyally than ours did for us. They saved most of our books,
furniture,
pictures, etc., that were left to us. Some that were not friends
helped
themselves to whatever struck their fancy when opportunity
offered. My
coachman filled my buggy with some harness, a bag of coffee and
other
articles, and left it with his friends on the lake shore. Some
one coming
along and finding it was my "plunder," said he knew me; would
put some more
goods in to take home and return the buggy to me. That was the
last I ever
heard of the buggy or anything that was in it. My daughter
supposed that I had
hired an express wagon that stood at the door, and I supposed
that she had. We
filled it full of goods and furniture, among other things, a
valuable picture—
a farm and animal scene—by Herring, the great English painter.
The driver
slipped off in the crowd and that was the last we heard of that
picture or any
part of the load. I met a man at my door, looking decidedly
corpulent. "My
friend," said I, "you have on a considerable invoice of my
clothes with the
hunting suit outside. Well, go along, you may as well have them
as to let them
burn." These were slight affairs compared with what many others
suffered by
the thieving crowd.
Having got out all we could, about 11 A. M. of Monday, the 9th,
I sat down by
my goods piled up indiscriminately on the lake shore. Soon I saw
the angry
flames bursting from my home—the result of years of care and
toil. Quickly and
grandly they wrapped up the whole block and away it floated in
black clouds
over Lake Michigan. I know not how great calamities affect
others; but for
myself I looked on calmly without any of those deep emotions
which one might
be expected to feel. The thing was inevitable; I was no worse
off than most of
my fellow citizens, and indeed I felt grateful to a kind
Providence that the
homes of some of my friends were saved, where we could find
refuge. I indulged
in no useless sorrows, and, as I saw my home burn, simply
resolved as in the
past, to do my duty each day as it came along as best I could. I
had begun
life with no patrimony, save strong arms, willing hands, and I
hope, an honest
heart; and I could do so again.
Early in the afternoon we began to send our goods south by
teams, being
careful to have some friend with each load, and by sundown all
that we had
been able to save was distributed among friends south of Twelfth
street. In
the evening my little family of three, came together at the
house of E. L.
Jansen, Esq., No. 607 Wabash avenue, Mrs. B.'s brother, where
she and my
daughter remained till we were most kindly received by Dr. E.
Andrews and
family. There was very little sleep that (Monday) night, for
everybody was in
mortal fear that what remained of the city would be burned up by
the
desperadoes who were known to be prowling about everywhere.
I add a few incidents not reported in the interview printed
herewith. When I
arrived at 15 Canal street I found Mr. Medill in the upper
stories among the
types and printers, doing all he could to get ready to issue a
paper in the
morning. I saw at a glance that my work was below. The basement
and main floor
were filled with boards, boxes and rubbish, and these must be
cleaned out at
once. I placed a gang of men under the command of our cashier to
clear out the
main floor, and another gang under a boss to clear out the
basement to receive
a load of paper. I then went foraging for brooms, but the market
was bare of
that indispensable article and I borrowed some of a neighbor.
Seeing that
business was going on lively, my next duty was to get up four
stoves. For
these I started west on Randolph street, but every store had
sold out, till I
got to the corner of Halsted street, I think it was; I found
here the four I
wanted: price $16 each. Told the owner I wanted all his men to
go to work at
once to get the pipe ready; but fearing if he did not know who
had bought them
somebody with cash in hand might "jump my claim," I told him
they were for the
Tribune Company, that we had plenty of money in our vault and in
the bank, and
as soon as we could get at it he should have his pay. "I don't
know about
dat," said the worthy Teuton, "I guess I must have de money for
dem stoves."
The thing amused me at the rapid change the fire had wrought. On
Saturday our
note would have been good for $100,000 and on Tuesday we could
not buy four
stoves and the fixtures on credit. In the best of humor I told
him to come
with me and measure the height of the holes for the pipe in the
chimneys, and
before he could get the articles ready he should have his money.
This he did,
and then my first question, half joke, half earnest, to every
friend I met
was, "have you got any money?" The tenth man perhaps, Hon. Ed.
Oowles, of
Cleveland, Ohio, said, "Yes, how much do you want?" "All you can
spare;" and
he handed me $60. Not enough for the stove genius, but I walked
rapidly to his
den, shook the greenbacks at him and told him to hurry up, for
I'd soon have
the balance. Came back to the office and found a dozen or two
more of our
leading citizens like myself all "strapped," till at last E. S.
Wadsworth,
Esq., handed me $100. Messrs. Cowles and Wadsworth, therefore,
furnished the
cash capital to start the Tribune the next day after the fire.
But money soon
began to flow in. Between three and four o'clock, our clerk, Mr.
Lowell, came
to me and said, "there are some people here with advertisements
for lost
friends!" I said, "take them and the cash, registering in your
memorandum
book;" and upon a dirty old box on the window sill for a desk,
the Tribune at
once commenced doing a lively business. A gentleman called me by
name and
said, "I haven't a morsel of food for my wife and children
to-night and not a
cent to buy any; may I not paint "TRIBUNE" over your door?" It
was soon done—
bill $3.75; and thus a family was provided for that night at
least, and
another citizen started in business.
By four p. M. the stoves were up; Mr. White was duly installed
with the
editors in the rear of the main floor; the clerks were taking
ads, the paper
was soon after going into the basement, arrangements were made
to print on the
Journal press, our next door neighbor. Mr. Medill had his
printers all in
order, and a council was called; a list of materials made out,
and it was
agreed that I should start for Buffalo and New York that evening
to get them.
I hurried home, got my satchel—alas, clean linen was not to be
had—and back to
the office. About eight I took the middle of Canal street and
went south to
Twelfth; thence east to Clark and thence south to sixteenth, and
just saw the
cars moving away. Nothing was to be done but to return to 607
Wabash avenue. I
have mentioned my route thus particularly to add that this was
one of the most
lonely and fearful tramps of my life. No street lamps, few
people in the
streets, and there were good reasons to give them as wide a
berth as possible.
Another sleepless night, and in the morning as I sat sipping my
coffee over
some cold ham, I saw Sheridan's boys with knapsack and musket
march proudly
by. Never did deeper emotions of joy overcome me. Thank God,
those most dear
to me and the city as well are safe, and I hurried away to the
train. Had it
not been for General Sheridan's prompt, bold and patriotic
action, I verily
believe what was left of the city would have been nearly if not
quite entirely
destroyed by the cutthroats and vagabonds who flocked here like
vultures from
every point of the compass.
As soon as my name was found on the hotel book at Buffalo,
Thursday morning,
some gentlemen came round, and took me to the Board of Trade,
where I gave the
best account I could of the extent of the fire, the relief that
had been sent,
and of the certainty that the city in a very few years would
rise from its
ashes in all
its pristine vigor.
Completing my business, I left for New York in the evening
train. My arrival
in some way soon became known at the Tribune office, and
Whitelaw Reid, Esq.,
sent two reporters to interview me. I insert what appeared in
the Tribune
Saturday morning, Oct. 14th, headings and all, with only a very
few verbal
corrections.
STATEMENT OF EX-LIEUT. GOV. BROSS OF THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE—SCENES
DURING AND
AFTER THE FIRE—WHAT CHICAGO HAS, WHAT SHE NEEDS, AND WHAT SHE
WILL BE.
Ex-Lieutenant Governor Bross of Illinois, arrived in this city
from Chicago,
yesterday morning. A Tribune reporter called on him at the St.
Nicholas Hotel,
immediately after his arrival, and although Gov. Bross was
suffering greatly
from fatigue and the reaction consequent on the excitement of
the last few
days, he kindly and cheerfully dictated the following statement
of his
experience during the conflagration. Gov. Bross is well known as
one of the
principal proprietors of the Chicago Tribune, and his statement
will be read
with the greatest interest.
Before I begin to speak of the fire, I wish to say that I think
the accounts
of it, published in your paper are most admirable. They have
been, considering
the difficulties of obtaining information, wonderfully accurate;
and your map,
showing the burnt portion of the city, is the best I have seen.
As to what I saw of the fire. About two o'clock on Monday
morning, my family
and I were aroused by Mrs. Samuel Bowles, the wife of the editor
and
proprietor of the Springfield Republican, who happened to be a
guest in our
house. We had all gone to bed very tired the night before, and
had slept so
soundly that we were unaware of the conflagration till it had
assumed terrible
force. My family were all very much alarmed at the glare which
illuminated the
sky and the lake. I at once saw that a dreadful disaster was
impending over
Chicago, and immediately left the house to determine the
locality and extent
of the fire. I found that it was then a good deal south of my
house and west
of the Michigan Southern and Rock Island Railroad depots. I went
home
considerably reassured in half an hour, and, finding my family
packing things
up told them that I did not anticipate danger and requested them
to leave off
packing. But I said, "the result of this night's work will be
awful. At least
10,000 people will want breakfast in the morning; you prepare
breakfast for
one hundred." This they proceeded to do, but soon became alarmed
and
recommenced packing. Soon after half past two o'clock I started
for the
Tribune office to see if it was in danger. By this time the fire
had crossed
the river, and that portion of the city south of Harrison
street, and between
Third avenue and the river seemed in a blaze of fire, as well as
on the West
side. I reached the Tribune office, and, seeing no cause for any
apprehension
as to its safety I did not remain there more than twenty
minutes. On leaving
the office I proceeded to the Nevada Hotel (which is my
property,) at the
corner of Washington and Franklin streets. I remained there for
an hour
watching the progress of the flames and contemplating the
ruinous destruction
of property going on around. The fire had passed east of the
hotel, and I
hoped that the building was safe; but it soon began to extend in
a westerly
direction, and the hotel was quickly enveloped in flames. I
became seriously
alarmed, and ran north on Franklin to Randolph street so as to
head off the
flames and get back to my house, which was on Michigan avenue,
on the shore of
the lake. My house was a part of almost the last block burned.
MAGNIFICENT APPEARANCE OF THE FIRE WHEN AT ITS HEIGHT.
At this time the fire was the most grandly magnificent scene
that one can
conceive. The Court House, Post Office, Farwell Hall, the
Tremont House,
Sherman House, and all the splendid buildings on La Salle and
Wells streets,
were burning with a sublimity of effect which astounded me. All
the adjectives
in the language would fail to convey the intensity of its
wonders. Crowds of
men, women and children were huddling away, running first in one
direction,
then in another, shouting and crying in their terror, and trying
to save
anything they could lay their hands on, no matter how trivial in
value, while
every now and then explosions, which seemed almost to shake the
solid earth
would reverberate through the air aud add to the terrors of the
poor people. I
crossed Lake street bridge to the west, ran north to Kinzie
street bridge, and
crossed over east to the North side, hoping to head off the
fire. It had,
however, already swept north of me, and was traveling faster
than I could go,
and I soon came to the conclusion that it would be impossible
for me to get
east in that direction. I accordingly re-crossed Kinzie street
bridge, and
went west as far as Desplaines street, where I fortunately met a
gentleman in
a buggy who very kindly drove me over Twelfth street bridge to
my house on
Michigan avenue. It was by this time getting on toward five
o'clock, and the
day was beginning to break. On my arrival home I found my horses
already
harnessed and my riding horse saddled for me. My family and
friends were all
busily engaged in picking up and in distributing sandwiches and
coffee to all
who wanted them or could spare a minute to partake of them.
BURNING OF THE TRIBUNE BUILDING AND THE DWELLINGS ON MICHIGAN
AVENUE.
I immediately jumped on my horse and rode as fast as I could go
to the Tribune
oflice. I found everything safe; the men were all there, and we
fondly hoped
that all danger was passed as far as we were concerned, and for
this reason,
that the blocks in front of the Tribune building on Dearborn
street, and north
on Madison street, had both been burned; the only damage
accruing to us being
confined to a cracking of some of the plate glass windows from
the heat. But a
somewhat curious incident soon set us all in a state of
excitement. The fire
had, unknown to us, crawled under the sidewalk from the wooden
pavement, and
had caught the wood work of the barber's shop which comprises a
portion of our
basement. As soon as we ascertained the extent of the mischief
we no longer
apprehended any special danger, believing, as we did, that the
building was
fire-proof. My associates, Mr. Medill and Mr. White, were
absent; and with the
help of some of our employes, we went to work with water and one
of Babcock's
Fire Extinguishers. The fire was soon put out, and we once more
returned to
business. The forms had been sent down stairs, and I ordered our
foreman, Mr.
Keiler, to get all the pressmen together, in order to issue the
papers as soon
as a paragraph showing how far the fire had then extended, could
be prepared
and inserted. Many kind friends gathered round the office and
warmly expressed
their gratification at the preservation of our building.
Believing all things
safe, I again mounted my horse and rode south on State street to
see what
progress the fire was making, and if it were moving eastward on
Dearborn
street. To my great surprise and horror, I found that its
current had taken an
easterly direction, nearly as far as State street, and that it
was also
advancing in a northerly direction with terrible swiftness and
power. I at
once saw the danger so imminently threatening us, and with some
friends
endeavored to obtain a quantity of powder for the purpose of
blowing up
buildings south of the Palmer House. Failing in finding any
powder, I saw the
only thing to do was to tear them down. I proceeded to Church's
hardware store
and succeeded in procuring about a dozen heavy axes, and handing
them to my
friends, requested them to mount the buildings with me and
literally chop them
down. All but two or three seemed utterly paralyzed at this
unexpected change
in the course of the fire; and even these, seeing the others
stand back, were
unwilling to make the effort alone. At this moment I saw that
some wooden
buildings and a new brick house west of the Palmer House had
already caught
fire. I knew at a glance that the Tribune building was doomed,
and I rode back
to the office and told them that nothing more could be done to
save the
building, McVicker's theatre, or anything else in that vicinity.
In this
hopeless frame of mind I rode home to look after my residence
and family,
intently watching the ominous eastward movement of the flames. I
at once set
to work with my family and friends to move as much of my
furniture as possible
across the narrow Park east of Michigan avenue, on to the shore
of the lake, a
distance of some 300 feet. At the same time I sent my family to
the house of
some friends in the south part of the city for safety; my
daughter, Miss
Jessie Bross, was the last to leave us. The work of carrying our
furniture
across the avenue to the shore was most difficult and even
dangerous. For six
or eight hours Michigan avenue was jammed with every description
of vehicle
containing families escaping from the city, or baggage wagons
laden with goods
and furniture. The sidewalks were crowded with men, women and
children, all
carrying something. Some of the things saved and carried away
were valueless.
One woman carried an empty bird cage; another, an old work box;
another, some
dirty empty baskets; old, useless bedding, anything that could
be hurriedly
snatched up, seemed to have been carried away without judgment
or forethought.
In the meantime the fire had lapped up the Palmer House, the
theatres, and the
Tribune building; and contrary to our expectation, for we
thought the current
of the fire had passed my residence, judging from the direction
of the wind,
we saw by the advancing clouds of dense black smoke and the
rapidly
approaching flames that we were in imminent peril. The fire had
already worked
so far south and east as to attack the stables in the rear of
Terrace Block,
between Van Buren and Congress streets. Many friends rushed into
the houses in
the block and helped to carry out heavy furniture, such as
pianos and book
cases. We succeeded in carrying the bulk of it to the shore.
Much of it,
however, is seriously damaged. There I and a few others sat by
our household
goods, calmly awaiting the destruction of our property-one of
the most
splendid block's in Chicago. The eleven fine houses which
composed the block
were occupied by Denton Gurney, Peter L. Yoe, Mrs. Humphreys
(owned by Mrs.
Walker), William Bross, P. F. W. Peck, S. C. Griggs, Tuthill
King, Judge H. T.
Dickey, Gen. Cook, John L. Clarke, and the Hon. J. Y. Scammon.
THE APPEARANCE OF THE CITY AFTER THE FIRE—ENTERPRISE OF THE
TRIBUNE.
The next morning I was of course out early, and found the
streets thronged
with crowds of people moving in all directions. To me the sight
of the ruin,
though so sad, was wonderful; giving one a most curious
sensation, and
especially as it was wrought in so short a space of time. It was
the
destruction of the entire business portion of one of the
greatest cities in
the world! Every bank and insurance office, law offices, hotels,
theatres,
railroad depots, most of the churches, and many of the principal
residences of
the city, a charred mass, and property almost beyond estimate
gone.
Mr. White, my associate, like myself, had been burned out of
house and home.
He had removed his family to a place of safety and I had no idea
where he or
any one else connected with the Tribune office might be found.
My first point
to make was naturally the site of our late office; but before I
reached it I
met two former tenants of our building who told me that there
was a job
printing office on Randolph street, on the West side, that could
probably be
bought. I immediately started for the West side and while making
my way west
through the crowds of people, over the Madison street bridge,
desolation
stared me in the face at every step, and yet I was much struck
with the tone
and temper of the people. On all sides I saw evidences of true
Chicago spirit,
and men said to one another, "cheer up; we'll be all right again
before long,"
and many other plucky things. Their pluck and courage was
wonderful. Every one
was bright, cheerful, pleasant, hopeful, and even inclined to be
jolly in
spite of the misery and destitution which surrounded them and
which they
shared. One and all said, Chicago must and should be rebuilt at
once. On
reaching Canal street, on my way To purchase the printing office
I had heard
of, I was informed that while Mr. White and I were saving our
families and as
much of our furniture as we could on Monday afternoon, Mr.
Medill, seeing that
the Tribune office must inevitably be burned, sought for and
purchased
Edwards' job printing office, No. 15 Canal street, where he was
then busy
organizing things. One after another, all hands turned up; and
by the
afternoon we had improvised the back part of the room into our
editorial
department, while an old wooden box did duty as a business
counter in the
front window. We were soon busy as bees, writing editorials and
paragraphs;
and taking in any number of advertisements. By evening several
orders for type
and fixtures were made out, and things were generally so far
advanced that I
left for the depot at Twenty-second street, with the intention
of coming on to
New York. Unfortunately I missed the train and had to wait till
Wednesday
morning. We shall get along as best we can till the rebuilding
of our edifice
is finished. Going down to the ruins I found a large section
thrown out of the
north wall on Madison street. The other three walls are
standing, but the east
and west walls are so seriously injured that they must be pulled
down. The
south wall is in good condition. More of our office and the Post
office
remains standing than any other buildings that I saw. Our
building was put up
to stand a thousand years, and it would have done so but for
that awful
furnace of fire, fanned by an intense gale on the windward side,
literally
melting it up where it stood.
THE LOSS $300,000,000—GRATITUDE OF THE CHICAGO PEOPLE.
With regard to the probable loss from the fire, it is impossible
to say
anything certain. I saw an estimate the other day which was
based on the tax
list of the city, which is over $500,000,000; and the writer
inferred from
that list that the loss cannot exceed $125,000,000. Now,
according to our
system of taxation in Illinois, this city tax list never shows
anything like
the proper amount of the property in the city. To my knowledge,
houses having
$20,000 to $30,000 worth of furniture in them are not rated at
more than
$2,000 to $4,000. Stocks of goods were never valued among us at
more than one-
fifth or one-tenth of their, real value on the tax list. All our
merchants had
just filled up their stores with fall and winter trade stocks.
From these and
other facts I estimate the loss by the fire at considerably more
than
$200,000,000; and if damage, depreciation of real estate and
property, and
loss of business are considered, the loss would, in my judgment,
exceed
$300,000,000. Besides this, there are the family accumulations
of centuries,
such as heirlooms, the value of which cannot be estimated in
money. The
collection of the Historical Society, including the Emancipation
Proclamation,
were invaluable, and cannot possibly be replaced. The Chicago
Library
possessed many costly works, among which were the records of the
English
Patent Office, in 3,000 volumes. The destruction of the files of
the Tribune
is an immense loss to Chicago, and an irreparable one to the
Tribune. There
was a duplicate copy, but I unluckily presented it to the
Historical Society.
They contained a complete and exhaustive history of Chicago from
its first
settlement.
One of the most striking circumstances to me, almost as
astounding as the
great fire itself, is the grand and spontaneous outburst of
sympathy, aid, and
brotherly love, which come to us from all parts of the world. It
is a touching
spectacle, this man-to-man, shoulder-to-shoulder way of standing
by us. I have
seen strong men, accustomed to the wear and tear of life, whom
the loss of
enormous fortunes could not bear down, stand at the corners of
our streets
with the tears in their eyes as the kindly words came pouring in
upon them on
the telegraph wires. They could only ejaculate, "God bless
them!" I can say no
more than they. God bless all who have raised even their little
finger for
Chicago.
WHAT CHICAGO NEEDS FOR THE FUTURE.
This country and even Europe have already provided for Chicago's
present wants
with a munificence and promptness never before witnessed in the
history of the
race. Enough has been and will be forwarded, when the
contributions are all in
the hands of the proper committees, to provide for the immediate
necessities
of the more indigent sufferers, who are unable to take care of
themselves.
What is most needed is to furnish the leading business men of
the city with
capital, so that they can employ the laboring classes in
erecting stores,
warehouses, banks, business blocks, hotels, churches, school
houses and
manufactories of all kinds. How is this capital to be placed in
their hands?
Let those who hold mortgages taken for half the value of the
property, take a
second mortgage of sufficient amount to defray the expense of
erecting a good
building on the former site. Such a structure will rent for a
sufficient sum
to pay the interest on both mortgages, and in the present demand
for buildings
will also pay a reasonable percentage to the owner of the
property. A very
large number of such mortgages, made to life insurance and other
companies and
to individuals, were recorded on the burnt records of Chicago,
and will be
recognized by its business men.
Furthermore, let those who know the leading business men of
Chicago, honest,
industrious, and determined to rebuild the city, lend them money
to start
again the business in which they were engaged, asking only
pledges of honor,
if they, in their afflictions have nothing else to give. These
men understand
the business of the Northwest, and can of course transact it
with profit.
Aided by the capital of others they can rapidly regain their
lost wealth, and
amply repay those who may assist them. Let the banks and
business men of New
York and other Eastern cities who have been connected by
business with Chicago
merchants, furnish them with all the money and goods they may
require with
which to re-establish themselves.
NEW YORK'S DUTY TOWARD CHICAGO.
As a gentleman expressed it in my hearing to-day, New York is
the senior and
Chicago the junior partner of the great firm which manages the
vast commercial
interests of our nation. By a dispensation of Providence which
the wisest
could not foresee, the means in the hands of the junior partner
have been
destroyed. Will the senior partner sit by and see the business
of the firm
crushed out when he has the means to establish it on a scale
more gigantic and
more profitable than ever before? Let him contribute a small
portion only of
his vast accumulations to his unfortunate associate, and the
influence and
power of the concern will assume fresh life and vigor. By thus
furnishing the
means with which to start again the business of Chicago, the
holders of
mortgages will at once make the property for which the mortgages
were given as
valuable as ever, and will insure for themselves both interest
and principal.
The merchants of New York and the Eastern cities should resume
gladly their
dealings with houses already competent to transact the business
of the West,
and within a few years scarcely a trace of the great fire of
Chicago will
remain to bear testimony to its record upon the pages of
history.
AN OPENING FOR EASTERN CAPITAL.
A large number of men with more or less capital and living all
over the
country have been deterred from going to Chicago because the
business and
manufacturing of that city were concentrated in the hands of
well-established
houses. There has not been a time in twenty years when such
persons could
establish themselves in business there so easily as now. With
the exception of
a few of the larger houses, stranger and citizen will start even
in the race
for the business of the Great West. Farmers, merchants and
capitalists at the
East who have sons whom they wish to put in as partners with men
of integrity
and business knowledge, will find no opportunity like the one
which Chicago
offers to-day. Men of the very best character and of the best
business
qualifications, thoroughly acquainted with the trade and
commerce of the West,
would be only too glad to place their energy and business
knowledge against
the money furnished by the sons of Eastern capitalists. The men
who in part
have built up Chicago and walled her streets with business and
residence
blocks among the finest on the continent, have ever been
distinguished for
their far-seeing shrewdness, their energy and integrity, and now
all they need
is the capital to set the labor of the city vigorously at work.
The capital
and labor working together with the intelligence and energy of
the citizens,
will in a very few years rebuild Chicago and reproduce her with
increased
magnificence and power. I tell you that within five years her
business houses
will be rebuilt, and by the year 1900 the new Chicago will boast
a population
of 1,000,000 souls. You ask me why? Because I know the Northwest
and the vast
resources of its broad acres. I know that the location of
Chicago makes her
the centre of this wealthy region, and the market for all its
products.
WHAT CHICAGO HAS FOR A FOUNDATION ON WHICH TO BUILD.
Though Chicago itself has been destroyed in a whirlwind of fire,
the immense
fertile country which is tributary to it for hundreds of miles
around has the
wheat and the corn, the beef and the pork, and the other
products to pay for
the merchandise of the East. While some of her wooden pavement
has been
injured, the greater part of it is in good condition. The
streets have been
raised several feet, giving good drainage. The foundations of
most of the
consumed buildings are uninjured. The gas and water pipes are
laid through all
the streets of the city. The sewerage was nearly complete before
the
conflagration, and was uninjured by it. The damage to the water
works was very
slight, and within a few days they will be in operation again.
The bridges are
nearly all preserved. The lake tunnel by which the city is
supplied with
water, the tunnel under the main river, and that under the south
branch are
all uninjured. These works alone may be counted as constituting
from 20 to 40
per cent, of the cost of rebuilding the city. The Chamber of
Commerce and
several of the leading business houses have already determined
to rebuild
immediately upon the former sites. There can be no doubt but
that the business
centre of the city will be re-established at once upon its old
foundation. The
dozen or more railways branching off in all directions through
the Mississippi
Valley will soon be pouring the wealth of the country into the
city as rapidly
as ever. It is true that two large depots have been burned, but
they had long
since become too small for the business of the roads. Others of
larger
dimensions and better accommodations will immediately take their
places. That
indomitable perseverance and genuine "grit" which made Chicago
in the past
will in a very few years raise up the Chicago of the future.
This, so far as I know, was the first con¬iderable statement in
regard to the
fire made to the New York press by any one direct from Chicago.
Their special
dispatches had been very full and in the main entirely accurate.
I spent
Sabbath with my friend Bowles, of the Springfield (Mass.)
Republican, and
several hours on Monday with the President and Secretary of the
Connecticut
Mutual Life Insurance Company, then and now Chicago's largest
creditor and
among the very best friends the city ever had. I gave them my
views as to the
best means to make their large investments here available. On
Tuesday
afternoon, the 17th, by invitation, I delivered the following
address to the
relief committee of the Chamber of Commerce, Ex-Mayor Updike in
the Chair.
Though much that is in the Tribune's interview is repeated, I
insert it here
just an it appeared in all the papers next morning.
CHICAGO'S NEEDS.
EX-GOVERNOR BROSS' ADDRESS BEFORE THE NEW YORK CHAMBER OP
COMMERCE RELIEF
COMMITTEE.
Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the New York Chamber of
Commerce:
A few of you may remember that in 1866, I had the honor to
address you on the
subject of the Pacific Railroad. I then took rather a brighter
view of the
location and of the facilities for building the road; of the
extent of its
business, and its influence upon the travel and the traffic of
this country
and the world, than many of you probably believed could be
warranted by the
facts; but I think you will now agree that what may then have
seemed to be
bold if not improbable speculation, has been more than realized.
And if fresh
from that terrible baptism of fire which has swept over and
destroyed the best
portion of the city of Chicago, I venture to take a hopeful view
of her
future, provided you, and the capitalists of New York and the
East generally,
render her stricken business men that material aid which I trust
you will feel
it both safe and a pleasure to give, my best judgment and most
careful study
of the whole subject convince me, at least, that the views you
may permit me
to present will also be fully realized.
THE EXTENT OF THE LOSS.
Of the extent of the calamity that has desolated our city I need
not speak in
detail. Your newspapers of last Friday morning had correct maps
of the burnt
district. Some 3,000 acres are covered with frightful ruins, or
swept by the
devouring fire, maddened by the fury of the hurricane, as bare
as they were
when the Indian roamed over them forty years ago. It is safe to
say that all
that remains of Chicago is not worth half as much as the fire
has destroyed.
All our banks; all our largest and best hotels, and a score or
two of lesser
note; all our largest and leading grocery, jewelry, dry goods,
hardware,
clothing and other business houses; all our newspaper offices;
most of our
churches and school houses; our Historical Society's building,
with all its
valuable treasures; the Library Association, containing among
other works some
3,000 volumes of the Patent Office reports of Great Britain;
thousands of
dwellings; the homes of the rich, filled with priceless
treasures, and with
heirlooms of hundreds of years; and the abodes of humble poverty
by the ten
thousand—all, all have been swept as by the fell besom of
destruction from the
face of the earth. Only a single house on the north side of the
river—that of
Mahlon D. Ogden, Esq.—is left standing, and probably 75,000
people spent the
morning and most of Monday crouching in Lincoln Park, or half
immersed in the
waters of the Lake, to save themselves from the heat and the
showers of
burning cinders driven upon them by the tempest. Both the losses
and the
sufferings of that day can never be fully known or described no
mind can
possibly comprehend them. They have not been and can not well be
exaggerated.
UNBOUNDED SYMPATHY.
If our calamity in its kind has been unequaled in the world's
history, the
response it has met in the sympathy, the outpouring and
unbounded liberality
of the entire American people, is grand, sublime, Godlike. It
throbs in the
lightning's flash through three thousand miles of the deep, dark
caves of the
old ocean, and makes our hearts glad. I may say for our people,
brothers and
sisters of generous free America, honored sons and daughters of
our sires
across the Atlantic, with the profoundest emotions of our
hearts, we thank
you. Strong men in Chicago weep at midnight, not over their
losses of
thousands, aye, many of them even of millions, but with joy and
gratitude at
the noble charity you have shown us. God will reward you for it,
and our
children and children's children shall bless you.
THE NEXT THING NEEDED.
The millions of dollars in clothing, provisions, and money
already raised and
being subscribed, have relieved the immediate necessities of the
poor, and
thousands who have been made so by the fire. But, gentlemen, the
next
imperative necessity is to place funds in the hands of the
leading business
men of Chicago to enable them to rebuild the city, to handle the
products of
the vast fertile country that is tributary to it, and to set all
the laborers
of the city to work. Do this and the poor can support
themselves; withhold
your capital and they must starve or your charities will
continue to be
severely taxed to support them, for you can not see them die of
starvation. In
making this appeal to you, and through you to the capitalists of
the country
and to the business men and capitalists of England and Germany,
for means to
rebuild and do the business of Chicago, I must deal with the two
elements of
security and profit. I have still another; those who have now
loans on real
property and credits in the hands of our leading houses should
continue those
credits and make loans on the same property on second mortgage,
in order to
make what - they now have available. Nearly all the central
portion of the
city has been swept by fire, and the land is not worth as much
as so many
acres of prairie, unless made valuable for business by
rebuilding it. The men,
whose splendid marble palaces once occupied it, are still there.
In most cases
their property is all gone; but sterling integrity, unbending
energy, a
thorough knowledge of the financial, commercial, and
manufacturing interests
of the West—all those qualities which have made Chicago the
wonder and
admiration of the world—are still left to them. Nay, more, all
their best
powers are enlarged and intensified by a determination to regain
and restore
all that has been lost. Braver and truer, nobler and better men
do not live,
than the leading business men of Chicago. I ask not for
them—they would scorn
to ask—charity; but I do ask that you intrust as much as you can
of your
surplus capital to their management, for your own and their
profit.
A BOLD POLICY SAFEST.
But to repeat and to be more specific. Let insurance companies
and individuals
who have loans on Chicago real estate take a second mortgage
with policies of
insurance for money enough to build a substantial building upon
it. Such must
be the demand for places of all kinds to do business, for
several years to
come, that the rentals will surely pay the interest on both the
mortgages and
leave a fair surplus to the owner to pay the principal. A bold
policy, in all
such cases, it seems to me, is the only safe and really
conservative one for
capitalists to pursue. They can in this way, within a year at
most, make safe
and productive all their investments. Any other course must
subject them to
great and inevitable loss. Unincumbered Chicago real estate—and
there is a
vast deal of that—offers the very best possible security to
capitalists. Take
a mortgage on property, to-day, that two weeks ago would have
sold for $2,000
per front foot, for, say $500 per front foot; in three years, so
rapidly is
the city sure to grow, it will be worth twice as much, and in
five years it
will have reached its former value of $2,000 per front foot. The
point I make
is, that Chicago real estate must rapidly appreciate from its
present nominal
values, and this renders all loans upon it entirely safe.
Again, there are thousands of Chicago business men who have
friends East who
know them to be honest, energetic, and capable. If they have no
other security
to give, take a life policy and a note of honor, and lend them
money enough to
start business. They have lost one fortune, and with a little of
your help on
the start they can soon make another. As to the large class of
merchants and
manufacturers who have done business with Chicago houses, I know
they will
extend all the aid in their power by large and liberal credits.
By doing so,
they will be sure to collect what is now due them, and to secure
large orders
and profits in the future. The mercantile community are
proverbially liberal
in their dealings with each other, and in our overwhelming
calamity Chicago
merchants will doubtless receive the most generous treatment
from Eastern
merchants and manufacturers.
GOOD TIME TO COMMENCE BUSINESS.
There has not been, for the last twenty years, so good a time
for men of
capital to start business in Chicago as now. Thousands anxious
to locate in
this focus of Western commerce have been deterred from doing so
for the reason
that the business in each department had become concentrated in
comparatively
a few hands. With few exceptions, all can now start even, in the
race for fame
and fortune. The fire has leveled nearly all distinctions, and
the merchants
and dealers who have heretofore purchased in our older and
larger houses will
buy where they can get their goods the cheapest. Now, therefore,
is the time
to strike. A delay of a year or two will give an immense
advantage to those
who start at once. True, a location must be found, perhaps a
store built; but
a couple of months, at most, are all that is needed to start
business with the
best prospects of success.
Again, there are thousands of people all over the country with
considerable
means who wish to start their sons in business. Of course they
are without
experience. Furnish them capital to go into business with an
experienced
Chicago merchant, who will gladly put his knowledge and energy
against the
capital, and in a few years these sons will be men of wealth and
honor. Such
opportunities, my word for it, can be found in abundance. Better
a thousand
fold encourage the sons of the rich to honorable exertion than
to allow them
to waste their energies in ease and luxury.
RATE OF INTEREST.
While the rich, populous States tributary to Chicago, through
which our
railways are running in all directions, must make the business
of the city, as
it has been in the past, exceedingly profitable, I trust what I
have said has
convinced you that it is one of the best cities in the world in
which to make
safe investments of capital. Its rapid growth must insure that
beyond a
contingency. And now for the matter of profit. The legal
interest in Illinois
is ten per cent., a much larger figure than is allowed anywhere
at the East.
Millions of money would gladly be taken by our leading business
men at that
rate; but I beg to say that I hope you will be satisfied with
eight. I might
add that our people sometimes pay commissions, but I beg you
also to forget
all about that. Our citizens are poor enough now in all
conscience, and it is
to be hoped Eastern capital will be satisfied with a reasonable
percentage
above what it can realize at home.
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT CAN DO.
Of course the Government can do nothing directly for us; but as
soon as
Congress meets, liberal appropriations should be made to build a
large,
substantial Post Office. The old building had become far too
small to
accommodate the immense business of the Northwest. The Chicago
office was, if
I mistake not, the second distributing office in the United
States, and it
should have a building of corresponding dimensions. The
importing business
direct to Chicago was just fairly commenced, and a large Custom
House and
several bonded warehouses are needed for that. Perhaps United
States Court
rooms can be provided in these; but in any event large
accommodations are at
once of imperative necessity. The building of them as rapidly as
possible
would employ a large amount of labor, and distribute
corresponding sums of
money, thus affording a most important stimulus to the entire
business of the
city.
WHAT IS LEFT.
Although the all-devouring fire has swept over us, we have still
much
remaining on which to build the city. All our banks, though
doubtless somewhat
crippled, will resume business at once. Their books, currency,
notes and
exchanges are safe. The notes, though not as good as they might
be, will
mostly be paid, in whole or in part; and what is worthless, it
is to be hoped,
will not seriously affect their stability and usefulness. Our
score or more of
railways will at once pour the produce of the upper half of the
Mississippi
valley into the city for distribution among all the cities and
States of the
seaboard. Our Water Works are soon to be in good order, and the
water pipes
all over the city are intact. Many of our bridges, and of course
our lake
tunnel and our two tunnels under the river, are all right. The
streets are
raised several feet in many places, affording good drainage; the
pavements are
very little injured, and the gas pipes and sewers are of course
complete.
These with other things that might be named constitute from
twenty to forty
per cent, of the original expense of building the city. And what
is far
better, our honest, brave, plucky people are there, ready and
willing to work.
Their strong hands and iron wills yield to no disasters. The men
who have
turned the waters of Lake Michigan into the Mississippi—in
common phrase "made
the Chicago river run up hill"—can turn back the tide of
misfortune, and in a
few years make their city more prosperous and populous and
powerful than ever
before. True, they need your assistance, and you will give it.
The
capitalists, the mercantile and business interests of this
country and of
Europe cannot afford to withhold the means to rebuild Chicago.
The vast
teeming country west of her, her position at the head of the
Great Lakes, with
more miles of railway centering there than any other city upon
the continent,
have made her one of the vital forces that give life and vigor
to the
commercial energies of the nation. What she has been in the past
she must
become in the future, and a hundred fold more. Help her with
capital, and it
can soon be done; but in any event she has to wait only a few
short years for
the sure development of her "manifest destiny."
The above had the advantage of appearing in all the morning
papers. The
Tribune, Herald, and Times gave it an immense circulation. Most
of the evening
papers copied or gave a synopsis of it, and the papers of other
cities did the
same. I was assured that it had done much to inspire confidence
in the early
restoration of the city. If in this or any other way it did any
good, I did
only what every good citizen should always do, the best he can
for the
interests and the prosperity of Chicago. It should be noticed
that what I
predicted would be accomplished in five years was mostly done in
three, and
much of it in two. The unsightly acres still to be seen on State
street,
Wabash avenue, and some portions of Michigan avenue, were burned
over by the
disastrous fire of July 14th, 1874. Nearly all the open spaces
made by the
great fire of 1871 are now covered with buildings.
1873.
TRANSPORTATION.
FACTS AND FIGURES IN REGARD TO IT — THE GEORGIAN BAY CANAL.
The following address at Des Moines is inserted for the facts
and figures it
contains, posted up to the time it was delivered:
Special despatch to the Chicago Tribune.
DES MOINES, Ia., Jan. 22.—The Iowa Industrial Convention
convened to-day, with
full delegations from all parts of the State, also delegates
from Illinois and
Canada. Governor Carpenter called the Convention to order.
Officers were
chosen as follows: Mayor W. T. Smith, of Oskaloosa, President;
one Vice
President from each Congressional District of the State; A.
R.Fulton,
Secretary, and S. F. Spofford, Treasurer. The afternoon business
was a
discussion on the amendment to the Collection laws in operation
in the State.
The Convention resolved to memorialize the Legislature to limit
the stay of
execution to ninety days; to abolish the Appraisement law; to
limit the right
of redemption to six mouths.
The motion to limit the value of homesteads to $5,000 did not
carry.
The Convention is composed of leading representative men from
all parts of the
State. It is large in numbers, and embraces an unusual amount of
practical
business talent, and valuable results may be anticipated.
Ex-Lieutenant
Governor Bross, of Chicago, is speaking this evening to a very
large audience,
composed not only of the members, but of the Senators,
Representatives, and
others in attendance upon the Legislature. His subject is the
transportation
question. The following is the substance of his remarks:
Mr. President and Gentlemen:
I am here by request, to address you on the transportation
question. The
subject involves an estimate, as near as may be, of the surplus
farm products
of what are commonly known as the Northwestern States; the cost
of freights
between the producers and the consumers; the capacity of the
channels of
transit; the means by which that capacity can be enlarged, and
the cost of
freights thereby reduced to the lowest possible limit; and
lastly, the numbers
and the wants of the people among whom we expect to find a
profitable market
for that surplus.
The people of our Atlantic seaboard, especially those of the New
England
States, are our largest and best customers. The steady increase
of
manufacturing industry there, creates a larger demand for our
products every
year; but that demand has long since fallen far behind the
production of
cereals and provisions in the States that surround and lie west
of Lake
Michigan. This fact has become the more apparent every year
since 1865, when
at least 200,000 men ceased to be consumers, and, scattered all
over these
States, have been steadily adding to our surplus. In the
meantime, thousands
of people from the different nationalities of Europe have made
their homes
among us, thus adding largely, not only to the numbers of our
population, but
to the development of our resources, and the intellectual and
the moral power
of the nation. If our surplus products are already so great, and
the cost of
their transit to the seaboard is so enormous, that corn is used
in Iowa for
fuel, the question what is to be done with that surplus a few
years hence,
when it has increased in almost a bewildering ratio, becomes a
matter of the
most serious concern. Let us consider for a few moments the
extent, the
resources, and the prospective development of the Northwestern
States, nearly
all of whose surplus products must find their way, either by
rail or the lakes
and canal, to the seaboard.
Look at the map. If you draw a line west from Alton, the
territory lying north
of that and between Lake Michigan and the Rocky Mountains,
throwing out the
small sections that are valueless, embraces about 700,000 square
miles. Here
we have space for fourteen States as large as Ohio, and he knows
little of its
climate and resources who is not convinced that they will be
vastly more
productive and more populous than that noble State. The rapid
progress of this
territory may be inferred from a few facts. The following table
shows the
increase of population in six States between 1860 and 1870:
1860. 1870.
Illinois 1,711,595 2,539,891
Iowa 674,913 1,191,792
Kansas 107,206 364,399
Minnesota 172,023 439,706
Nebraska 28,841 122,993
Wisconsin 775,881 1,054,670
Totals 3,470,459 5,713,451
These figures, taken from the Government census, show a ratio of
64 per cent.
increase between the years 1860 and 1870. The same ratio,
continued to the
year 1900, only twenty-seven years hence, would give these
States 25,450,000
people; but, granting it can not be kept up in them, can any one
doubt, with
the rapid extension of our railways in all directions through
this vast
fertile country, that at least 20,000,000 of people will in the
year of grace
1900 find their homes between Lake Michigan and the Rocky
Mountains? With only
a little more than half the ratio I have named, your own
beautiful Iowa will
in that time have a population equal to that of Pennsylvania in
1870, then and
now the second State in the Union. As another element to help us
to judge of
the immediate future, I may mention that Chicago had in 1860 a
population of
111,214, and in 1870, 298,977. The ratio of increase in this
case—170 per
cent.—would give her a population in 1880 of 800,000. I dare not
say that
Chicago will have that many people in a little more than seven
years hence,
but I will say that she has far outstripped the predictions that
I or any one
else have ever had the courage to make.
Another index to the development of the Northwest is found in
the rapid growth
of our railway system.
The following table shows the number of miles of railway in the
six States
above named, in 1860 and 1870, and the number of miles completed
in 1872:
Increase Built
1860 1870 in 10 yrs in 1872
Illinois 2,790 4,031 1,241 838
Iowa 655 2,095 1,440 585
Kansas none 931 931 511
Minnesota none 795 795 712
Nebraska none 1,058 1,058 218
Wisconsin 905 1,512 607 555
Totals 4,350 10,422 6,072 3,419
It will be noticed that more than half as many miles of railway
were built in
these States during last year as were built in ten years between
1860 and
1870. But to the Western farmer this astonishing railway
progress serves only
to increase the hideous writhings of what your excellent
Governor Carpenter
aptly calls "the skeleton in his corn-crib." It promotes the
rapid settlement
of the country, thereby adding largely to that surplus
production which even
now can only be relieved by burning corn for fuel. While
Governor Carpenter's
metaphor is fearfully true, and, with our present means of
transit, that
skeleton must remain fixed in the corn-crib, there are millions,
may I call
them living skeletons, clad in scanty flesh, pinched and wan
with the gnawings
of remorseless hunger, whose shout of joy and thankfulness would
make the
heavens ring, could this corn be brought within reach of their
starving wives
and children. But before passing from this branch of the
subject, let us take
another example from the commercial statistics of Chicago. The
first shipment
of wheat from that city, 78 bushels, was made in 1838, and in
1844, only
twenty-nine years ago, the shipments were less than a million of
bushels. Up
to that time no other cereal had been shipped eastward. In 1871,
the receipts
of all kinds of grain—flour being expressed in bushels—were
83,518,202, and
the shipments 71,800,789. Last year the receipts, as furnished
me by Charles
Randolph, Esq., Secretary of the Board of Trade, were
88,426,842. Allowing
about the same figures for city consumption, the shipments for
1872 would
amount to 76,000,000 bushels. The figures for each year in most
cases show a
steady increase of the shipments of breadstuff's, keeping pace
with the
settlement of the country west of Lake Michigan. A reference to
the tables
showing the commerce in the animal products of our vast fertile
prairies would
yield the same results, and need not be given here.
With all the increase of production west of Lake Michigan we
have added but
one railway to our channels of transit for it to the seaboard
since 1855; in
all, we now have four railways, the lakes, the Welland and St.
Lawrence and
the Erie canals. After having studied carefully the resources,
and the
probable development of the territory we have been considering,
I said to the
first Convention, held at Toronto, to consider how our transit
lines could be
increased, on the 13th of September of that year: "As well
attempt to lead the
boiling current of Niagara to the sea in hose-pipe as to ship
the products of
these 700,000 square miles to the ocean by the Erie and the
Welland canals,
and all the railways now or hereafter to be constructed." The
commercial crash
of 1857-8, and our four years War of the Rebellion have somewhat
delayed the
fulfillment of what then seemed to many the vagaries of an
over-heated
imagination; but that it is literally, even painfully true,
to-day, this
Convention cannot doubt for a moment.
The question before the Farmers' Convention, of Illinois,
recently held at
Bloomington, mooted as I learn almost with despairing
earnestness, was, Can
any present relief be found for the high freights and the
ruinously low prices
of our produce? I can see but two sources—one in an active
demand at high
figures, caused by a war in Europe. This would only be
temporary, at best. The
only permanent relief is to be sought for by opening a channel,
hereafter to
be noticed, for vessels of 1,000 tons, down the St. Lawrence to
the ocean. And
now we come to the price of freights, and what is needed to
lower them to such
a figure that the farmers west of Lake Michigan can ship the
products of their
broad acres to the ocean, and not have the proceeds of their
toil consumed in
getting them to market. On this branch of the subject, the cost
of freights
east of Chicago is the only thing to be considered, for the
railway charges to
that city can only be reduced gradually, by competition among
the railways and
by the greater amount of products to be handled. The freight on
corn from Des
Moines to Chicago, and places west to the Missouri, has, I
understand, been
reduced from 20 to 17 cents per hundred—about 12 cents per
bushel—and, in
process of time, a further reduction may possibly be made. The
average of all
rail freights between Chicago and New York, for the year 1871,
was 29.1 cents
per bushel, and 31.2 per bushel for wheat. I have the opinion of
the
Presidents of two of our largest railways, that if half a dozen
double track
railway lines, devoted entirely to freight, were built between
New York and
Chicago, the rate could not be reduced below 20 cents per
bushel. That would
make the freight charges on a bushel of corn from Des Moines to
tide water 32
cents at the lowest rate that can be hoped for by all rail, and,
adding the
commissions of the middle men, 35 to 40 cents would be levied,
so that you may
safely calculate it will cost you at least three bushels of corn
to lay down
the fourth one in New York. Using propellers betwen Chicago and
Buffalo or
Erie, and rail to New York, the average tariff of freight for
1871 was 23.4
cents per bushel for corn, and 25.2 for wheat, being about 6
cents less than
by all rail.
The average freight on corn by sail vessel, from Chicago to
Buffalo, for the
past summer, was a small fraction above 9 cents per bushel. Add
charges for
handling at Buffalo 1 1/2 cents, and canal freights to New York
12 cents on
corn, and 12 1/2 cents on wheat, and the charges on these grains
to New York
will be about 23 to 25 cents per bushel. Owing to the large
amount of produce
to be moved, freights have ranged from 2 to 5 cents higher
during the present
year above the rates ruling in 1871. The rates by propeller and
rail to
Buffalo and New York, and by sail and canal, have approached
very nearly to
the same figures. All lines are taxed to their utmost capacity,
and more. The
Erie canal can not be enlarged, for the watershed of the country
through which
it runs will not afford a larger supply of water to feed the
canal, and the
question returns what can be done to secure for our products a
more capacious
channel, and therefore cheaper transit to the ocean? I answer,
in the language
of the late Captain Hugunin, one of our best and earliest lake
navigators: "The Great God, when he made the mighty West, made
also the lakes
and the mighty St. Lawrence & float their commerce to the
ocean." True, we
have the Rapids of the St. Lawrence and the Falls of Niagara;
but without
these we could not have the Great lakes, and without them
meteorology has long
since proved that our vast teeming prairies would be arid as the
regions of
Central Asia. Around these natural barriers man's energy has
built a series of
canals, passing vessels of some three and part of the way six
hundred tons
between the lakes and tide water. Every tyro in commercial
knowledge knows
that as you increase the tonnage of a vessel you diminish the
relative cost of
freights. Enlarge the Welland and the St. Lawrence canals, so as
to pass
vessels of 1,000 tons burthen, and I have the opinion of the
eminent railway
Presidents above referred to that a bushel of corn can be
transported from
Chicago to Montreal for 14 cents; and by the Caughnewaga canal,
of similar
size, and the Champlain canal, duly enlarged, to New York, at 18
cents. This
view is more than confirmed by our able engineer, Colonel R. B.
Mason, who, in
his report on the Georgian Bay canal, as Consulting Engineer,
with Kivas
Tulley, Esq., of Toronto, estimating the cost of freight, in
vessels of 1,000
tons burthen, by lake, at 2 mills per ton per mile, by canal and
river at 8,
and ocean at 1 1/2, foots up the cost of transporting a bushel
of wheat
between Chicago and Liverpool at 20 cents, and to Montreal a
fraction above 9
cents. Take the first estimate, viz., 14 cents as the cost of
freight on a
bushel of corn, between Chicago and Montreal, and we have six
cents added to
the price of every bushel produced by our farmers. The effect of
that on their
wealth and prosperity would be wonderful. Suppose only half of
it reaches the
pockets of your farmers, and it would add 20 per cent, to the
value of every
acre of land he possesses. Take the figures for your surplus as
put down in
the Government census for 18.69, with the deductions for home
consumption as
made by Governor Carpenter in his able address before your State
Agricultural
Society, and three cents a bushel on your corn and wheat would
put into the
pockets of your farmers $1,200,000 per year—the sum to go on
increasing every
year, for aught I know, to the end of time. The value of such a
reduction of
freights to the entire Northwest is far beyond the limit of any
figures which
I should dare to give.
ENLARGEMENT OF THE CANALS.
The enlargement of the Welland and St. Lawrence Canals so as to
pass vessels
of 1,000 tons burthen will accomplish nearly all the beneficent
results above
specified. If our Canadian neighbors prefer for any reason to do
this, let us
be thankful and bid them God speed. A better thing, in my
judgment, to be
done, is to build the Huron and Ontario Ship Canal from the
Georgian Bay to
Toronto. The people of the cities on the Lower St. Lawrence
fear, as I think
without reason, if this canal is built, the diversion of the
trade of the
Northwest to New York. The citizens of the valley of the Ottawa
very naturally
insist on the improvement of their great river; impracticable,
as I think, for
there would be some 400 miles of close river and canal
navigation, and, if I
mistake not, a depth of only eight feet of water. Were it not
for these
reasons, I believe the people of the Dominion would be unanimous
in favor of
the speedy construction of a ship canal from the Georgian Bay to
Lake Ontario.
This, I confess, is an old pet project of mine, and as one of
your most far
seeing citizens, J. B. Calhoun, Esq., and His Excellency
Governor Carpenter,
have each recently referred favorably to it, will you permit me
to add a short
description of the route and its prospective advantages to the
commerce of our
vast and rapidly developing Northwest. Let us turn our attention
to the map.
Starting from Chicago to the Georgian Bay, the northeastern part
of Lake
Huron, the track of a vessel is very direct to the mouth of the
Nottawasaga
River. Thence we have slack water navigation up that river, with
occasional
reaches of canal through the sandy shores to avoid bends in the
river, to a
point 20 miles from its mouth. The elevation of 130 feet is
overcome by 11
locks, with an average lift of about 12 feet. We have now
reached the summit
level of Lake Simcoe, only nine miles distant. To reach it, a
ridge composed
of clay and gravel must be cut through at an average depth of 50
feet, and 78
feet at its summit. From Barrie, on Kempenfeldt Bay, there is
lake navigation
for 22 miles to the mouth of the Holland River. The river and
marsh for 10
miles can very easily be made navigable by steam excavators. The
real
difficulty and expensive part of the work is here reached. A
ridge 10 miles in
width, composed of clay and gravel, must be cut through at an
average depth of
90 feet, and 198 feet for half a mile at its summit. Once
through this ridge,
the line follows down the valley of the Humber 23 miles. There
are required 39
locks, with an average lift of about 12 feet and a total lockage
of 470 feet.
Of course, this route has about 260 feet more lockage than that
by the Welland
Canal; but it has advantages hereafter to be noticed that make
it in my
judgment far preferable as the great highway for the commerce of
the
Northwest. The total distance from the mouth of the Nottawasaga
to that of the
Humber on Lake Huron is only 100 miles. More than half of that
distance is on
the summit through Lake Simcoe, through which steam tugs would
take vessels in
a few hours. There is less than 40 miles of close canal
navigation on the
whole route; the other parts of it are through Lake Simcoe and
the valleys of
the Nottawasaga, the Holland, and the Humber Rivers. Lake Simcoe
and its
tributaries afford an ample supply of water to feed the canal
from the summit
in both directions. Very little water would be needed on the
north from Lake
Simcoe, for the Nottawasaga River would supply that. This route
to tide water
is some 400 miles shorter than that by Lake Erie and the Welland
Canal; and it
is nearly as much shorter to New York by Oswego than by Lake
Erie. It is about
800 miles shorter to Liverpool. It will save two days in time to
tide water,
and of course a fraction on freights to pay the expenses of the
extra 260 feet
of lockage. A very great advantage is, that the general
direction of the route
makes it the best possible for vessels to avail themselves of
the southwest
winds of summer. By the Lake Erie route the vessel must beat
against that for
more than 150 miles after passing Point aux Barque on Lake Huron
down the St.
Clair River and Lake and the Detroit River to Lake Erie. The
difficult
navigation over the St. Clair Flats, though now materially
improved, is also
avoided. And besides, the track of the vessel through the
Georgian Bay and
Lake Simcoe would be through cooler water than around by Lake
Erie—an
advantage not to be overlooked in transporting grain in bulk to
the seaboard.
The danger of its being damaged by heating is thereby
proportionately removed.
Open this route with a sufficient capacity to pass vessels of
1,000 tons
burthen, and you have a channel of ample dimensions to carry the
commerce of
the mighty West to the ocean. You thereby reduce the freight on
a bushel of
corn to 14 cents, perhaps to 10 cents, to Montreal, and to about
20 to 25
cents to Liverpool. By so doing you give cheaper bread—perhaps
reduce its
price nearly one-half—to the millions of Great Britain, and add
immensely to
the wealth, and, therefore, to the means for the intellectual
and the social
improvement of the 30,000,000 who are soon to live between Lake
Michigan and
the Rocky Mountains.
But, says one, the cost of this work is appalling; it can never
be built. Let
us see. Colonel Mason and Mr. Tully, in 1858, estimated the cost
of the entire
work at less than $24,000,000. Capitalists in this country and
Europe have
offered several times to build it for $40,000,000. This is
scarcely more than
our Credit Mobilier gentry managed to get as a gratuity from our
Government—
some uncharitable people will call it stealing—for building a
railway from the
Missouri river to Salt Lake. Six cents a bushel saved in
freights on the grain
even now shipped from Chicago would pay for the canal in less
than ten years;
and the same sum saved on the grain imported into Great Britain
would pay for
the canal in less than five years. If you add the savings on
animal products
and merchandise passing east and west, the whole cost of the
improvement would
be paid for in three years, and the world would thenceforward
have the use of
it free of charge on its cost for all time to come.
The question, Who are to buy the surplus products of the
Northwest? is all
that remains to be noticed. Besides the people of New England
who would be
immensely benefited by this canal, right across the Atlantic are
nearly
40,000,000 of people in Great Britain, ready to buy and to
consume that
surplus, and, with the products of their strong arms and
skillful hands, to
pay for all we have to spare them, England employs her energies
mainly in
commerce and manufactures. Large sections of the country are
devoted to parks
and pleasure grounds. Her wealthy men are constantly increasing
the area of
these pleasure grounds, and thereby lessening the space devoted
to food
culture. It was stated a few years ago that Coates, who
manufactures the spool-
cotton used in the making of our clothing, gave his check for
£76,000,
($380,000), for several small farms, which he intended to
improve as a
splendid park. So essential are supplies of food from abroad to
the life of
Great Britain, that in a year of poor crops in the countries
bordering on the
Black and Baltic Seas, from which her cereals are mainly drawn,
Mr. Cobden
declared there was not money enough in Threadneedle street—the
Bank, of
England is located there—to procure the deficiency to save the
people from
starvation, had they not found an ample supply in the United
States. Reducing
their figures to our standard, and adding one-eleventh for
December, the
imports of wheat into Great Britain for the last year were
115,000,000 of
bushels, and about 50,000,000 of bushels of corn. Judging from
the tables of
former years, when the crops are poor in Europe, America
furnishes about one
bushel in five. Enlarge the St. Lawrence route, as proposed, so
that it shall
not cost more than one, two, or, at most, three bushels of corn
and wheat to
lay one down in Liverpool, instead of six or seven, as by the
present means of
transit, and America might furnish one-half or two-thirds of
those imports, to
her own great profit, as well as that of the people of England.
But, says some patriotic individual, this route lies entirely
through a
foreign country. What can we do to influence its construction?
It seems to me
that cheaper freights from Chicago to the ocean would add
immensely to the
prosperity of every railway between Lake Michigan and the Rocky
Mountains.
What they most need is cheap freights to the seaboard. The North
Western, the
Milwaukee & St. Paul, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Rock
Island, and
especially the Illinois Central, could well afford to combine
their influence
upon the money markets of the world to command the means to
build the canal—a
thing which we have not the least doubt the Canadians will be
most happy to
have them do. And what shall we say of the great Northern
Pacific Bailway?
Will it not be essential to the success of that road? How can
the products of
the vast country through which it runs find a market except
through a greatly
enlarged water-channel to the ocean? And, besides our railways,
every man of
the millions now living, or hereafter to live, between Lake
Michigan and the
Rocky Mountains, has a direct interest in the success of this
great
enterprise. By refusing all further consideration of the Niagara
Ship Canal,
let Congress give assurance to Canada that she shall have the
carrying trade
of the Great West, if she will so enlarge her canals as to
command it. And,
better still, let us have a reciprocity treaty, in which the
whole subject
shall be considered and settled for an indefinite number of
years to come.
Commerce sees not the imaginary line that divides the Dominion
from the United
States. She knows no good reason why there should be any more
trammels on the
trade between Chicago and Montreal than there are between
Chicago and New
York. The world has nearly outlived such an absurdity.
But it may be said that our commerce would build up a great city
in a foreign
country on the lower St. Lawrence, a rival to New York. The race
will be
between Montreal and Quebec. For myself I think the States west
of Lake
Michigan have fully canceled every debt they ever owed to New
York. For a
generation she has quartered a whole horde of political paupers
and bummers on
her lateral canals, many of whom do not collect tolls enough on
the useless
ditches over which they preside to pay a tithe of their
salaries, not to
mention their stealings; and yet she insists on taxing the
commerce of the
West, passing through the main canal, to support all her other
canals and to
pay her debts besides. As to New York City, she has for a
generation legalized
the grasping avarice of the most stupendous land pirate that
ever lived—I
mean, of course, Commodore Vanderbilt. He has watered the stock
of the New
York Central Railway over and over again, and yet on these
watered (shall I
call them rascally?) values, he insists on taxing the life out
of the West for
the benefit of his own pocket. To keep pace with him, Jay Gould
and Jim Fisk
for years stole, not only the receipts of the Erie, but issued
stocks and
bonds for more than the road was originally worth, and stole
them as well, and
of course new managers must tax Western commerce, if possible,
so as to
retrieve the fortunes of the road, and pay its stockholders
dividends on their
stocks and bring them up to par. For myself I believe the time
is not distant
when the Northwest will have the New York and the St. Lawrence
routes bidding
against each other for her commerce and her carrying trade in
the liveliest
manner. Writing on this subiect nearly twenty years ago I said:
"It is true
that national pride and immense capital and the beaten track of
commerce are
on the side of New York; but God and Nature are stronger than
all these, and
let any intelligent man compare the 'Erie ditch' with the mighty
St. Lawrence,
with a canal to pass vessels of 1,000 tons burthen from the
Georgian Bay to
Toronto, and he cannot doubt for a moment on which side the
immutable laws of
commerce will decide the contest." A single cent per bushel on
freights, two
days quicker time, and increased capacity, will do it; but six
cents on
freights will, beyond a question, turn our shipments of produce
to the New
England States and to Europe all down the St. Lawrence.
But, says one, how could we do without the Niagara Ship Canal in
time of war?
Let us have no war. It is time that relic of savageism was
banished from the
plans of Christian nations. The settlement of the Alabama claims
gives hope
that it can be done. For one, I am willing to put America and
Canada and
England under the strongest possible bonds to live in perpetual
friendship and
amity—America, by the certainty, in case of war, that her vast
products shall
rot in her fields; Canada, that her commerce shall be ruined,
and England with
starvation staring her in the face. In the name of all that is
true and good
and holy, may the genius of our Christian civilization, with the
Royal Cross
of St. George in one hand, and the Stars and Stripes in the
other, waving them
over the sea and the land, proclaim to all the nations, let
there be, now and
evermore, peace on earth, and good will among men.
Transcription Part 6
1875
I take the following synopsis of the business of the city for
last year, from
the commercial reports of the Tribune, prepared by its able
commercial editor,
Elias Colbert, Esq., published January 1st, 1876:
THE BREADSTUFFS MOVEMENT.
The following were the receipts of breadstuffs in this city
during the past
three years, flour being reduced to its equivalent in wheat in
the footings:
1875. 1874. 1873.
Flour, bbls.....2,566,225 2,666,679 2,487,376
Wheat, bu......24,450,390 29,764,622 26,266,562
Corn, bu.......26,990,557 35,799,638 38,157,232
Oats, bu.......11,511,554 13,901,235 17,888,724
Rye, bu...........693,968 791,182 1,189,464
Barley, bu......3,026,456 3,354,981 4,240,239
Totals.........79,504,050 95,611,713 98,925,413
The following were the corresponding shipments:
1875. 1874. 1873.
Flour, bbls.......2,262,030 2,306,576 2,303,490
Wheat, bu........23,183.663 27,634,587 24,455,657
Corn, bu.........26,409,420 32,705,224 36,754,943
Oats, bu.........10,230,208 10,561,673 15,694,133
Bye, bu.............310,609 335,077 960,613
Barley, bu........1,834,117 2,404,538 3,366,041
Totals...........73,278,167 84,020,691 91,597,092
LIVE STOCK.
For the first time since the construction of the Union Stock
Yards—a period of
ten years—we have to record a decrease in the aggregate receipts
of live stock
at Chicago. Of cattle and sheep, a much larger number have
arrived than during
any previous year, but this increase was more than offset by a
decline in the
receipt of hogs, and the figures stand thus: For 1874,
5,440,990; for 1875,
5,251,901, decrease, 189,089. This is not an unfavorable
exhibit, in the light
of the report of the Commissioner of Agriculture, which shows in
the four
States whence our supplies are chiefly drawn,—viz.: Illinois,
Wisconsin, Iowa,
and Missouri, a deficiency, as compared with 1874, of 1,222,300
hogs. The
wonder, therefore, is not that our receipts show a falling off,
but that they
so closely approximate those of 1874. It is also consoling to
know that the
decline in the past season's receipts was not peculiar to
Chicago, as witness
the comparative table furnished below, from which it appears
that the
percentage of decrease at St. Louis is much greater than here,
her arrivals of
hogs being fully 60 per cent, less than for 1874. While our
receipts of cattle
show an increase of 76,877 head, there was a falling off in the
arrivals at
St. Louis of some 24,000 head, as follows:
1874. 1875.
Chicago 843,966 920,843
St. Louis 360,925 336,934
Difference 483,041 583,909
These comparisons are drawn not for the purpose of belittling
the importance
of St. Louis as a live stock market, but to demonstrate the
supreme
ridiculousness of her claims to rival Chicago. The developments
of the past
season would seem to have forever set at rest the question of
the continued
supremacy of Chicago as the chief live stock distributing point
of the world.
Although the aggregate of our receipts was less than for 1874,
the value of
the same was some $10,000,000 greater.
THE GRAND TOTAL.
The following is an approximation to the total value of our
trade in 1875. It
includes only the first selling price, second sales not being
counted, though
made by jobbers:
Produce trade........................$232,328,000
Wholesale (as above)..................293,900,000
Manufactures (product)................177,000,000
Total................................$703,228,000
Deduct from this for manufactures
included in wholesale (about)........46,228,000
Total business.......................$657,000,000
Total in 1874........................ 639,000,000
These figures give a decrease of 6.9 per cent, in the sales of
produce, and an
increase of 7 per cent, in wholesale trade and manufactures. The
increase of
the whole over 1874 is 2.8 per cent.
These totals would be materially increased if we included the
sales of produce
to shippers after it had once been sold in open market, to say
nothing of the
manifold sales of grain and provisions under which one lot may
be delivered to
a dozen or more traders in succession. We have also omitted
sales of such
articles as ice, milk, vegetables, dressed hogs, oats, etc.,
made in the
street, from wagons, and not placed in public storehouses. The
sales of real
estate are not included, as they do not belong to the wholesale
trade. We have
dealt only with what Mr. Wemmick would designate as "portable
property."
The following were the totals for previous years, estimated on
the same basis:
1873...............................$596,000,000
Oct. 11, 1871, to Oct. 11, 1872.....490,000,000
1870................................439,000,000
1860................................450,000,000
1868................................434,000,000
1860.................................97,000,000
1850.................................20,000,000
EXTENT OF TRADE OF CHICAGO.
At the close of one of my articles in 1854, I expressed the hope
that I might
be here seventeen years from that date to post up the business
of the city.
This duty has been committed to younger hands. The nearest I
have approached
it was last fall during the sickness of the financial editor of
the Tribune. I
quote the following paragraphs from the financial articles which
I wrote in
his absence, bearing upon the growth and extent of the business
of the city.
From the Tribune, October 15, 1875.
These heavy drafts upon our capital, and the cheerful response
of our banks,
correspond with the concentration of the wholesale trade of the
Northwest in
Chicago. The frantic warnings of the New York commercial papers
to their
jobbers to lessen their expenses, and to do all things needed to
retain that
trade, have not been heeded. It is surely leaving them, and is
rapidly
concentrating in Chicago. It is worth while again to note the
causes that are
contributing to this inevitable result. Take the, dry goods
trade as an
example. Our leading houses have ample capital, and buy at the
lowest figures
their goods for cash. They have agents in Europe and this
country right
alongside of those of the New York jobbers, and get their goods
at precisely
the same figures. Goods come directly through to this city;
custom duties are
paid here, and hence they are free from the exactions of the New
York
sharpers. The difference in the price of rents and the modes of
doing business
here more than balance the cost of freights from the seaboard,
and hence goods
are sold as cheap here, and even cheaper, than they are in New
York. No
country merchant in the North, nor in fact in the Southwest,
needs now to go
to New York, and comparatively few of them do so.
What is true of diy goods is equally true of other lines of the
wholesale
trade. The business in all departments is rapidly concentrating
here. The same
is true also of manufactures. Only a day or two ago we were
assured that a
house that manufactures agricultural implements in Sterling, 110
miles west of
Chicago, was sending its machines even to Philadelphia and other
cities of
Pennsylvania. Ohio is a large and most valuable customer. Large
quantities of
leather (the best produced in the whole Union), of furniture,
and otherN
articles, are shipped to the seaboard, and all the country this
side, from the
warerooms of Chicago. The large calls upon our bankers,
therefore, for
capital, are but a reflex of other leading interests, and prove
that Chicago
is already the financial as well as the commercial and
manufacturing centre of
the Northwest.
From the Tribune of October 16, 1875.
One of our leading merchants yesterday, commenting on our last
article in
relation to the vast wholesale trade that is concentrating in
this city, took
us to task for using the term Northwest—while the trade of the
Southwest was
rapidly falling within the grasp of Chicago. This we knew full
well; but the
habit, coming down from the time when very little, if any,
business came to
this city from below the southern line of Iowa, is still apt to
show itself
from the point of our pencil, and it will get out in print, to
our regret and
confusion. The fact is, the jobbing trade of the city reaches
all the way from
Texas to Manitoba.
Before our railways were opened down to the Gulf of Mexico
through Texas,
representatives of Chicago merchants had been all through that
country, and
found what kinds of goods the people wanted. Manufacturers of
clothing, for
instance, had carefully taken the dimensions of the average
Texan—no matter
what his occupation might be—had found with what styles he was
pleased, and of
what materials they should be made, and, while jealous rivals of
our city were
snoozing over an exalted opinion of themselves and blessing
their stars that
they were not afiiicted with the restless energy of Chi¬cago,
our
manufacturers had already made the goods and occupied the
markets of the "Lone
Star" State. The same may be said of other lines of manufactured
articles and
of staple merchandise. Since the opening of our railways to the
Southwest, in
spite of the competition of St. Loufe, that broad field has been
largely
gleaned by Chicago enterprise. Our trade from that section is
already very
heavy and lucrative, and it is steadily and rapidly increasing.
In speaking of
the Western trade of the city, therefore, unless for special
reasons, let the
term "North" be dropped. We agree with our friend that simply
"West" is better.
As to our foreign direct trade the more we talk with our bankers
and merchants
the more are we surprised at the variety of the articles shipped
and at the
rapidly-increasing values they represent. Five years ago we had
one or two
houses that drew drafts and issued letters of credit upon
correspondents in
England and upon the Continent. The money to meet these drafts
was ordered
placed to the credit of Chicago houses from New York. Now all
this is changed.
Dealers in grain, beef, pork, and provisions, cheese, and other
farm products,
in most of the leading cities of England, and several upon the
Continent,
purchase direct of our packers and commission houses. Several
large orders for
wheat have just been filled on English account. The bills drawn
against these
purchases are taken by our banks, and in the short space of five
years the
balance of trade is largely in favor of this city. Though some
of our
importers often buy $50,000 in a single draft, week after week a
balance of
foreign exchange remains over, and is sold in the New York
market. For the
first six months of the year a single National Bank took
14,000,000 of these
bills, and in the last half the amount will doubtless be larger
still. These
facts show why New York jobbers are in the dumps at the rapid
extension of our
direct export and import trade. Their disease is chronic.
Growling at Chicago
enterprise can do them no good. If the last five years have
shown the results
already achieved, before the century closes New York will retain
very little,
if any, interest in the wholesale trade of the West.
From the Tribune, Monday, Oct. 18, 1875.
On Friday and Saturday of last week, in explaining the amazing
increase of the
banking business of the city, we had something to say of its
foreign and
domestic jobbing trade. Those brief articles merely embraced
what might be
regarded as the headings for a dozen column articles on the same
subjects.
They did not mention the distant regions to which our people
trade, as the
following hints will show:
To the Editor of the Chicago Tribune:
CHICAGO, Oct. 16.—In your article of to-day you say: "The
jobbing trade of the
city reaches all the way from Texas to Manitoba." This is true,
and all very
well, but how about the Eastern States, Canada, and the States
and Territories
west of the Rocky Mountains? Is the subject too extensive for
even two
articles? Very truly yours,
MERCHANT.
Exactly so. It is too broad and too important to be exhaustively
treated in a
dozen articles. For breadstuff's, provisions, and all farm
products, Chicago
has laid all the New England States under tribute for a quarter
of a century.
Within the last ten years the Middle and Southern States have
also become
large purchasers, and the trade with them is constantly
increasing. It is true
that some of these States purchase sparingly of some kinds of
produce, but all
of them are our customers. As to manufactured articles, leather,
boots,
furniture, and many other articles, are sent from this city all
over the
Eastern and Southern States. Agricultural implements are shipped
in large
quantities eastward, and in fact in all directions. McCormick's
reaper has
laid the entire nation, and even several in Europe, under
contribution, as
witness the immense blocks on Dearborn, Clark, and other
streets. That
implement alone has gathered from the wide world several large
fortunes, and
planted them down in Chicago.
Of course our wholesale and retail dealers have nearly as strong
a hold on
Michigan, Indiana, and Western Ohio as they have on the country
immediately
west of the city. They cannot afford to get their goods,
elsewhere.
Our trade for many years has been very large with Canada, and an
enlightened
policy on the part of both Governments will swell it into
immense proportions.
Connected intimately with her 4,000,000 of people, both by lake
navigation and
railways, and producing much that she can buy in this market
cheaper than
anywhere else, she is one of our largest and best customers.
This fact is
attested by the branches of two of her largest banks doing the
business
between Chicago and the cities of Canada.
Turning our eyes westward, to say that "the jobbing trade of the
city reaches
from Texas to Manitoba" in some lines does not tell more than
half the truth.
All the States and Territories beyond the Rocky Mountains are
trading largely
in Chicago. They have found that they can buy goods as cheaply
here as on the
Atlantic seaboard, and the disposition to do so is growing every
year. Sitting
in the office of Peter Schuttler, early last spring, we asked
where a large
lot of wagons, just passing, were going. "We are loading two
cars to-day for
Chico, California," was the reply. There is no timber in
California from which
agricultural implements can be made, and if the managers of the
Union and
Central Pacific Railways do not put an embargo upon us by high
freights, there
is scarcely any limit to the orders our manufacturers will
receive for these
and like articles from the Pacific coast. In fact, very
considerable orders
have been filled from our warerooms for Australia. We take in
everything.
Orders for dry goods, books, boots and shoes, clothing,
hardware,—in fact,
almost every kind of merchandise and manufactured articles,—come
from Montana,
Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and even from Nevada, and if
Gen. Rosecrans
will hurry up his railroad between Denver, or rather Pueblo, and
Mexico, there
will be no longer any need of specifying any particular
localities. The trade
of Chicago in North America will be limited only by the
boundaries of the
continent, while most of the nations of Europe will pay her
large and
constantly-increasing tribute. Such is her "manifest destiny,"
and the New
York jobbers may as well stop their growling. If Stewart,
Claflin, and the
rest want to sell their goods, let them transplant their
establishments to the
head of the market. Chicago is the place to do it, and if not
convinced of it
now, they will in a very few years find it out to their cost.
As a specimen of the extent of our imports, we mention that one
of our
wholesale grocery houses received on Saturday 33 car loads of
coffee, 10 of
pepper, nutmegs, and other spices, and 13 of new raisins. They
expect another
ship to unload on the cars next week, and another is now loading
for them in a
foreign port. Whole trains of, tea often pass through this city
on their way
to New York, and, of course, all that is wanted for distribution
in the
Mississippi Valley stops here.
It may be asked what propriety there is in stating all these
facts in the
financial column. They show how wide a circuit is embraced in
the business
done at our banks, and by inference how large and how active a
capital is
required to do it. The wants of that business for several weeks
past, have
been immense; but our bankers have backed the enterprise of our
merchants and
manufacturers cheerfully and promptly, and the vast current of
our commerce
has moved along so quietly and so smoothly that it gave scarcely
any sign of
its magnitude.
From the Tribune, Oct. 19, 1875.
A committee of the Board of Trade have recently been collecting
some
statistics in relation to the trade of the city. Among other
things they found
that ten of our principal banks drew during the last year
exchange to the
amount of $418,000,000. At first sight these figures do not
appear to
correspond with the values of the shipments eastward of farm
products during
the same period. Taking the amounts of grain, cattle, hogs,
provisions, and
other animal products, and the average prices ruling for the
year, the actual
value of the shipments to the seaboard was found to be
$249,500,000. Whence,
then, did the banks derive the $168,500,000 over and above the
value of the
shipments from, this city? From all the surrounding country.
Some half a dozen
railways cross the Illinois Central south of Chicago, and in one
way or
another the collections for shipments for all the towns and
cities for from
200 to 500 miles in all directions, and for even 1,000 miles
westward, find
their way largely to the hands of our bankers. Chicago is the
financial, as
well as the commercial centre of all the vast, fertile country
by which she is
surrounded. And besides, it should be remembered that the
figures for the
entire trade of the city—merchandise and manufactures
included—for the year
1874, footed up to the round sum of at least $638,500,000. Hence
the results
reached by the committee, in view of the above facts, and of
what has been
said in this column for the past few days, will be readily
believed.
That the West and Chicago are living upon the good old maxim
"Pay as you go,"
is proved by the fact that for a long period in the past,
exchange has for
nearly half the time, perhaps more, ruled at or below par. This,
as much as
anything else, shows how rapidly our people are becoming
independent. It
shows, also, that the balance of trade is often in favor of the
West. It is in
the memory of our business men that the price of exchange on New
York has been
from 2 to 25 per cent, premium, and at times it could not be had
even at that.
NEW YORK AND CHICAGO BANKS.
At first sight it may seem ridiculous to compare the New York
and the Chicago
banks; but when it is considered that New York dates her origin
way back to
the earliest history of the nation, and claims to have the
control of its
commerce, and to have held it in all the past, and that it is
only thirty-
eight years since Chicago became a city, with only 4,000
inhabitants, the
comparison does not seem to tell so very strongly against us
after all. By the
last bank statements of the two cities, it appears that there
are forty-eight
National Banks in New York and sixteen in Chicago, one-third as
many; capital
of the New York banks, in round numbers, $68,500,000; those of
Chicago,
$12,000,000, a little more than one-sixth; loans and discounts,
New York,
$202,000,000; Chicago, $26,000,000 about one-eighth of the
figures of the New
York banks. As these are the main items, it is not necessary to
make any
further comparisons. That the Chicago banks will gain rapidly on
their
metropolitan neighbors there can not be a particle of doubt.
PORTLAND, ME., TO SACRAMENTO.
As confirmatory of what has appeared in this column for the past
few days, one
of our manufacturers told the writer yesterday that, among
others, he had just
filled two large orders—one for Sacramento, CaL, and the other
for Portland,
Me. Thus in scores of cases daily do both extremes of the
continent pay
tribute to our city.
From the Tribune of Nov. 15, 1875.
Business at the banks during the past week has moved along
smoothly, to the
satisfaction alike of cashiers and customers. If anything, it is
very quiet
for the season, more so than it should be, considering the
immense amounts of
farm products still to go forward. Holders seem unwilling to
operate to any
very considerable extent, certainly not up to the means they
have to do it.
The packers have fairly commenced operations, but they have thus
far drawn
mainly on their deposits and loans on call or due when their
business
commences. As a class, their capital has steadily accumulated
for several
years past, and the abundance of money in this market for
several months
during the summer, and the cheap rates at which it could be had
on approved
collaterals, are due largely to the surplus capital for the time
being, in the
hands of the packers. Of course, they will be heavy borrowers
before the
season closes; but bankers will be only too happy to accommodate
them with all
the money they care to use. The time of their activity comes
after most of the
other departments of the fall trade have become quiet, and hence
the
employment they give to the capital of our banks is a great and
mutual benefit.
The provision trade of Chicago has grown within the last few
years far beyond
the expectations of our most sanguine packers. Purchases are
made almost
entirely by wholesale dealers in the seaboard cities and in
those of Europe.
Shipments are made direct to Liverpool and other cities on the
other side on
bills of lading, ocean freights included, made in this city.
Nobody here now
thinks of shipping provisions for sale to commission houses in
New York.
Buyers have learned to come directly to the head of the market.
The stuff is
paid for generally by drafts on London or other European cities,
and these are
promptly cashed by our bankers. The large amount of this
business done in
Chicago was referred to in this column two or three weeks ago. A
single bank
in the first six months of the present year discounted foreign
drafts against
direct shipments of grain and provisions, to the amount of
$4,000,000. As
might be expected, it sells foreign exchange to our importers in
large
amounts; but as yet a balance remains, which is disposed of in
New York.
Another fact worthy of notice is, that none of our citizens, or
the people of
the West, need go to New York for letters of credit to travel or
buy goods
anywhere on the face of the earth. Such letters are issued right
here,
available in any city in South America, in Northern or Southern
Africa, or on
the long trip all the way round the world. When Duncan, Sherman
& Co. failed,
two of the sons of one of our citizens were just starting from
Italy eastward
through Egypt, India, China, Japan, and home by California.
Stating the fact
to one of our bankers, the father said: "Duncan, Sherman & Co.
have failed,
and Brown Brothers & Co. may go next; give me a couple of
letters of credit
which I know will bring my boys home without any possible
contingency that may
occur in New York." The thing was done, and the young men are
somewhere in
Asia, traveling there and elsewhere on the letters issued by one
of our
leading banks.
COMMERCIAL CRISES.
The following article was published in the Tribune July 31,
1873. I insert it
here, for the reason that, possibly, it may be of service to
some one into
whose hands it may fall.
There is an old-time maxim that "History repeats itself."
Without inquiring as
to the truth of the sentiment, or attempting to give examples to
confirm or to
disprove it, we propose to inquire whether the supposed law can
be applied to
commercial crises. Of course each reader should apply the test
of his own
knowledge and experience to the subject, and act upon the
suggestions herein
submitted according to his best judgment.
The history of this country seems to have developed a law that a
general
commercial crash may be expected every twenty years. The first
occurred in
1797, the second in 1817, the third in 1837, many of our readers
can remember
that and the fourth in 1857, whose lessons few of our business
men have
forgotten. The causes which produced the first two can be found
in the
condition of the country at the time they occurred. After the
close of the
Revolutionary War and up to the time of the adoption of the
Federal
Constitution, the business affairs of the nation were at sea.
Each State
adopted trade regulations with its neighbors or with foreign
nations according
to its own notions of what duty or interest might dictate. There
was no
confidence among the business men of the period.
The value of the currency issued by the States and by the old
Continental
Congress was virtually regulated by the peck, and not by the
denominations
printed on the face of the bills, and confusion worse confounded
reigned
everywhere. This state of things could not be endured. The
Constitution of the
United States, adopted in 1787, in which it was provided that
Congress should
have power "to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among
the several
States," gradually inspired confidence. Commercial treaties were
made with
foreign nations; all restrictions upon traffic between the
States were
abolished, and the country began to prosper. As time rolled on
and that
prosperity increased, it turned the heads of the old
Revolutionary patriots.
They began to speculate; prices of everything appreciated;
importations of
foreign luxuries were made far beyond the value of the exports
the country
could make to pay for them; and, at the end of ten years, the
whole business
public was forced into liquidation. There was no money to be
had; no
confidence anywhere, and very little business could be done till
the "hard
pan" had been reached.
After the close of the speculative period, and the people found
themselves
standing upon the common plane of poverty, necessity forced all
to work and to
practice economy. Wealth again began slowly to accumulate, and
the demand for
our products was stimulated by the wars of Napoleon. England was
hard pressed;
the old hatreds of the Revolution had not passed away. A quarrel
arose, and
the War of 1812-'15 was the result. During the war the country
was prosperous
to an unhealthy extent, and struggled along after it closed till
1817, when a
terrible financial crash again involved the country in utter and
general ruin.
As before, money seemed to have entirely forsaken the channels
of trade. What
little there was in the country was hid away in old
stocking-legs, to reappear
only when confidence was in some measure restored. Gradually
liquidation did
its work. Careful, persevering toil and close economy began to
develop the
resources of the country and prosperity to bless the land. By
1826, DeWitt
Clinton and his far-seeing compeers had completed the Erie
Canal; the vast
teeming West was opened to the enterprise of the country, and
for the next ten
years the progress in the population and the wealth of the
nation was truly
amazing. The rapid rise in the nominal value of lands
everywhere, and
especially at the West, enticed thousands even of the most
prudent business
men to invest in them. Wild-cat banks, almost without number,
were
established in Michigan and almost everywhere west of the
Allegheny Mountains.
Everybody's pockets were full of bank-bills; and so generally
did people take
to speculation to get rich, instead of attending to the duties
of the farm and
the workshop, that potatoes were imported into New York from
Ireland in 1836,
and wheat from the Baltic. Importations of liquors, gew-gaws,
and foreign
luxuries rose to frightful figures. Of course this state of
things could not
last, and the crash of 1837-'8 was the bitter remedy for the
moral and
commercial insanity that had preceded it.
The first two financial crises, as we have seen—viz., that of
1797 and of 1817
were due to the wars and the condition of the country that
resulted from those
wars.
The period of twenty years having once been established, it is
proper to
inquire, right here, what were the causes that produced the
third and the
fourth, the conditions that may produce others at the recurrence
of every
twenty years, and the means by which the country may hope to
avoid them.
During the time between one financial crash and another, it may
be stated
generally that nearly the entire property of tbe nation changes
hands. The
wealthy men die, and with them tbe economy, industry, and
prudent foresight,
by the exercise of which their estates were accumulated. Their
sons and sons-
in-law get possession of their property. Commencing where their
fathers left
off, they launch out into foolish extravagance. The promoters of
wild
speculative schemes flatter them by parading their names as the
patrons of
this and that great enterprise, and visions of untold wealth
lead them to
plunge into debt without limit. The fact is, they did not earn
the wealth in
which they revel, and they don't know how to take care of it.
Not to divide
the business public too closely, we mention but one other class
who, if we
mistake not, contribute largely to those conditions which are
sure to produce
a crash in the financial affairs of the country. These are the
men who
commence life entirely poor immediately after a financial
revolution. They
begin to accumulate by the most careful economy and the most
energetic toil.
That first thousand dollars, of which all have heard, require
the sweat of
many a hard day's work to earn, but they earn it. The ring of
their hammers
late and early—no eight-hour days for them—has been hearo, by
the merchant and
capitalist. They deserve and have good credit. Business and
profits steadily
increase, and at the end, say, of fifteen years from the last
crash, they are
worth ten, twenty, perchance, here and there one, a hundred
thousand dollars,
or more. Speculation sets in, and many around them are becoming
millionaires.
Why should they not share in the golden harvest? They "pitch
in." Go outside
of their legitimate business to speculate in new cities, outside
lands, and
great companies expected to coin fabulous fortunes. These men
who commenced
poor—always the majority in business circles—join with the sons
of the
wealthy, and an insane desire to become suddenly rich seizes all
classes.
Nearly everybody gets in debt, one borrowing from another all
the money he
will lend, or, what is more generally true, one buying from the
other, at
fancy prices, all the property he will sell, and "holding it for
a rise."
While all is going on swimmingly, some mammoth bubble, like the
Ohio Life and
Trust Company, bursts, and in a few weeks, or months at most,
bankruptcy
stares the whole country in the face. Liquidation must then do
its work, and
in half a dozen years a new race of business men have grasped
those
enterprises which in a few years more restore the country to a
solid basis of
prosperity and progress.
Those of our readers whose memory, and especially whose business
experience,
reaches back forty years, will recognize the accuracy of the
facts here
detailed. If the succession is to continue, the next financial
crisis will
occur in 1877. How far the condition of the country now warrants
the
expectation of such an event, let each one determine for
himself. Especially
will it be wise for all prudent men to watch carefully the
course of financial
events for the next four years. A crash can only come when
nearly everybody is
largely in debt, and if, forewarned by the past, people keep
expenses and
ventures within their means, the country will escape the
repetition of the
bankruptcy that has occurred every twenty years in all our past
history.
It is with the hope that, warned by the past, some, at least, of
the readers
of this article may ride in safety through all the financial
storms that may
befall us. When everybody is rushing into debt, it is a sure
sign that it is
best for wise, sane men to get out of it.
It follows that, if one could foresee a crash, his best policy
would be to
sell all out a year or two before it occurs; have his cash in
hand, and, when
liquidation has done its worst, buy all the property he can and
hold it. When
the whole country lives within its means, and people are at
work, wealth is
sure to accumulate and values to appreciate. This rule has no
exceptions; but
of its application to the present or to the future, each reader
must judge for
himself. Of 1877 we make no predictions, beyond what the
principles above
stated will warrant.
I did not then and do not now regard the crash of 1873 as at all
to be
compared to those of 1837 and 1857; as property did not then and
since
generally change hands. I compare it to the "squeeze" of 1854,
and others like
it. I do not look for it next year though it must be confessed
that a very
large class of people would be only too glad to get their
property out of
their hands and their outstanding notes and obligations in them.
In this
instance the crash may be delayed for some time; but as prices
of almost
everything have been steadily settling since 1873, they may
reach bottom in
1877. It may be well to drop this hint, Look out for breakers
one or two years
after specie resumption.
REMINISCENCES OF EARLY CHICAGO.
AN INTERESTING LECTURE BY GOV. BROSS.
A GOSSIPY DESCRIPTION OF SCENES AND INCIDENTS IN THE HISTORY OF
THE GARDEN
CITY.
From, the Tribune, January 24,1876.
LECTURE BY THE HON. WM. BROSS
Gov. Bross spoke yesterday afternoon at McCormick Hall, his
subject
being "What I remember of Early Chicago." Following is his
discourse in full:
The charter of the City of Chicago bears date March 4, 1837, and
the first
election for city officers was held on the first Tuesday in May,
1837. Not a
few of the men and women who saw it when an Indian trading post,
with Fort
Dearborn to defend the settlers, are still among us, and the
ladies certainly
would not feel complimented were they called old. Hence whatever
is said
about "The Early Times in Chicago" must be regarded as relative,
for the city
has not yet numbered 38 years. As I first saw Chicago in
October, 1846, and
commenced my permanent residence here on the 12th of May, 1848,
I can scarcely
be called an old citizen, and yet in that time it has grown from
a city of
about 18,000 (later in the season the census gave us 20,023) to
nearly, if not
quite, 450,000—an increase never before equaled by any city in
the history of
the world. From a city then scarcely ever mentioned, she has
become the fourth
in rank and population upon the American Continent.
But granting for the moment that I am an old citizen, I
recognize the duty of
placing on record—as myself and others have doubtless often been
urged to do—
what I know personally of the history of Chicago. Though this
may require a
too frequent use of the personal pronoun, your Directors are
responsible if I
bore you with it. If each citizen would do it, the future
historian could
select what best suited his purpose, and Chicago would have what
no other city
has—a history from its earliest times, written by its living
inhabitants. In
1854 I prepared and published some notes on the history of the
Town of Chicago—
in fact, going back to the discovery of the site by the French
Jesuit
missionaries, Marquette and Joliet, and I shall devote the hour
to giving you
a supplement to what used to be called "Our Pamphlet" of 1854.
This was ably
continued by my friend, Elias Colbert, in 1868; but neither of
them pretends
to give much of how Chicago appeared to the visitor in the
"earlier times" of
its history.
CHICAGO IN 1846.
Your speaker, as above stated, first arrived in Chicago early in
the morning
of the second Sabbath in October, 1846, now of course nearly
thirty years ago.
We landed from the steamer Oregon, Capt. Cotton, near the foot
of Wabash
avenue, and, with others, valise in hand, trudged through the
sand to the
American Temperance House, then situated on the northwest corner
of Wabash
avenue and Lake street. Soon after breakfast a tall young man,
made apparently
taller by a cloth cloak in which his gaunt figure seemed in
danger of losing
itself, and whose reserved modest manners were the very reverse
of what we had
expected to find at the West, called on the clergy of our party
and invited
one of them to preach and the rest of us to attend service in
the Second
Presbyterian Church. That cloak would now be well filled by its
owner, the
Rev. Dr. Patterson, who has grown physically as well as
intellectually and
morally with the growth of the city, to whose moral welfare he
has so largely
contributed. Of course we all went to what by courtesy, as we
thought, was
called a church. It was a one-story balloon shanty-like
structure that had
been patched out at one end to meet the wants of the increasing
congregation.
It stood on Randolph street, south side, a little east of Clark.
It certainly
gave no promise of the antique but splendid church that before
the fire stood
on the corner of Washington street and Wabash avenue, or that
still more
elaborate and costly building, the Rev. Dr. Gibson's church, at
the corner of
Michigan avenue and Twentieth street.
That afternoon and Monday morning afforded ample time to see the
city. The
residence portion of it was mainly between Randolph and Madison
streets, and
there were some scattered houses as far south as Van Buren, on
the South Side,
four or five blocks north of the river on the North Side, with
scattering
residences about as far on the West Side. There were perhaps
half a dozen or
more wooden warehouses along the river on Water street. The few
stores that
pretended to be wholesale were on Water street, and the retail
trade was
exclusively done on Lake street. Stores and dwellings were, with
few
exceptions, built in the balloon fashion. To some of my hearers
this style of
building may already be mysterious. Posts were placed in the
ground at the
corners, and at proper distances between them blocks were laid
down singly or
in cob-house fashion. On these foundations timbers were laid,
and to these
were spiked, standing on end, 3x1 scantling. On these
sheath-boards were
nailed, and weather-boards on the outside of them; and lath and
plaster
inside, with the roof, completed the dwelling or store. This
cheap, but for a
new town, excellent mode of building, it is claimed, was first
introduced, or,
if you please, invented, in Chicago, and I believe the claim to
be true. Of
course the fire made sad havoc with them at times; but the loss
was
comparatively small, and they were quickly and cheaply rebuilt.
True, Chicago
was ridiculed as a slab city; but, if not pleasant, to bear
ridicule breaks no
bones. When our merchants and capitalists had grown rich enough
to build
permanent buildings, of course they did it. Then there were not
as many bricks
laid in walls in the whole city as there are now in single
blocks anywhere
near the business centre of the city. Chicago need not shrink
from comparing
them with those in any other city upon the continent. My first
objective point
in Northern Illinois was Batavia, on Fox River, 40 miles
distant, where some
Orange County (N. Y.) friends resided. As Frink & Walker's
stages did not pass
through the town except on the road along the river, the problem
was how to
get there. The streets were full of farmers' teams, and in half
an hour's tour
among them we found a man who, for a small sum, agreed to land
us there Monday
evening. It was nearly noon before we got started, and as two of
my traveling
companions lived 3 or 4 miles west of Fox River, and were bound
to get home
that night, they soon began to use all their arts to urge our
Jehu onward. At
the old tavern on the west side of the Aux Plaines near the
bridge, they
treated the old farmer freely, and again at Cottage Hill,
Bibcock's Grove, and
other places; but sooth to say, the whisky, though it had a
marked effect upon
the old man, must then; as now, have been "crooked," for the
more he got of it
inside of his vest the slower he stubbornly determined to drive
his team; but
he assured us he would "root along," and get to Batavia that
evening, and he
did. Of course, an account of my journey to St. Louis and up the
Ohio homeward
has no place in this lecture.
MORE ABOUT TRAVELING, IN 1848.
As a specimen of traveling, in 1848, I mention that it took us
nearly a week
to come from New York to Chicago. Our trip was made by steamer
to Albany;
railway cars at a slow pace to Buffalo; by the steamer Canada
thence to
Detroit; and by the Michigan Central Railway, most of the way on
strap rail,
to Kalamazoo; here the line ended, and, arriving about 8 o'clock
in the
evening, after a good supper, we started about 10 in a sort of a
cross between
a coach and a lumber box-wagon for St. Joseph. The'road was
exceedingly rough,
and, with bangs and bruises all over our bodies, towards morning
several of us
left the coach and walked on, very easily keeping ahead. In this
tramp I made
the acquaintance of John S. Wright, then, and for many years
afterward, one of
the most enterprising and valuable citizens Chicago ever had. He
gave me a
cordial welcome, and a great deal of valuable information. On
Sabbath he
called and took me to church, and embraced many opportunities to
introduce me
to Mayor Woodworth and other leading citizens, giving me a
lesson in courtesy
to strangers which I have never forgotten. I beg to impress it
upon you all as
a duty too much neglected in the hurry and bustle that surround
us on every
side.
The steamer Sam Ward, with Captain Clement first officer, and
jolly Dick
Somers as steward, afterwards Alderman, brought us to the city
on the evening
of the 12th of May, 1848, and here at 121 Lake street, with Dr.
Scammon's drug
store on one side and Lock's clothing store on the other, the
stranger from
the East settled down quietly as a bookseller. The city had
added 4,000 to its
population in the year and a half after I first saw it; but it
had changed
very little in appearance. It was still pre-eminently a slab
city. The
Illinois and Michigan Canal had been opened the month before,
and during the
summer packets were put on, and, running in connection with
steamers on the
Illinois River, quite an impetus was given to travel through the
city. To them
it did not present a very inviting aspect. The balloon buildings
above spoken
of were mostly dingy and weather beaten. The only two stone
buildings in the
city built of blue limestone, brought as ballast from the lower
lakes, stood
on Michigan avenue between Lake and South Water streets, on the
site now
occupied by the Illinois Central Railroad offices. They were the
aristocratic
mansions of the city. There were a few brick residences and
stores, but these
were the exception.
It was curious to notice how long some of the old balloon
buildings would
escape the fire. The old store in which Mosely & McCord
commenced business,
between Clark and LaSalle streets, on the north side of Lake,
was built when
the proprietors could look south to Blue Island with not a
building in front
to obstruct the view. There it stood, with the sign "Mosely &
McCord" just
below the roof, till it was all surrounded by brick buildings,
and the
insurance on it had cost ten times what the building was ever
worth. Subtract
the few scattering brick buildings on South Clark street, in the
vicinity of
Twelfth street, and the dingy shanties in that vicinity on Clark
street and
Third and Fourth avenues will best represent what most of
Chicago was in 1848.
BUILDING STONE.
And here I may as well mention the sources from which our fine
building
materials are derived. Till after that year it was supposed we
had no good
rock for building anywhere near the city. The blue-limestone
quarries from
which the stone for the two dwellings above mentioned were
taken, were thought
to be our best and cheapest source of supply. Besides these,
there had been
brought from the lower lakes some sandstone flagging. It lay in
front of the
Laflin residence block, corner of Washington street and Michigan
avenue, where
it served for a sidewalk up to the time of the fire in 1871.
Discussions, held
for a long time by the Trustees of the Second Presbyterian
society, when it
was proposed to build a new church edifice in 1849, resulted in
their
determining to use stone found near the western limits of the
city. The
location has become somewhat famous as the site of our first
artesian well.
The rock is a porous limestone, with sufficient silex mixed with
it to make it
very hard. It seems to have been formed under a bed of bitumen,
or coal for
the pores in the rock are filled with it, and hence some of the
less porous
stones in the church were of a pale creamy color, while others
were so filled
with pitch or bitumen that it oozed out in hot weather, and they
were as black
as tar. Hence it was called the speckled or spotted church, a
name which,
referring to an unfortunate occurrence in its after history, my
friend Sam
Bowles said was derived from its speckled morality. The same
rock was used in
rebuilding the church at the corner of Twentieth street and
Michigan avenue.
The use of this rock was really the first important event of the
kind in the
building history of the city.
While this material was regarded as a most excellent one for
church purposes,
giving them an antique and venerable appearance, it was not
considered the
thing for the Cook County Court House in 1852 or '53,—I did not
have time in
this, as in some other cases, to look up the exact date. Our
wise men of that
ancient period, after due deliberation, determined to use a rock
found at
Lockport, N. Y., a bluish-colored limestone. Fortunate it was
that official
plundering had not then, as now, been reduced to a science, or
the entire
county would have been forever swamped in the debt contracted
for the money to
build it. This was regarded as the cheapest and best rock that
could be had
for building—for such structures—and was the second leally
progressive step in
the building of the city.
During all this time it is remarkable that no one had thought of
the limestone
quarries through which the canal had been cut for several miles
this side of
Lockport. The reason probably was that some of the strata were
not well
crystalized and rotted readily; but tens of thousands of cords
of it that
showed no signs of decay lay scattered along the canal. In 1852
or 1853 some
one, if I mistake not ex-Mayor Sherman, built a store on
Randolph street, it
was afterwards removed to Clark street opposite the Court
House,—facing it
with this stone. Everybody was delighted with its beautiful
color. It was
found to become very hard when seasoned, and pronounced a marble
by President
Hitchcock, of Amherst College. It very soon came into general
use. In
December, 1853, the Illinois Stone and Lime Company was formed,
with A. S.
Sherman, now of Waukegan, as its efficient manager. The next
summer, Harry
Newhall built two very fine dwellings of it on Michigan avenue
between Adams
and Jackson streets, and M. D. Gilman followed with another next
to Newhall,
and after that its use became general. It is conceded to be one
of the best
and most beautiful building materials in the world. Cheaply
quarried and
easily accessible by water, Chicago owes much of her prestige
and prosperity
to these Athens marble quarries. From it also Chicago constructs
the best
sidewalks in the world, for, resting on an inner and outer wall,
they are
unaffected by frost, and are always smooth and pleasant to the
pedestrian.
Before, and especially since the fire, Chicago has drawn upon
the beautiful
sandstone quarries of Ohio; the red sandstone of Connecticut and
of Lake
Superior; she has cheap access to the marble deposits and the
granite of
Vermont, Massachusetts, and Minnesota, 150 miles west of the
head of Lake
Superior, and it is now conceded that no city in the world has a
better
variety of building material or is making a more judicious and
liberal use of
it.
OUT OF TOWN, CORNER MADISON AND STATE.
Going back to 1848, after remaining a week at the City Hotel,
corner of State
and Lake streets, I was admitted to a most excellent home, that
of the late
Rev. Ira M. Weed, corner of Madison and State streets, where
Buck & Rayner's
drug store now is. This was considered far south, and as the
sidewalks were
not all good, the best that could be found was south on Dearborn
to Madison,
where a very large sign on a paint shop, where the Bank of
Commerce now is and
directly opposite The Tribune office, reminded me to turn
eastward. The
sidewalks, where such luxuries were indulged in, lay in most
cases upon the
rich prairie soii, for the string pieces of scantling to which
the planks were
originally spiked, would soon sink down into the mud after a
rain, and then as
one walked, the green and black slime would gush up between the
cracks to the
great benefit of retailers of blacking. One's disgust can be
under¬stood when
it is stated that this meant some minutes of active personal
service in the
morning, for this was long before the pro¬fessional bootblack
was born—
certainly before he made his advent in Chicago.
In March, 1849,-I think March was the month,—my family having
arrived per
steamer Niagara the August previous, we commenced housekeeping
on Wabash
avenue between Adams and Jackson streets, in a cosy little house
at the modest
rent of $12 per month. In May following I bought of Judge Jessie
B. Thomas 40
feet on Michigan avenue, commencing 80 feet south of the comer
of Van Buren
street, for $1,250. The Judge had bought it at the canal sales
in the spring
of 1848 for $800, on canal time, viz.: as Dr. Egan afterwards
directed in
taking his pills, one-quarter down, balance in one, two and
three years. I
paid the Judge his profit, and what he had advanced on the first
payment, and
assumed the balance due the Canal Trustees, and took the deed to
me directly
from them. It was in a safe place during the fire, and of course
is now a very
ancient document.
In the fall of 1849 I bought a small wood house that I found
moving along on
Wabash avenue, and moved it on my lot. In this modest home we
spent some six
very happy years. Judge Manierre lived on Michigan avenue,
corner of Jackson
streev where the Gardner House now is. Harry Newhall lived on
the block north.
Mine was the only house on block 9, except a small tenement on
the rear of a
neighboring lot, where lived an African friend and brother named
William.
There were at first
NO SIDEWALKS
for a considerable distance north, and hence we were not
troubled with
promenaders on the avenue. The lake shore was perhaps a hundred
feet east of
the street. There my brother John and myself, rising early in
the morning,
bathed in summer for two or three years. We had an excellent
cow-for we
virtually lived in the country—that, contrary to all domestic
propriety, would
sometimes wander away, and I usually found her out on the
prairie in the
vicinity of Twelfth street. I saw a wolf run by my house as late
as 1850. An
incident in the purchase of the lot will illustrate the
loneliness of our
situation. The rule of speculators at the canal sales was to buy
all the
property on which the speculator could make the first payment,
and then sell
enough each year to make the others. Judge Thomas had followed
this plan, and
advertised a large list of property in the spring of 1849. He
sold to myself
and the Rev. Dr. Patterson adjoining lots at $1,250 at private
sale; but it
was agreed that these should be sold with the rest, so as to
attract
customers, as Michigan avenue had become somewhat popular as a
prospective
place of residence. When my lot was struck off to me for some
$1,300, Harry
Newhall came across the room, and said, "Bross, did you buy that
lot to live
on? Are you going to improve it?" "Yes," was the reply. "Well,"
said he, "I'm
glad of it; I'm glad some one is going to live beyond me. It
won't be so
lonesome if we can see somebody going by night and morning." We
then lived, as
above stated, on Wabash avenue, between Adams and Jackson
streets.
REAL ESTATE.
In the winter of 1851-'52, my friend, the late Charles
Starkweather, insisted
on selling me 14 acres of land immediately south of Twenty-sixth
street, and
east of State to Michigan avenue. Capt. Clement and myself went
out of town to
look at it, going across lots south of Twelfth street. It was
away out on the
prairie, and I made up my mind that the price ($500 per acre)
was too much. I
could raise the $1,000 to make the first payment; but where was
the 6 per
cent, on the balance for the next ten years to come from? Capt.
Clement took
the property, paid the $1,000, and, in seven months, sold it for
$1,000 an
acre, clearing in that time $7,000 on an investment of $1,000.
But the Captain
let a fortune slip through his hands, for that 14 acres is now
valued by James
H. Reese, Esq., at $560,000, or $40,000 per acre. In that case,
as in scores
of others, I, too, just escaped get¬ting rich; but I have an
abundance of good
company, for hundreds of my fellow-citizens have missed
opportunities equally
good.
Take the following instances: Walter L. Newberry bought the 40
acres that form
his addition to Chicago, of Thomas Hartzell, in 1833, for
$1,062. It is now
valued at $1,000,000. Maj. Kingsbury had been off on an
exploring expedition
about this time, till his pay as an army officer, above his
immediate
necessities, amounted to some $600. A brother officer advised
him to salt this
down for his two children. He bought for it 160x180 feet corner
of Clark and
Randolph streets, and 27 acres on the North Branch. It is now
worth from
$600,000 to $1,000,000. One quick at figures could probably show
that at
compound interest the cost of the land would have realized much
more than it
is now worth. In time this certainly will be true; but if the
rents of the
land are taken in place of the interest, let him who has time to
make the
figures determine which would have been the more profitable
investment.
NO PAVEMENTS.
I said we had no pavements in 1848. The streets were simply
thrown up as
country roads. In the spring for weeks portions of them would be
impassable. I
have at different times seen empty wagons and drays stuck on
Lake and Water
streets on every block between Wabash avenue and the river. Of
course there
was little or no business doing, for the people of the city
could not get
about much, and the people of the country could not get in to do
it. As the
clerks had nothing to do, they would exercise their wits by
putting boards
from dry goods boxes in the holes where the last dray was dug
out, with
significant signs, as "No Bottom Here," "The Shortest Road to
China."
Sometimes one board would be nailed across another, and an old
hat and coat
fixed on it, with the notice "On His Way to the Lower Regions."
In fact, there
was no end to the fun; and jokes of the boys of that day—some
were of larger
growth—were without number.
Our first effort at paving, or one of the first, was to dig down
Lake street
to nearly or quite on a level with the lake, and then plank it.
It was
supposed that the sewage would settle in the gutters and be
carried off, but
the experiment was a disastrous failure, for the stench at once
became
intolerable. The street was then filled up, and the Common
Council established
a grade from 2 to 6 or 8 feet above the natural level of the
soil. This
required the streets to be filled up, and for a year or two
Chicago lived
mostly on jack-screws, for the buildings had to be raised as
well as the
streets. Until all the sidewalks were raised to grade, people
had to go up and
down stairs from four to half a dozen steps two or three times
in passing a
single block. A Buffalo paper got off a note on us to the effect
that one of
her citizens going along the street was seen to run up and down
every pair of
cellar stairs he could find. A friend, asking after his sanity,
was told that
the walkist was all right, but that he had been in Chicago a
week, and, in
traveling our streets, had got so accustomed to going up and
down stairs that
he got the springhalt and could not help it.
THE COURT HOUSE SQUARE
should not be forgotten. On the northwest corner of it stood,
till long after
1848, the Jail, built "of logs firmly bolted together," as the
account has it.
It was not half large enough to hold the Aldermen that, if
standing now, ought
to be in it, not to speak of the Whisky Ring, and certainly it
was not strong
enough to keep them there. The Court House stood on northeast
corner of the
Square—a two-story building of brick, I think, with offices in
the lower
story. They stood there till 1853, when they were torn down to
give place to
the new building completed in that year.
I said we had no gas when I first came to the city. It was first
turned on and
the town lighted in September, 1850. Till then we had to grope
on in the dark,
or use lanterns. Not till 1853 or '54 did the pipes reach my
house, No. 202
Michigan avenue.
But the more important element, water, and its supply to the
city, have a
curious history. In 1848, Lake and Water, and perhaps Randolph
streets, and
the cross streets between them east of the river, were supplied
from logs.
James H. Woodworth ran a grist-mill on the north side of Lake
street near the
lake, the engine for which also pumped the water into a wooden
cistern that
supplied the logs. Whenever the lake was rough the water was
excessively
muddy; but in this, myself and family had no personal interest,
for we lived
outside of the water supply. Wells were in most cases tabooed,
for the water
was bad, and we, in common with perhaps a majority of our
fellow-citizens,
were forced to buy our water by the bucket or the barrel from
water-carts.
This we did for six years and it was not till the early part of
1854 that
water was supplied to the houses from the new works upon the
North Side.
But our troubles were by no means ended. The water was pumped
from the lake
shore the same as in the old works, and hence, in storms, it was
still
excessively muddy. In the spring and early summer it was
impossible to keep
the young fish out of the reservoir, and it was no uncommon
thing to find the
unwelcome fry sporting in one's wash-bowl, or dead and stuck in
the faucets.
And besides they would find their way into the hot-water
reservoir, where they
would get stewed up into a very nauseous fish chowder. The water
at such times
was not only the horror of all good housewives, but it was
jusily thought to
be very unhealthy. And, worse than all this, while at ordinary
times there is
a slight current on the lake shore south, and the water, though
often muddy
and sometimes fishy, was comparatively good, when the wind blew
strongly from
the south, often for several days the current was changed, and
the water from
the river, made from the sewage mixed with it into an abominably
filthy soup,
was pumped up and distributed through the pipes alike to the
poorest street
gamin and to the nabobs of the city. Mind you, the summit level
of the canal
had not then been dug down and the lake water been turned south.
The Chicago
river was the source of all the most detestably filthy smells
that the breezes
of heaven can possibly float to disgusted olfactories. Davis'
filters had an
active sale, and those of us who had cisterns betook ourselves
to rain-water—
when filtered, about the best water one can possibly get. As
Chicago, with all
her enterprise, did not attempt to stop the south wind-from
blowing, and her
filthy water had become unendurable, it was proposed to run a
tunnel under the
lake to a point two miles from the shore, where the water was
always pure—one
of the boldest and most valuable thoughts ever broached by a
civil engineer,
but our able fellow-citizen, E. S. Chesbrough, not only planned,
but carried
out the great enterprise to a successful conclusion. Ground was
broken March
17, 1864; it was completed Dec. 6, 1866, but it was not till
March 25,1867,
that the water was let in and began to be pumped into the pipes
to supply the
city. A few words as to the way it was constructed: In digging
under the city
a hard blue clay is reached at the depth of a few feet.
Experiments proved
that this bed of hard, compact clay extended under the lake. At
the foot of
Chicago avenue, where it was proposed to sink the shore end, a
bed of
quicksand had to be passed through. To do this, cast-iron
cylinders were
procured, 9 feet long. The flanges by which they were to be
bolted together
were on the inside, so that they could sink smoothly through the
sand. These
were lowered successfully, as the material from the inside was
taken out, till
the hard pan was reached. Brick was then used. The water 2 miles
from shore
was 35 feet deep. In order to start that end of the tunnel an
octagonal crib
was, built of square timber, framed and bolted firmly together,
with several
water-tight compartments and a space in the centre left open
sufficiently
large to receive the same kind of cast-iron cylinders as were
used at the
shore end. The crib was nearly 100 feet in diameter, and, if I
mistake not, 50
or 60 feet high. It was built in the harbor, and during a calm
it was towed
out 2 miles and anchored due east of Chicago avenue; then
scuttled, the
compartments were filled with stones, and it was imbedded firmly
into the mud
at the bottom of the lake. The cylinders were bolted together
and forced down
into the hardpan, the water was pumped out and the brickwork,
was fairly
commenced. The shore shaft was sunk 90 feet, and that at the
crib 85 feet, and
then workmen at each end commenced excavating and bricking up
the tunnel
towards each other. Of course I need not give more particulars,
nor speak of
the 4-mile tunnel to the corner of Ashland avenue and
Twenty-second street,
where new pumping-works are in process of erection—our works on
the lake shore
being found only capable of supplying the 450,000 people now
said to be in the
city. Chicago may well be proud of her Water-Works, for they are
truly
splendid, and furnish her with an abundance of as pure water as
can be found
in any city in the world.
We had no sewers in 1848. The first attempts were made a year or
two later
with oak plank, I think on Clark street. I have no time nor
space for
particulars, but will only add that a thorough and effective
system has been
extended through all the more thickly settled portions of the
city, and the
deepening of the Illinois & Michigan Canal carries the sewage
down the
Illinois River, and, except when the ice covers the canal and
river for many
weeks, it does no damage whatever, and does not even make itself
known by
offensive odors.
Our mails from the East came by steamer from St. Joseph or New
Buffalo, or by
stage from the west end of the Michigan railways, till Feb.
20,1852, when the
Michigan Southern was opened to this city. Of course during
severe storms,
while navigation was open, and during the winter and spring,
when the roads
were about impassable, they were very irregular. Sometimes we
would be a week
or two without any news from the outside world. Our long winter
evenings were
employed in reading,—much more so than now,—in attending
lectures and debates
at the Mechanics' Institute, in going to church, and in social
life. Chicago
people have always had abundant means to employ their time fully
and
profitably. The post-office stood on Clark street, on the alley
where the
north side of the Sherman House now is. It had a single delivery
window a foot
square, opening into a room with a door on the alley, and
another on Clark
street. All the city could see the flag flying from the Sherman
House, when
the mail steamer from the other side of the lake was signaled.
Each one knew
how long it would take her to reach her dock and the mails to
get distributed.
For a long time before the delivery window would open, the
people would begin
to assemble, the first taking his station at the window and the
others forming
in line through the rear door into the alley, often far into the
street, like
along line of voters at election. Here I saw one day an incident
which I
mention as a tribute to one of the best and noblest of men, and
as an example
for all of us to follow. At one time when we had been without a
mail for a
week or more, I stood in the line perhaps a dozen from the
window and Robert
Stewart two or three ahead of me. Just as the window opened and
the column
began to move, a woman, poorly clad and evidently a foreigner,
rushed in at
the front door, and, casting her eye down that long line of men,
the muscles
of her face twitched and she trembled with anxiety. She
evidently expected a
letter from dear ones far away over the broad Atlantic. Not a
word was uttered
by the crowd, and there she stood waiting in agony for the crowd
to pass by,
till it came Mr. Stewart's turn, when, with a kindly wave of the
hand he
said, "Come here, my good woman," and, placing her directly in
front of him,
she grasped her letter, and with a suppressed "thank the Lord
and you sir,"
she left, the most happy person in the crowd. Any man might do
such an act for
a lady in silks; but only a noble, Christian gentleman like
Robert Stewart
would do it for a poor, forlorn woman in calico.
There was not a railway entering the city from, any direction in
1848. Some
strap rails were laid down that fall, or during the winter
following, on the
Galena & Chicago, now the North-Western, and in 1850, through
the personal
endorsement of ex-Mayor B. W. Raymond and Capt. John B. Turner,
men to whom
Chicago is greatly indebted, it readied Elgin, 40 miles
westward. So cheaply
and honestly was it built, and from the time it was finished to
Elgin, 40
miles, so large and lucrative was its business, that it paid
large dividends,
and demonstrated that Illinois railways could be made profitable
investments.
It became, in fact, the parent of the vast railway system of the
West. It was
marvelous how rapidly railways were projected in all directions,
and how
quickly they were built.
The Michigan Southern Railway was the first great Eastern line
to reach this
city, which it did on the 20th of February, 1852. The Michigan
Central was
opened May 20th of the same year. These gave a very great
impulse to the
growth and prosperity of the city. These were times when the
coming of great
enterprises seemed to fill the air, and the men were found who
were ready to
grasp and execute them. The necessity of binding the South and
the North
together by iron bands had been broached and talked of in
Congress and
elsewhere in 1848, and a few sagacious men had suggested the
granting-of
alternate sections of the public lands to aid in the
construction of the road
as the only means by which it could be built. It had worked
admirably in the
case of the Illinois & Michigan Canal, and it was agreed that
the importance
of the work-would justify a similar grant in aid of a great
through line from
the Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. With the
characteristic-forecast and energy
of her citizens, Chicago furnished the man who combined all
interests and
furnished the friends of the measure in Congress the means to
carry it. That
man was John S. Wright, who, as before stated, was one of the
most far-seeing
and valuable citizens Chicago ever had. The whirl and excitement
in which he
lived clouded his mind toward the close of his life; but if any
one among bar
earlier citizens deserves a monument to his memory, that man is
John S.
Wright. I had the same office with him in 1849, and hence know
personally of
what I speak. At his own expense he printed thousands of
circulars, stating
briefly, but with sufficient fullness, the arguments in favor of
building the
road, its effect upon the commerce and the social and political
welfare of the
Union; that in granting the lands the Government would lose
nothing, as the
alternate sections would at once command double the price of
both. To this a
petition to Congress to make the grant was attached. At that
time such mail
matter went free to postmasters, and with a small circular
asking them to
interest themselves in getting signers to the petitions, or to
put them in the
hands of those who would, Mr. Wright (giving employment to his
clerk for
weeks) sent two or three of them to every postmaster between the
Lakes and the
Gulf of Mexico. In the early part of the session of 1849-'50
these petitions
began to pour into Congress by; the thousands, and still all
through the
summer of 1849 they kept coming. Members from all sections stood
aghast at
this deluge of, public opinion that seemed about to overwhelm
them, unless
they at once passed a law making a grant of lands to the States
to open a
railway from Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico. Our Senators,
Douglas and Shields,
and Representatives, Wentworth and others, saw their
opportunity, and the bill
was passed on the 20th day of September, 1850. On the 10th of
February, 1851,
the Illinois Legislature chartered the company, and its
construction was
placed in the hands of Col. R. B. Mason. I need not add that a
better
selection could not possibly have been made.*
-----------------
*From the Tribune, Feb. 4.
THE "PRAIRIE FARMER" AND JOHN S. WRIGHT.
The Rev. J. Ambrose Wight, writing from Bay City, Mich., under
date of Feb. 1,
in relation to the lecture on "Early Chicago" recently delivered
in
McCormick's Hall, says:
"My early Chicago is earlier. I arrived there in September,
1836, and had my
head quarters there till May, 1843, when I removed there, and
remained till
May, 1865.
"The thing that more especially pleases me in the lecture is the
tribute to my
old friend, John S. Wright. If Chicago, the State of Illinois,
and the old
Northwest, owe anything to anybody, it is to John S. Wright. The
lecture
states his movement in the matter of the Central Railroad. But
that was only
one of his undertakings for the public good. For fifteen years
he was
constantly engaged in some scheme with the same end. His
establishment of and
success with the Prairie Farmer were things remarkable,
considering his age
and supposed qualifications for such a work. He had never done a
day's work on
a farm in his life, and presumptively knew nothing about it. But
he possessed
a remarkable insight info public needs. He started his paper,
freely
acknowledging his own deficiencies, but threw himself on the
help of the
farmers, whose acquaintance he constantly made—putting as his
motto at the
head of his paper, "Farmers, write for your paper." And this
flag was still
flying in the last copy I have seen of that journal. For ten
years that paper
held a place which money could never pay for, and was essential
to the growth
of the country where it circulated—settling, one after another,
such questions
as these: "Will the cultivated grasses grow on prairie lands?"
"Can sheep be
kept to advantage here?" "Can orchards be a success?" "How shall
we fence
these open lands?" and hundreds of other questions of like
kinds—the machinery
to be used on the farm; the stock most profitable; and the
claims of dozens of
discoveries and inventions, good, and good for nothing. Mr.
Wright
relinquished the elm, it is true, after a year and a half, but
his enthusiasm
and insight gave impulse and direction, and made it a success.
"Then the system of public schools in Illinois owes its first
impulse and
direction to him, though he knew no more of school-teaching than
of farming.
He began work at that as soon as his paper was fairly launched ;
setup a
department in it for public-school education, corresponded and
wrote
unweariedly for it. There was no system of schools in the State
at that time.
The "common school," on the South Side, for Chicago, was kept in
a story-and-a-
half building, up stairs—the building standing at the corner of
State and
Madison streets—the pedagogue being a Mr. Bennet, I think; and
my
impression,is that the school was common enough. The schools
over the State
were just as they happened to be.
"Mr. Wright drew up a system for the State, published it,
printed circulars,
got friends for it, and had it made a law, against a pretty
strong dislike
from the southern and central parts of tne State.
--------------------------
Permit me to say here, by way of parenthesis, that omnibuses and
horse-cars
were introduced nearly ten years after this time. The City
Railway Company was
chartered Feb. 14, 1859. Pardon the remark, that whatever honor
attaches to
driving the first spike belongs to your speaker. It was done on
State, corner
of Randolph. The road reached Twelfth street on the 25th of
April, 1859, only
seventeen years ago. Now the whole city is gridironed with them,
and they are
essential to its business life.
I should like to give you the history of the Rock Island, the
Alton & St.
Louis, the Burlington & Quincy, the Pittsburgh & Fort Wayne, and
other roads,
but time and space forbid. For several years succeeding 1854,
the leading men
of Chicago had to endure a great deal of eating and drinking, as
our railways
were opened to cities in all directions; and for this ser-
--------------------
And, when he found it defective, he reconstructed it, and it
became a new law.
And this old law of Mr. Wright's, made over as the Indian gun
was, is the
system now. True, he soon got powerful helpers in Chicago, among
whom I
remember as the earliest, William Jones, J. Y. Scammon, Dr.
Foster, W. H.
Brown, and Flavel Mosely—succeeded by such others as the Hon.
Mark Skinner,
John Wentworth, and a good many more, including William H. King,
Esq.
"Another of Mr. Wright's public movements was that of the
10-per-cent.-loan
law. The Legislature, moved by the southern Granger interest,
had passed a law
making a higher interest than 6 per cent, usurious. Mr. W. knew,
that a repeal
of that law was a hopeless undertaking. But it prevented all
obtaining of
money for use—operating especially hard against the interests of
Chicago and
the northern end of the State, where recovery from the financial
disasters of
1836-7 had set in with a good deal of strength. He therefore
drew up an
amendment to the 6-per-cent. law, allowing an interest of 10 per
cent. "on
money loaned." As usual, his circulars flew like the leaves of
autumn; and,
contrary to the prediction of many, the amendment passed the
Legislature. The
relief was instantaneous and great.
Chicago — old Chicago — knows Mr. Wright's peculiarities well
enough. He saw
further into a subject, in the beginning, than most men. But
once in it, he
seemed to love his ability to handle it, and often his interest
in it; and the
outcome sometimes threw undeserved obloquy on the whole
undertaking. Had he
been able to carry things through as he begun them, he had
probably been a
millionaire, and alive to-day."
Mr. Wight does not state, what most of our older citizens know,
that, when Mr.
Wright "relinquished the helm" of the Prairie Farmer, "a, year
and a half"
after it started, he committed it to Mr. Wight, as its editor.
The sterling
integrity, untiring zeal, sharp, strong common sense, and
trenchant pen of Mr.
Wight made the Prairie Farmer for many years one of the very
best agricultural
papers ever published in this country. Mr. Wright was too
completely absorbed
in the other important enterprises of which Mr. Wight speaks, to
give much
attention to his paper, though retaining the proprietorship of
it. But to his
enterprise in starting it, and to that of Mr. Wight in
conducting it, Chicago
and the Northwest owe a far greater debt of gratitude than they
will ever be
able to repay, or even appreciate. Those, were forming epochs in
our history,
and much of our wonderful progress and prosperity are the direct
result of
their labors.
--------------------
vice, as for all others, they showed a capacity and willingness,
as well as a
modesty, which has made them distinguished all over the country.
On the 10th
of May, 1869, the Central and Union Pacific Railways joined
rails at
Promontory Point, thus completing the grand railway system
across the
continent. And here I may be permitted the incidental remark
that we who live
with them, and enjoy the first fruits of their enterprise, do
not sufficiently
honor the men who bridge our great rivers and bind every section
of the Union
together in bands of iron and steel, never to be broken, such
men as Wm. B.
Ogden, John B. Turner, R. B. Mason, Thomas C. Durant, Leland
Stanford, and
scores of others that might be named. History shows that it was
not only the
men who bore the victorious eagles of old Rome through distant
nations, but
who built roads to connect, them with the Eternal City, that
received the
highest honors. Thus it was that great national thoroughfares
were built
thousands of miles long, from the North to the Black Sea, and as
in that case
all roads pointed towards Rome, so at least nine-tenths of all
the roads in
all this broad land point to Chicago. Do you know that the title
even now worn
by the Pope of Rome has come down to him from those old
road-builders? Pontif
ex Maximus simply means the greatest bridge-builder, the
proudest, and thus
far the most enduring title ever worn by earthly monarch. Let
our city honor
the men for making Chicago commercially in this centennial year
what Imperial
Rome was politically in past ages. While we give all honor to
these men, let
not the name of John S. Wright be forgotton, who, addressing
himself to even
the greater work, in 1849, combined and gave direction to the
political and
moral forces that enabled them to complete the grandest system
of improvements
ever made in the history of the world.
You will expect me to say something of the press of the city. In
1848 the
Journal had rooms in what was then the Saloon Buildings, on the
southeast
corner of Clark and Lake streets. The Gem of the Prairie, and
The Tribune as
its daily, maintained a precarious existence in an old wooden
shanty on the
northwest corner of Lake and Clark streets. Messrs. Wheeler,
Stewart and
Scripps were the editors. It was burned out, and then located at
No. 171 1/2
Lake street. My friend the Hon. John Wentworth published the
democrat in very
aristocratic quarters at Jackson Hall, on LaSalle street, just
south of Lake.
He had the only Hoe power-press in the city. In the fall of
1849, finding I
preferred my old occupation of using books rather than of
selling them, I
disposed of my interest in the book-store to my partners. It was
the original
of the great house of Jansen, McClurg and Co. The leading member
of the firm
now—my brother-in-law—I left in the store a mere boy, whose
duties were to
sweep out, carry packages, and generally to do a boy's business.
I mention
this as an example for the boys who hear me to follow.
I then formed a partnership with J. Ambrose Wight, then editor
of the Prairie
Farmer, — a most valuable paper, owned by John S. Wright,—and we
bought out
the Herald of the Prairies, a religious paper, the organ alike
of the
Presbyterians and Congregationalists of the Northwest. The
latter half of the
concern survives in the Advance. It was then published on Wells
street, on the
corner of the alley between Lake and Randolph streets. We soon
moved to 171
Lake street, next door to The Tribune, and in the rear building,
on an old
Adams press, the first power press ever brought to the city, we
printed our
own paper, and also The Tribune, for Messrs. Stewart, Wheeler &
Scripps. The
press was driven by Emery's horse-power, on which traveled, hour
by hour, an
old black Canadian pony. So far as my interest in the splendid
machinery of
The Tribune is concerned, that old blind pony ground out its
beginnings,
tramping on the revolving platform of Emery's horse-power.
By the autumn of 1851 Mr. Wight, a man who, as editor of the
Prairie Farmer,
did very much towards laying the foundations of the rapid
progress and the
great prosperity of the West, and now pastor of the Presbyterian
Church at Bay
City, Mich., and myself, found out by sad experience that the
Prairie Herald,
as we then called it, could not be made to support two families,
for we had
scarcely paid current expenses. I therefore sold out to Mr.
Wight, taking in
payment his homestead lots on Harrison street. That winter
rather than have
nothing to do I remained in his office with him, working for the
large sum of
$1 per day. After a vacation of a few months the late John L.
Scripps and
myself formed a partnership and issued the first number of the
Democratic
Press on the 16th of September, 1852. We started on a borrowed
capital of
$6,000, which all disappeared from sight in about six weeks. We
put in all our
services and profits, and about all the money we could borrow,
never drawing a
cent from the firm till after the first of January, 1855. This
required nerve
and the using up of funds to a very considerable amount, which
we had obtained
from the sale of real estate; but we thought we could see future
profit in the
business and we worked on, never heeding discouragements for a
moment.
The hard times of 1857-'58, brought the Democratic Press and The
Tribune
together, and Dr. Ray, J. Medill, John L. Scripps, and myself,
became equal
partners, with Mr. Cowles as business manager. Dr. Ray and Mr.
Scripps have
ceased from their labors, but not till they had done most
effective and,
valuable work in the development and progress of Chicago. Mr.
Scripps was
Postmaster during Mr. Lincoln's first Administration. Both he
and Dr. Ray were
able and very cultivated gentlemen, and the memory of them
should have a high
place in the esteem and gratitude of their fellow citizens. Mr.
Medill, Mr.
Cowles, and myself, still stand by the old Tribune, with what
efficiency and
success the reading public can best judge.
I should like to have an hour to pay a passing tribute to the
men who gave
character to Chicago in 1848, and the years that followed. To
Thomas Richmond
still with us; to John P. Chapin, Charles Walker and Captain
Bristol, heavy
dealers on Water street; to Judge Giles Spring, Judge George
Manierre, S.
Lisle Smith, William H. Brown, George W. Meeker, Daniel Mcllroy,
James H.
Collins, and others of the Bench and Bar; to Drs. Maxwell, Egan
and Brainard;
to Editors Dick Wilson, T. A. Stewart, John E. Wheeler, and
James F.
Ballantyne, as well as to Ray and Scripps; to the Rev. Dr.
Tucker, Parson
Barlow, and perhaps several others of the clergy. I should like
to speak of
Mayors F. C. Sherman, James Curtiss, J. H. Woodworth, and Thomas
Dyer, all of
whom have been relieved of all earthly cares. Many of our oldest
citizens
still linger among us. Of these, Col. Gurdon S. Hubbard first
came to Chicago
in 1818—the year Illinois became a State. Still hale and happy,
may he long
bless Chicago with his presence. Of our ex-Mayors previous to
1860, William B.
Ogden, the first, Buckner S. Morris, B. W. Raymond, Walter S.
Gurnee, Charles
M. Gray, Isaac L. Milliken, Levi D. Boone, John Wentworth, and
John C. Haines,
are still living. Of the clergy we have still the Rev. Dr. R. W.
Patterson, "whose praise," like one of old, "is in all the
churches." Of our
leading citizens we have still a host, almost too numerous to
mention. The
names of Jerome Beecher, Gen. Webster, Timothy and Walter
Wright, S. B. Cobb,
Orrington Lunt, Philo Carpenter, Frederick and Nelson Tuttle,
Peter L. Yoe, C.
N. Holden, Charles L. and John Wilson, E. H. Haddock, E. D.
Taylor, Judge J.
D. Caton, J. Y. Scammon, Grant Goodrich, E. B. and Mancel
Talcott, Mahlon D.
Ogden, E. H. Sheldon, Mat. Laflin, James H. Reese, C. H.
McCormick and
brothers, P. W. Gates, A. Pierce, T. B. Carter, Gen. S. L.
Brown, Peter Page,
William Locke, Buckner S. Morris, Capt. Bates, and many others,
will at once
recur to our older citizens.
Some of these gentlemen were not quite so full of purse when
they came here as
now. Standing in the parlor of the Merchants' Savings, Loan and
Trust Company,
five or six years ago, talking with the President, Sol. A.
Smith, E. H.
Haddock, Dr. Foster, and perhaps two or three others, in came
Mr. Cobb,
smiling and rubbing his hands in the greatest glee. "Well, what
makes you so
happy?" said one. "O," said Cobb, "this is the 1st day of June,
the
anniversary of my arrival in Chicago in 1833." "Yes," said
Haddock, "the first
time I saw you, Cobb, you were bossing a lot of Hoosiers
weatherboarding a
shanty-tavern for Jim Kinzie." "Well," Cobb retorted, in the
best of humor,
you needn't put on any airs, for the first time I saw you, you
were shingling
an out-house."
Jokes and early reminiscences were then in order. It transpired
that our solid
President of the South Side Horse Railway left Montpelier, Vt.,
with $40 in
his pocket, but by some mishap when he reached Buffalo he had
only $9 left.
This was exactly the fare on the schooner to Chicago, but the
Captain told him
he might buy some provisions, and if he would make no trouble
and sleep on
deck the boy could come to Chicago for what was left. Cobb got
some sheeting,
which some lady fellow-passengers sewed up for him, and he
filled it with
shavings, and this made his bed on deck. He got a ham, had it
boiled, bought
some bread, and, thus equipped and provisioned, he set sail for
Chicago. There
was then no entrance to the Chicago River, and the vessel
anchored outside, a
long way out, and the cabin passengers went ashore with the
Captain in a
Mackinaw boat. A storm springing up, the mate lay off for three
days between
Michigan City and Waukegan. When the vessel returned, a cabin
passenger, who
had returned for baggage, was surprised to find Cobb still
aboard. Cobb told
him the Captain had gone back on him, and would not let him go
ashore without
the other $3, and what to do he did not know. The gentleman lent
him the $3,
and Cobb gladly came ashore. Though he knew nothing of the
carpenter's trade,
he accepted a situation to boss some Hoosiers, who were at work
on Mr.
Kinzie's excuse for a hotel, at $2.75 per day, and soon paid his
friend. From
that time to this he has seldom borrowed any money. Mr. Haddock
also came to
Chicago, I think, as a small grocer, and now these gentlemen are
numbered
among our millionaires. Young men, the means by which they have
achieved
success are exceedingly simple. They have sternly avoided all
mere
speculation; they have attended closely to legitimate business
and invested
any accumulating surplus in real estate. Go ye and do likewise,
and your
success will be equally sure.
Having seen Chicago in 1848 with no railways, no pavements, no
sewers,
scarcely an apology for water-works—a mere city of shanties,
built on the
black prairie, soil-the temptation to imagine for her a
magnificent future is
almost irresistible.
I beg leave with characteristic Chicago modesty to refer to a
prophecy which I
ventured to make in 1854. I had just written and published the
first
exhaustive account of our railway system, followed by a
history—the first also—
of the city. In the closing paragraph I had the following
sentences: The city
had then not quite completed the seventeenth year of its
existence, and I ask:
"What will the next seventeen years accomplish? We are now
(1854) in direct
railroad connection with all the Atlantic cities from Portland
to Baltimore.
Five, at most eight, years will extend the circle to New
Orleans. By that time
also we shall shake hands with the rich copper and iron mines of
Lake
Superior, both by canal and railroad, and long ere another
seventeen years
have passed away we shall have a great national railroad from
Chicago to
Puget's Sound, with a branch to San Francisco."
By the time the building of the road was fairly undertaken, San
Francisco had
grown so largely in wealth and population that the main line was
forced to
that city. But in June, 1869, two years before the thirty-four
years in the
life of the city had passed away, I rode from Chicago to
Sacramento with my
good friend George M. Pullman in one of his splendid palace
cars, with a
dining car attached, and no one could possibly fare better than
we did on the
entire trip. Another line was open from Sacramento to Vallejo
nearly right
across the bay from the City of the Golden Gate, so that
practically the
prophecy was literally fulfilled. Perhaps it was only a
fortunate guess, and
as I was educated in New England, you will permit me to guess
again, and to
bound the city for you on the nation's second Centennial, viz.,
on the 4th of
July, 1976. I think the north line will probably begin on the
lake shore half
way between Evanston and Winnetka, and run due west to a point
at least a mile
west of Aux Plaines River; thence due south to an east and a
west line that
will include Blue Island, and thence southeast from Blue Island
to the Indiana
State line, and thence on that line to Lake Michigan. With my
eye upon the
vast country tributary to the city, I estimate that Chicago will
then contain
at least 3,000,000 of people, and I would sooner say 4,000,000
than any less
than 3,000,000. I base my opinions on the fact that the
gastronomic argument
controls mankind. Men will go and live where they can get the
most and the
best food for the least labor. In this respect what city in the
world can
compete with Chicago? And I also assume that the nation for the
next, hundred
years will remain one united, free and happy people.
But, gentlemen, in order to realize the magnificent destiny
which Providence
seems to have marked out for our city, permit me to say, in
conclusion, that
the moral and religious welfare of the city must be carefully
guarded and
promoted. Philo Carpenter (still among us) and Capt. Johnson
established the
first Sunday-school here July 30, 1832, and the Rev. Jeremiah
Porter (also
still living) organized and became pastor of the First
Presbyterian Church
(now Dr. Mitchell's) on the 26th of June, 1833. Brave old Jesse
Walker, the
pioneer Methodist, also preached sound doctrine in the earliest
years of the
Town of Chicago. All other denominations were also on the ground
early, and
through all her former history our people seemed as active and
earnest in
religious efforts as they were enterprising and successful in
mercantile and
other business. Let all our churches address themselves
earnestly, faithfully,
to the work of moralizing, if you please converting, the people,
working as
their Divine Master would have them work; let respectable men,
honest men, and
especially religious men, go to the polls, and banish from
places of trust and
power those who are stealing their substance and corrupting, aye
even
poisoning, the very life blood of the city; let us all, my
friends, do our
whole duty as citizens and as men, ever acting upon the Divine
maxims
that "Righteousness exalteth a nation," that "Godliness is
profitable for all
things," and with God's blessing Chicago, as in the past so in
the future,
shall far outstrip in wealth, population and power all the
anticipations of
her most enthusiastic and sanguine citizens.
MAYORS OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
City Incorporated March, 1837.
1837 William B. Ogden.
1838 Buckner S. Morris.
1839 Benj. W. Raymond.
1840 Alexander Loyd.
1841 Francis C. Sherman.
1842 Benj. W. Raymonds.
1843 Augustus Garrett.
1844 Alanson S. Sherman.
1845 Augustus Garrett.
1846 John P. Chapin.
1847 James Curtiss.
1848 Jas. H. Woodworth.
1849 Jas. H. Woodworth.
1850 James Curtiss.
1851 Walter S. Gurnee.
1852 Walter S. Gurnee.
1853 Charles M. Gray.
1854 Isaac L. Milliken.
1855 Levi D. Boone.
1856 Thomas Dyer.
1857 John Wentworth.
1858 John C. Haines.
1859 John C. Haines.
1860 John Wentworth.
1861 Julian S. Rumsey.
1862 Francis C. Sherman.
1864 Francis C. Sherman.
1865 John B. Rice.
1867 John B. Rice.
1869 Roswell B. Mason.
1871 Joseph Medill.
1873 Harvev D. Colvin.
1876 Harvey D. Colvin.
POPULATION OF CHICAGO.
1835 3,265
1836 3,820
1837 4,179
1838 4,000
1839 4,200
1840 4,479
1841 5,752
1842 6,248
1843 7,580
1844 8,000
1845 12,088
1846 14,169
1847 16,859
1848 20,023
1849 23,047
1850 28,269
1851 34,437
1852 38,733
1853 60,652
1854 65,872
1855 80,028
1856 84,113
1857 93,000
1858 90,000
1859 95,000
1860 112,172
1861 120,000
1862 138,835
1863 160,000
1864 169,353
1865 178,900
1866 200,418
1867 220,000
1868 252,054
1869 273,043
1870 298,977
1872 364,377
1874 395,408
1876 (est) 450,000
1885, (estimated by Jno. S. Wright), 1,000,000.
1911, (estimated by J. N. Balestier), 2,000,000.
1976, (estimated by Wm. Bross), 3 to 4,000,000.
CONCLUSION.
The history of Chicago from 1850 to 1876 remains to be written.
I have most of
the materials, but fear I shall not have the time and the
patience to put them
together. Somebody should do it, for such a work would show a
more astonishing
progress than has ever been realized by any other city in the
history of the
world. I respectfully commit this little volume to my
fellow-citizens as my
contribution to the facts, that should be stored away in our
libraries in this
Centennial year, with the hope that they may in some way
interest and perhaps
benefit those who are to come after us.
Contributed 25 Jan 2013 by Deb Haines
