USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > History of Chicago : historical and commercial statistics, sketches, facts and figures, republished from the "Daily Democratic press" ; What I remember of early Chicago, a lecture, delivered in McCormick's hall, January 23, 1876 (Tribune, January 24th) > Part 10
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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 tol- erably 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 sur- face. 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 in- ferred 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 fea-
tures 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 in- clination 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 experimen- tal make, if they are also to be made channels of the filth of the town, they will require to be laid in a more perma- nent manner.
The lands adjacent to the city are cor- respondingly better provided with drain- age 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 im- mediately into operation, with Col. Henry Smith, Dr. C. V. Dyer and others as Com- missioners, 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 as- sessments, 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 except- ing 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 im-
62
HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
mediately 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 produc- tion 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 some-
times grown to the acre, and other vege- tables 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, goose- berries, 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 suffi- cient 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 advan- tage of ours in respect to agricultural and horticultural productions.
63
HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
1855.
The railway article which I prepared for 1855 was the last of the series of our statistical reviews for that year. It con- tains a condensed statement of all of them. The following are the closing paragraphs :
RAILWAYS.
The following list embraces the trunk roads and branches now actually in ope- ration which have Chicago as their com- mon 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
Beloit and Madison
136
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy. Quincy Branch
210
Chicago and Rock Island 181
Mississippi and Missouri, 1st Division
55
2d
13
Peoria and Bureau Valley Peoria and Oquawka
47 44 Chicago, Alton and St. Louis 260 Illinois Central 626
Fort Wayne and Chicago. 20
Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana. 242
Monroe Branch 30
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 nine- ty-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:
$ 275,000.00
73,528.79
2,272,610.78
1,255,854.39
27,350 00 1,327,028.95
600,000.00
630,934.91 208 134.97 1.532,118.81
2,595,630.22
2,650,235.37
716,193.78
22,020.00
Freight.
47,721.41
844,421.50 1,401,294.19
810,062.83
728,966.26
C., A. & St. L., §
our estimate. )
Illinois Central
M. S. & N. I ...
N. A. & Salem Mich. Central
Total
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 statis- tical 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
$13,298,201.09
Mail, etc.
26,895.09
13,221.43
432,570.13
570,712.69
693,048.93
1,461,414.41
345,588.54
Chi. & Mil., our
estimate.
Chi., St. P. & (
Fond du Lac.
G. & C. U ..
Chi., B. && Q .--
Chi. & R. I ....
Total.
17 Galena Air Line
90,170.92
1,098,650.15
348,555.54
Passengers.
25,507.38
Michigan Central.
.100
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HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
the three previous years. We present the following
GENERAL SUMMARY.
Total number of miles of railroad cen- tering 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 Total number of miles of railroad in
6,449
operation in the State of Illinois Feb. 16th, 1852, fonr 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 _. 110
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. In- crease abont 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 Chi- cago for 1854-5 .. 138,515
Total value of the beef packed in Chi- cago in 1855. $1,152,420.96 Receipts of lumber at the port of Chi- cago for 1855 feet, 326,553,467
Now laid up in the port of Chicago, steamers, propellers, sail vessels, etc. Total number of vessels arriving in Chi- cago during the last year. 5,410
233
..
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 mannfactures during the year 1855 ; showing $2,075,000 increase over the previous year _. $6,295,000
Total number of men employed in man- nfacturing (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 improve-
ments, 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 glow- ing picture, suggested by the facts in the above general summary. The figures are themselves much more eloquent and ab- sorbing than any language at our com- mand. 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 fig- ures, which cannot lie." Such figures are more potent and convincing than a thou- sand 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 Ameri- can colonies; and it may with equal jus- tice 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 Michi- gan 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 insignifi- cant town at the southern end of Lake Mich- igan, and within that period, the wolves during the night roamed all over where 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 pro- visions; last year the beef packed in the city was worth $1,152,420.96. She ex- ported 16,633,813 bushels of grain, the value of which must have been from twelve to fifteen millions of dollars. Sheis now acknowledged to be the greatest pri- mary grain port in the world, and purchas- ers 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 sub- jects of Victoria and Napoleon. During the last year the citizens of Chicago man- ufactured articles to the value of eleven
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HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
millions of dollars, and invested three millions seven hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars in substantial improve- ments. 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 Missis- sippi 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 ex- pended a single dollar. Eastern and for- eign capital, proverbially cautious, and even skeptical though it be, has done the mighty work. There has been no spas- modic 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 sew- erage, 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 in- crease 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 Michi- gan 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 re- sources 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 min- eral treasures, for manufacturing and commercial resources, and capacity for sustaining a dense population, its supe- rior 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 in- to the lap of Chicago. Look at our mighty inland seas. Suppose it to be May. Yon- der 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 Ogdens- burg, thirteen hundred miles, away be- yond 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
-
66
HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
key to their commerce; with her railroads piercing the vast country that is tributary to her in all directions; and with a cease- less, ever-deepening stream of the vigor- ous, the intelligent and the enterprising population of the Eastern States and of Europe, rolling over it with ever-increas- ing power; with the achievements and the progress of the last four years before him, he would be a bold, almost an in- sane 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 manu- factures 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 for- gotten, 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 build- ing 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 at- tention 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 noth- ing 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 North- west, 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 re- membering the article of Mr. Harvey, I determined to find out all I could in refer- ence to the feasibility of the route for a slip-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 то
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 re- gard 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 McIn- tosh, which will be interesting to our readers. Capt. McIntosh commanded a
67
HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
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 Kempen- feldt 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. Hub- bard 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 down as entering Lake Sim- coe 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 be- tween Lake Simcoe and Manitouline and Ontario. But from the appearance of the map before us, and from the informa- tion 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 prob- ably 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 necessi- ties 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 trans- shipment 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 im- ported 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 At- lantic cities, and our merchants, in 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 pro- posed route ever been surveyed? Will our Canadian friends "agitate " the mat- ter and give us their opinions and give us what facts they may have upon its practi- cability?
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 com- merce and immense productions will tax them all to their utmost capacity.
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