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 11
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The late George Steele, a sturdy Scotch- man who had lived several years in Can- ada, 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 pub- lished 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 accom- plished. 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 Mon- treal, and to the Canadians generally,
-
68
HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
which we think well worthy of their at- tention. 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 fea- sible, 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 pro- duce to New York or to Europe, it would show figures vastly in favor of the Cana- dian route. Will not our Canadian friends examine this subject and give us the re- sult of their investigations?
The entire Northwest is deeply interest- ed 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 magnifi- cent 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 survey- ing the route, which Mr. Steers started with a handsome sum. Other subscrip- tions 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 an- other article in which is quoted the action of the Toronto Board of Trade, in which a committee is appointed to raise sub- scriptions 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 bear- ing 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 im - portance of the work as best I could, I made the following address to the con- vention :
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 transporta- tion, 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 busi- ness 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 an- other 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 profita- bly 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 aston- ishing facts in the commercial history of the world, and forms an index by which we may judge what is likely to be its his- tory hereafter. The report of Mr. An- drews made to the Secretary of War, un- der the direction of the Congress of the United States, gives the value of the com- merce 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 Michi- gan, but we have some figures by which we can form some idea of the value of
·
69
HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
that trade for the past year; and if we con- sider 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 impor- tance 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 hun- dred and fifty miles south would mark its boundaries 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 ship- ped 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 steam- ers, 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 sonie conception of its rapid growth, and the development of the resources of the country west of it: 1840 4,479 1849 23,047
1843
7.580
1850 28,269
1845
12.088
1852 38,733
1846 14,169
1853 .60,652
1847 16.859
1854 65,872
1855 .83,509 1848 20,023
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 manu- factured 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 remem- bered 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 en- deavor to form some idea of its extent and resources, that we may estimate as best we may what the trade of Lake Mich- igan 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 arca 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 soutlı. 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 west 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, ex- cept 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 news- paper and cut it in the shape of the terri- tory 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 arti 'e prepared by myself, June 27th, of the same year.
70
HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
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 in- habitants.
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 con- tain 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 obliged to use terms which venerable old fogies regard as extravagant and even absurd? The simple fact is that this ter- ritory is large enough to make fourteen States of 50,000 square miles each, and is vastly more fertile and capable of sus- taining 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 larg- est 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 Supe- rior, 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 produc- tions, it should be known that the isother- mal 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 buf- falo 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 buf- falo now range in countless thousands, must after all become the great corn-grow- ing sections of the Union. There too will be reared the countless herds of cat- tle and the hogs, driven to Chicago, to be packed in beef and pork to feed the East- ern 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 com- merce 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 direc- tions. 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 Wis- consin, 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 esti- mate what the next twenty years will ac- complish? I once heard Captain Hugunin, a veteran sailor of our city, who com- menced his eventful career on Lake Onta- rio in 1819, 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 pro- ducts of these 700,000 square miles to the ocean by the Erie and the Welland Canals, and all the railroads now or hereafter to be constructed. The West needs the Georgian Bay Canal and every other ave- nue 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 expen- sive, costing by their estimate at prices then ruling, $22,170,750. The financial crash of 1857-8 stopped all further pro- ceedings 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, Presi- dent. 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.
71
HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
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 136
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
55
Mississippi and Missouri, 1st Division do do 3rd do
13
Peoria and Bureau Valley Peoria and Oquawka
113
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 254
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 add- ing the length of the different roads com- pleted 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 pro- gress, 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 dif- ferent 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 per- haps $40,000, the contrast is truly amazing. We present the following
TABLE, showing the Earnings of the Rail- roads centering in Chicago, for the year 1856.
$ 650,000.00
137,303.67
2,456,045.80
50,000.00
1,627,029 61
215,222.79
1,751,704.60
1,000,000.00
2,469.533.67 3,114,756.06
3,128,154.10
743,492.53
.$17,343.242.83
Passengers. Freight.
Chi. & Mil., our {
Chi., St. P. & 1
Fond du Lac.
G. & C. U ......
F. R. V., our
estimate.
N. C., 6 m. -.
C. & R. I.
C., A. & St. L., )
our estimate.
M. S. & N. I .__
M. C.
N. A. & S ...
Total.
I. C ..
1,611,932.70 1,432,088.09
392,711.58 312,976.95
$ 58,380.43
945,629.64 1,465,982.14
485,909.31 1,119,784.38
74,125.35
798,699.11
21,200.00
202,167.52
84,133.31
37,800.00
Mails, etc.
5,698.72
44,434.02
21,335.32
7,219.32
133,878.12
931,805.49
112,401.78 1,151,964.37
S
estimate.
1
C. B. & Q.
MOVEMENT OF PASSENGERS.
The movement of passengers forms a new and interesting feature in our rail- way statistics. The returns of the four principal roads running west from the city show the following
47
Total.
73,224.52
72
HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
RESULTS.
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 rail- ways alone have taken west 107,653 pass- engers 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. Dur- ing 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 Missis- sippi. 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 esti- mate 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 statisti- cal articles published since the first of
January last, 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 Increase in 1856
2,761
(Only 95 miles were completed five years ago.)
Increase in the State in five years, (over 500 miles per year) 2,666
Total earnings of all the railways cen- tering in Chicago for the year 1856 $17,343,242.83 (Five years ago they were only $40,000) Increase in five years
17,303,242.83 4,045,041.74
Increase of 1856 over 1855.
Total number of trains arriving and departing daily (midwinter) 104 ; adding 15 cent. as soon as naviga- tion opens
-120 38,783
Population of Chicago Jan. 1, 1857, estimate (in June, 1855, it was 83,509) 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 __
Total shipments of grain from the port of Chicago for the year 1856, bushels
Total amount of corn received in 1856 bushels .
21,583,221 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 ohly 200 lbs. and the price at $5 per hundred, the value of the hogs received would be Number of barrels of beef packed in 1856
· $3,585,880
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 9,527,506
Receipts of lead for the year 1856, lbs. 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.
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, Total amount invested during the year 1856 in improvements, stores, dwell- ings, hotels etc .-- showing an in- crease over 1855, of $1,973,370
$15,515,063
$5,708,624
Total number of passengers carried west by four principal railways lead- ing out of Chicago __
639,666
Population of Chicago in 1852.
110,000
24,674,824
351
$7,759,400
73
HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
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 re- garded with special satisfaction by all our citizens, and by the people of the North- west generally. They show a healthy, but rapid and most astonishing progress. It may be doubted whether the whole his- tory 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 mat- ters of reality, which scores of men still among us have themselves seen and real- ized.
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