History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 52

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340

USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time > Part 52

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" 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 infer- red from the facts already stated in regard to cellars, since a cellar

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CREATION OF THE CITY.

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. The 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."

By the act approved February 14, 1855, a board of sewerage commissioners was incorporated, consisting of one member for each of the three divisions of the city, to be elected for two, three and four years. It was their duty to consider all matters relative to the thorough and systematic drainage of the city ; to advertise for plans and receive written objections, for thirty days ; to report a plan to the Common Council with estimate of the necessary amount to complete it ; to issue bonds, purchase lots and erect buildings, and appoint a secre- tary and treasurer. E. S. Chesbrough was appointed chief engineer, and insisted, from the first, upon the advantage of a high grade for the purpose of proper drainage and dry streets. The grade at last fixed upon was lower than he urged, but still sufficiently high to alarm the Common Council, who ordered a general extension of grades. By the system then in vogue about one-half the drainage from the South Division, all from the North Division except from establishments immediately along the lake, and all from the West Division, ran into the river. The dividing ridge in the South Division was along State Street, the water to the east of that line running into the lake. It will thus be seen that the river was the receptacle of all the drainage from packing-houses, distilleries, and most of the hotels, business blocks and dwellings of the city, so that con- stant streams of filth were pouring into it. On De- cember 31, 1855, Mr. Chesbrough made a report to the Common Council, stating that the commissioners had already decided that the plan of sewerage to be devised should " cover at present, the territory included within Division Street on the north, Reuben Street on the west, North Street on the south, and Lake Michigan on the east. The plan of draining the sewerage into the river and branches directly, and thence into the lake, had been de- cided upon as being less expensive than draining di- rectly into the lake. In order to keep improper sub- stances out of the sewers. it was proposed to introduce a slight but constant current into the mains, and to re- sort to flushing or cleansing by hand. The sewers in the South Division were to have their principal dividing or summit-line on State and Washington streets. Starting from these dividing lines, they were to discharge west- wardly into the South Branch, between North and Washington streets, northwardly from Washington Street into the main river, between Market Street and the lake, and eastwardly into large mains on Michigan Avenue, one of which was to empty into the river, and the other have its outlet in the lake, on Twelfth Street. Small branch sewers were to run through the streets, which lie parallel with the summit-lines, so that every lot, might be reached. In the North Division, three main lines extended from Division Strect to the main river, and had their outlets on Rush, Clark and Frank- lin streets respectively. He also proposed a main hav- ing an outlet into the North Branch, on Chicago Av- enue. All the intermediate streets between the mains, and those running east and west, it was proposed to drain by branches of different sizes, so that every lot might be reached. the same as in the South Division.

It will be observed that no sewer had its outlet into the lake in the North Division. In the West Division mains from Reuben Street to the South and North branches were proposed. For the present it was rec- ommended that they be constructed only in Prairie, Randolph, Monroe and Van Buren streets, and in these only as far as existing improvements might require them. The streets and parts of streets intermediate between the mains, were to be drained by branches as in the south and north districts. With regard to the outlets of the sewers it was recommended that they be so placed that the bottom of the interior surface of the mains would be six inches above the low-water level of 1847 ; and to place the bottoms of the two-feet sewers, six inches higher, or about the level of the present surface of the lake. The estimates made did not cover the sewerage for all the territory embraced in the plan, but merely so much as was considered necessary for present pur- poses : South district, $157,893 ; north district, $156,- 522 ; west district, $188,831. In the winter of 1856-57 Mr. Chesbrough, upon the order of the board, visited some of the principal cities of Europe for the purpose of examining the various methods of sewerage adopted there, with a view of perfecting the system of Chicago. He recommended the system of intercepting sewers as the most feasible, the discharge to be into the lake, at some point in the southern part of the city. With the idea of inaugurating the system the first sewers were constructed in 1856-a total of six and two one-hun- dredths miles. During the next year four and eighty-six one-hundredths miles were built, making a total of about ten and four-fifths miles included in the sewerage sys- tem in 1857.

THE RIVER .- Very early in the history of Chicago the attention of citizens was called to the sluggish nature of the river, and ordinances were enacted by the town and municipal authorities against polluting its waters. The first measure was passed November 7, 1833. The ordinance of August 5, 1834, under the impetus of the cholera scare, was more stringent. Although the town and city authorities intended to be severe in times of epidemics, or when scourges were feared, very many offensive substances did find their way into the river at all seasons of the year, and by 1845 the stream became terribly offensive, in conse- quence of blood and other refuse from slaughter houses being thrown into it. When that nuisance was abated, however, the odors of the "melancholy and slow " stream became comparatively bearable for some years. When the board of sewerage commissioners adopted Mr. Chesbrough's plan of draining directly into the river and its branches 'in December, 1855,) the public became alarmed lest this should endanger the city's health, and also fill up the river so as to obstruct navigation. Mr. Chesbrough discusses these objections, and explains his plan as follows:

" It is proposed to remove the first [objection] by pouring into the river from the lake a sufficient body of pure water to pre- vent offensive or injurious exhalations, by means which will here- after be described. The latter objection is believed to be ground- less, because the substances to be conveyed through the sewers to the river could in no case be heavier than the soil of this vicinity, but would generally be much lighter. While these substances might, to some extent, be deposited there when there is little or no current, they would, during the seasons of rain and flood, be swept on by the same force that has hitherto preserved the depth of the river."

In speaking of the steamboat canal project, he says:

" If it should ever be made for commercial purposes, the plan would be about as well adapted to such a state of things as it is to the present, making it necessary to abandon only the proposed method of supplying the South Branch with fresh water from the

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HISTORY OF CHICAGO.

lake, and to pump up from the canal, or draw from the Desplaines directly, flushing water for the West District instead of obtaining it from the present canal at Bridgeport, as herein recommended. For the purpose of keeping the water in the South Branch fresh, it is proposed to construct a canal, twenty feet wide and six feet deep at low water, between the lake and the South Branch, through North Street (Sixteenth), and for the purpose of purifying as much of the North Branch as possible, it is believed that the nec- essary canal should be located as far north as Ceoter Street."

By reference to the history of the sewerage system, it will be seen that the first sewers were constructed in 1856. During the next spring occurred the freshet which increased the depth of the river two feet, sweet- ened its waters, and destroyed, for a time, the appre- hensions of sensitive people.

STREET IMPROVEMENTS .- Previous to 1855 the efforts made to grade and otherwise improve the streets of the city were unsystematized and spasmodic. The first "road " was located in 1831 from the public square to the western county line. But the report of the view- ers was rejected by the County Commissioners, because it was believed they had selfish ends in view in locating it . as they did. The Commissioners therefore voted that the viewers " have no pay for their services.". In April, 1832, several streets and roads were authorized ; among others the first street leading to Lake Michigan was laid out. It then commenced at the east end of Water Street, and is thus described by Jedediah Wooley, Surveyor : "Direction of said road is south eighty- eight and one-half degrees east from the street (Water) to the lake, eighteen chains, fifty links." The street was laid out fifty feet wide. The viewers on this occa- sion believed that "the said road is of public utility and a convenient passage from the town to the lake." In June, 1832, the County Commissioners ordered that a road be viewed " from the town of Chicago to the house of B. Laughton, from thence to the house of James Walker on the Du Page River, and so on to the west line of the county, and that Elijah Wentworth, R. E. Heacock and Timothy B. Clark should be the view- ers. These men were appointed to the same office to do similar work for a prospective road " from the town of Chicago, the nearest and best way to the house of the Widow Brown on 'Hycory Creek.'"

By March, 1833, the State road leading from Chi- cago to the left bank of the Wabash River, opposite Vincennes, was completed, and during the spring and summer of that year, various minor roads were laid out. Thus, even at this early period, Chicago was becoming a road center. When, later, plank roads commenced to be built, Chicago also took the lead and drew in the trade of all the country around. In August the town of Chicago was incorporated, and one of the first official orders of the Trustees was given to the Surveyor to "pitch " South Water Street from the United States Reservation to Randolph Street, on or before April, 1834. In these days Benjamin Jones was Street Com- missioner, and he and his successors were autocrats in their way. The law empowered them to call out any- body between the ages of twenty-one and sixty years, to work upon the streets and bridges for three days per annum. The territory within which this law operated covered the country one mile from the center of the town limits. During July, 1834. the Surveyor was re- quired to graduate South Water Street, so that "water should flow from each cross street into the river." South Water and Lake streets were the two principal thorough- fares of the village, and therefore were early turnpiked and graded. Plank sluices were also built across Clark Street, to carry the drainage to the South Branch. and that street was somewhat improved in 1836. in

the fall of that year Canal Street was turnpiked and bridged as far north as Kinzie ; Lake Street similarly improved as far west as Desplaines, and Randolph Street from the river to the west side of Section 9. As late as July 9, 1836, the American calls attention to a pond of water on Lake Street, corner of La Salle, in- habited by frogs. " It smells strong now, and in a few days will send out a horrible stench." By the winter of 1836 the leading thoroughfares were turnpiked. The next spring Hiram Pearsons commenced to improve his north addition to Chicago, advertising for proposals for "clearing, grubbing and grading " Market, Franklin, Chicago Avenue, La Salle, Clark and Dearborn streets ; also Union, Desplaines, Peyton, Canal, Webster, Spring, Harmon, Hamilton, George, Maria, Elizabeth, Cathar- ine streets, and one-half of Division Street, in the same addition, making in all, fourteen and one-half miles of streets. Most of this work was accomplished hefore Mr. Pearsons went into bankruptcy in July, 1842.

For several years the work of grading, grubbing and crudely improving the streets went on, but it was not until 1849 that the authorities commenced to generally plank them. As a rule this work amounted to less than nothing, for when the heavy teams broke up the planks, and wet weather came, the pavement was a dangerous and active weapon, flying up into horses' faces and dash- ing foot-passengers with mud. As late as 1868 relics of t e broken plank could be seen on Blue Island Avenue. and as late as 1859 West Madison and State streets were laid with this planking. Descriptive of the " pave- ments" of these early days is the following paragraph taken from Bross's History:

" I said we had no pavements in 1848. The streets were sim- ply thrown up as country roads. In the spring for weeks, portions of them would be impassable. I have at different times scen 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 ahout much, and the people of the country could not get in to do it. As the clerks had nothing lo 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 Coun- cil established a grade from two to six or eight feet above the natural level of the soil."

The planking of Lake Street, referred to ahove, was ordered by the Common Council January 22, 1849, and was from the west side of State to the river, through the center of the street, forty-eight feet wide. Prior to 1849 the attention of the citizens had been called to the fruitlessness of using stone pavements upon the streets of Chicago. It did not seem a profitable investment for the city to lay down a pavement which would sink out of sight in one or two years. The experiment of laying plank roads had proved a success in Canada and New York, and accordingly in 1849 the Common Council de- termined to plank the principal streets of this city. In 1849-50 Market, State, South and North Clark, LaSalle, Wells, East and West Madison and West Randolph were treated to a coating of this material-(nearly three miles of pavementsj at a cost of $31,000.

Soon after this was commenced a general numbering of the streets In the spring of 1848, Clark Street was numbered from South Water to Randolph. In July,

CREATION OF THE CITY.

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1850, the Common Council ordered that North Water, Kinzie and Michigan streets be numbered from their eastern termini to Franklin Street ; and that Wolcott, Dearborn, Clark, LaSalle and Wells be numbered from North Water to Ontario ; also that the names of these streets be posted up in large letters on each of their corners.

In the summer of 1854, D. Harper, superintendent of public works, made the following measurements of levels above the lake surface :

South Division :- Market Street, at Madison, 5.140 ; at Wash- ington,6.740 ; at Randolph, 6.890 ; at 1.ake, 6.945.

Water Street, at Lake, 6.945 ; Clark, 7.000 ; State, 6.715.

Clark Street, at Water, 7.000 ; Randolph, 7.665 ; Madison, 9.080 ; Twelfth, 8.995.

State Street, at Water, 6.715 ; Randolph, 8.620 ; Madison, 9.950 ; Monroe, 10.070; Van Buren, 11.135 ; Polk, 12.464 ; Twelfth, 12.030.

Madison Street, at Market, 5. 140 ; Franklin, 6.560 ; Wells, 9.050 ; LaSalle, 8.090; Clark, 9.0So ; State, 9.95.

North Division :- Kinzie Street, at Wolcott, 7.580 ; Clark, 8.075 ; North Market, 8.485.

Chicago Avenue, at North Market, 7.705 ; Franklin, 8.84 ; Wells, 8 73 ; LaSalle, 10.335 ; Clark, 10.900 ; Wolcott, 12.871.

North Market Street, at Kinzie, S.485 ; Michigan, 7-435 ; In- diana, 6.760 ; Ohio, 8.025 ; Huron, 8.450 ; Chicago Avenue, 7.705.

North Clark Street, at the dock, 7.405 ; Kinzie Street, S.075 ; Indiana, 8.925 ; Ontario, 9.085 ; Superior, 10.000; Chicago Avenue, to.900.

Wolcott Street, at Kinzie, 7.5So; Indiana, 9.610; Ontario, 11. 761 ; Superior, II.8to ; Chicago Avenue, 12.871.

West Division :- Canal Street, at Twelfth, to.065 ; Harrison, 9.285 ; Madison, 8.760.

Halsted.Street, at Second, 9.95 ; Third, 9.47; Fourth, 9.015 ; Milwaukee Avenue, 9.895 ; Prairie, 9.905 ; Fulton, 10.5; Lake, 10,28 ; Randolph, 11.365 ; Washington, 12.045 ; Madison, 11.460; Monroe, 10.865 ; Jackson, 14.170 ; Polk, 13.995 ; Twellth, 12 .- 990.

Buckner Street, at Chicago Avenue, 11.450; Third, 13.30; Prairie. 13.295 ; Fulton, 15.555 : Lake, 15.4; Washington, 16 .- 130 ; Madison, 16.7 ; Monroe, 16.405 ; Adams, 15.960 ; Jacksoo, 15.635 ; Van Buren, 15.135 ; Harrison, 13.510 ; Taylor, II. 350.

Reuben Street, at Chicago Avenue, 17.020; Owen, 16.925 ; Fulton, 17.625 ; Lake, 17.885 ; Randolph, 17.640; Harrison, [1.785 ; Polk, 11.305 ; Warren, 17.290 ; Madison, 16.440 ; Adams, 15.265 ; Van Buren, 13.065 ; Tyler, 12,015 ; Taylor, to.755 ; Twelfth, 10.84.

Twelfth Street, at Canal, 10.065 ; Clinton, 12.975 ; Jefferson, 13.125 ; Union, 13.205 ; Halsted, 12.305 ; Hoosier Avenue, II .- 380 ; May, 10.570 ; Reuben, 10.84.

Harrison Street, at Canal, 9.205 ; Desplaines, 13.695 ; Green, 15.260 ; Borden, 14.185 ; Rucker, 13.475 ; Loomis, 12.900 ; Reu- ben, 11.525.

Madison Street, at Canal, 8.760 ; Jefferson, 9.445 ; Union, 10.155 ; Halsted, 11.460 ; Sangamon, 12.930 ; Morgan, 15.380 ; Curtis, 15.775 ; May, 16.260 ; Ann, 16.405 ; Elizabeth, 16.705 ; Loomis, 16.970 ; Laflin, 17.15.

Chicago Avenue, at Liberty, 6.490 ; Union, 8.140; Carpen- ter, 10.165 ; Milwaukee Avenue, 10.915 ; Noble, 13.9So; Reuben, 17.020.

In 1855 surveys were made for the purpose of lay- ing ground-work for the new sewerage system.

"It was found," says Assistant Engineer Clarke, "that the surface of the ground along the North and South branches of the river was only three or four feet above the average surface of the lake, but rising irregularly eastward until, at Michigan Avenue and Rush Street, it was from ten to tweive feet above the same level, and also rising westward to about the same level at Ashland Avenue. This, of course, involved the necessity of raising the grade of the streets, in order to cover the sewers, in those parts of the area of the city which required it. After a good deal of dis- cussion it was decided to fill to a level of ten feet above ordinary water on the streets adjacent to the river, raising them with an in- clination sufficient to protect the sewers and to give cellars of seven and one-hall to eight feet in height. A greater height of surface was strongly recommended, but it was supposed that great difficulty would be experienced in obtaining the requisite earth for the above minimum filling. It has, however, been found that the surplus earth of the South Division has been sufficient not to only raise the grade of the streets, but to fill up the whole of the lake basin between the railroad and Michigan Avenue."

In August and September of 1856, Mr. De Golyer,

inventor of the pavement which bears his name, did some work on Lake and South Water streets, which gave general dissatisfaction. They were paved with cobble stones, quite carelessly laid, or as one critic learnedly remarked, the stones were not laid secundum artem. Among those interested in good streets the dis- cussion for the next few months waxed warm between the advocates of planking, macadamizing and cobble- stoning. It was during the spring of 1857 that the ex- citement was intense in regard to the raising of the grade over that established in 1855. Lake-street property owners especially were aroused, as the pro- posed fourteen-foot grade would bring up their level some three or four feet. The Tribune of April 9, 1857, brings out the difficulties of the situation in very strong light. They did seem insurmountable, and that they were overcome is but another evidence of the energy of Chi- cago in the line of public improvements:

"' What effect is this new grade going to have on buildings al- ready erected in this city? The streets and sidewalks must be raised some seven feet above the natural surface level. In other words, every house now built must be raised about the height of the Mayor above its present foundation, or be entered through doors cut in its second story. The proposed grade would damage immensely all our citizens who have built those magnificent brick and stone blocks within the past three years. These buildings have been erected to correspond with the present grade. The "new grade" would throw their floors some four leet below the sidewalks, while their second floors would be five or six feet above the street surface, 'and their cellars would become dark pits or dens underground. The older buildings erected on a level- with the natural surface would fare much better than any of the great blocks constructed to suit the present grade. Frame houses could be set up on blocks, while brick ones, such as the Tremont House, might be entered from the street through the second story windows, by building two or three short steps upon the proposed sidewalks. We should say that $2,000,000 would be a low estimate of the damage that would be done to present structures! Who must pay it-or would the owners have to lose it ? But that is not all. It will be a costly job to raise all the streets and sidewalks of Chicago six to eight feet within the space to be drained by sewers-a space of more than 1,200 acres. Where are the millions of cubic yards of earth to come from to fill them up to the second stories of the present buildings ? And how many millions of dollars is it going to cost the tax payers ? What sort of 'up and down' sidewalk will the es- tablishment of this 'new thirteen or fourteen feet grade' create during the next twenty years ? Because it is all bosh to say that a uniform system of level sidewalks, corresponding with the proposed grade can be established short of many years. *

* * Those opposed to the new grade had better be stirring themselves before it is too late. Now is the time to speak or forever hold your peace."

Apropos of these times it is remarked by an old citizen and a close observer:

"A good joke was told about the first brick Tremont House that was put up. Of course it was at first built to the grade of that period; but, as the grade was every now and then established higher and still higher, it at last left the hotel three or four feet below the surface of the road in front of it, and steps were built around it both on Lake and Dearborn streets for the convenience of persons going there or passing along the sidewalk. A wag of a fellow, from New Orleans, while visiting here, wrote back to his paper that they need not talk any more about the low land of New Orleans, for Chicago had got a brick hotel five stories high that was so heavy that it had sunk into the soft soil several feet, and had forced the ground up into the street around it. I must say it had that appearance. The building was afterward raised eight feet, bringing it up to the grade, and making cellars and basements underneath. It was the first brick building ever raised in Chicago, and the raising was done at a cost to the proprietors, Ira and James Couch. of some $45,000. The contractor, I think, came from Boston, and many were the prophecies that the building would fall down during the process. But it was raised without the breaking of a pane of glass, although it was 16oxIso feet. After the success attending the raising of the Tremont, many others were raised to grade, and at last one-half of a block of heavy buildings on Lake Street were successfully raised. It took 5,000 screws and 500 men to accomplish it."

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History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 52

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340