USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Stories and sketches of Chicago; an interesting, entertaining, and instructive sketch history of the wonderful city "by the sea" > Part 8
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STORIES AND SKETCHES OF CHICAGO.
ERSON PARK
Jefferson Park.
This is a petite, but very beautiful park, in the West Division, bounded by Monroe, Throop, and Adams streets and Center avenue. No carriages enter this park, which renders it popular with the little ones. Take the Madison street cars to Center avenue, and go south one square.
VIEW IN JEFFERSON PARK.
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VIEW IN UNION PARK. .
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STORIES AND SKETCHES OF CHICAGO.
Douglas Park.
Douglas Park is in the southwestern part of the city, four miles from the Court House. Though among the newest. it is a magnificent park. It contains 180 acres. Visitors will find the Ogden avenue cars (a branch of the Madison street lines) the most convenient to reach this pleasure- ground.
Lake Park.
This is the most accessible park in the city, and is noted for its refreshing breezes in the summer time. It extends along the lake shore from Jackson street to Park Row, and is bounded west by Michigan avenue. The great Exposi- tion Building is located at the north end. Though not as large as some other parks, its convenience and coolness make it among the most popular summer evening resorts.
Other Parks.
There are many other smaller parks in the city, some of which are very beautiful. Among these are Dearborn, Vernon, Wicker, Campbell, Ellis, Congress, and also Wash- ington Square and Union Square.
AT PLAY IN THE PARK.
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STORIES AND SKETCHES OF CHICAGO.
The Chicago Water Works.
OLD CHICAGO WATER WORKS.
The North Side Water Works are located on Chicago avenue and Pine street, near the lake shore, and may be reached by the State street line of cars, or by carriage.
The first man to conceive and perfect the peculiar and stupendous mechanism by which Chicago obtains the purest water of any city, perhaps, in the world, was E. S. Ches- brough. It is said that in boyhood and early manhood he
THE NEW WATER WORKS AT FOOT OF CHICAGO AVENUE.
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STORIES AND SKETCHES OF CHICAGO.
had been made thoughtful and self-reliant, and that he thus became a most persevering, hopeful, and positive man.
As City Engineer he suggested in 1863 the plan " to take the water from about two miles east of the pumping works, where the lake is supposed never to be affected by impuri- ties from the river," and bring it in a brick tunnel to the present works, where it might be distributed throughout the city. This plan was considered a " visionary scheme," an "expensive experiment," in fact, "an unprecedented bore," by the conservatives of that day. But notwith- standing all this, the necessary legislation was secured and on the 9th of September, 1863, the contract for making the great tunnel and crib was awarded to Messrs. Dull & Gowan, of Harrisburg, Pa., for $315,139.
The work began March 17, 1864, and the last brick was laid Dec. 6, 1866.
The tunnel is five feet in diameter and two miles long. At the east, or Crib end, it is sixty-six feet below the water level of the lake, and under a head of eighteen feet, with a velocity of 4 2-10 miles per hour, it will deliver 57,000,000 gallons of water daily.
Received through this spacious tunnel, the water is lifted by the immense engines into the stand-pipe, or " water tower," 175 feet high, from whence by its own weight it is distributed through the mains and into the dwellings.
A similar tunnel has been recently made leading from the Crib to the corner of Ashland and Blue Island avenues, where are located the West Side Pumping Works. It is six miles in length, and may be said to pass under and across the entire city, in a southwesterly direction. This tunnel system is pronounced one of the grandest triumphs of modern engineering.
Visitors to the North Side water works will be greatly interested in seeing what is said to be the largest engine in
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THE GREAT ENGINE AT THE WATER WORKS.
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STORIES AND SKETCHES OF CHICAGO.
the world, procured at an expense of $200,000, and which pumps 2,750 gallons of water at each "stroke." It is a 1,200 horse-power, with a large fly-wheel 26 feet in diam- eter. The four engines combined are equal to 3,000 horse- power. A magnificent view of the city and of Lake Mich- igan may be had from the summit of the great Water Tower, reached, however, with some difficulty by a winding and seemingly endless stairway.
The Crib.
Two miles from the lake shore, in an easterly direction from the North Side Water Works, is "the Crib," which to the eye is a veritable cottage in the sea, and in which, the year round, dwells a " happy family," who superintend the grand entry of the waters at that end of the line. Many have wondered how they live in such absolute isolation. A visit, however, easily made on excursion boats in the sum- mer-time, will show all the "comforts of a home," including telephone communication, etc.
The Crib was built on shore, and launched like a sea-ves- sel. No expense was spared to make it strong. It is forty feet high, and constructed in pentagonal form in a circum- scribed circle of 98} feet in diameter. It is made of three walls-the outer, the center, and the inner-and all firmly braced and bolted together so as to form one great structure. Each of these walls is calked and tarred like the hulk of a vessel. Twelve-inch square timbers of white oak were used for the first twelve feet from the top, and white pine of the same dimensions for the remaining forty- eight feet. These timbers are bolted together with strong square rods of iron. The bottom is composed of twelve- inch timbers firmly bolted.
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J M WING & GO
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THE CRIB (TWO MILES OUT IN LAKE MICHIGAN),
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STORIES AND SKETCHES OF CHICAGO.
When completed it contained fifteen separate water-tight compartments. In the center is "the well," through which the shafts descend to the bottom of the lake. Including the West Side Water Works, it is possible for Chicago to receive now 150,000,000 gallons daily.
[West Side Pumping Works on Ashland Avenue.]
In 1871 the city had 272 miles of water-pipe; to-day it has nearly 500 miles. It also has over 3,000 fire hydrants. This immense "water system " of the young Garden City has been perfected at an expense of about $8,000,000.
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ARCHING THE TUNNEL.
WWWRE HINE SHOPS
SECTIONAL VIEW OF NORTH SIDE WATER-WORKS, CRIB, TUNNEL, TOWER, ETC., Showing how the Water is Taken from the Lake through the Tunnels. and is Pumped into the Tower and Distributed 154 through the the Mains over the City. Distance from Crib to Tower, Two Miles.
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imm.
AIR
EN PUMPING WORKS
NEW WATER TOWER
SHAFT
SOUTHY BRANCH
SECTIONAL VIEW OF WEST SIDE WATER-WORKS, TOWER, TUNNEL, ETC., Showing how the Tunnel Passes under the City and Rivers to the West Side Pumping-works. This Tunnel Receives the Water from the Crib, and is Six Miles in length. 155
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STORIES AND SKETCHES OF CHICAGO.
Postoffice and Custom House.
This magnificent building, which, including grounds, has been erected at an expense of $6,000,000, occupies the square between Dearborn, Clark, Adams, and Jackson streets. It is a three story, basement and attic stone edifice, in the style of architecture known as the Romanesque with Venetian treatment.
The basement and first floor are devoted entirely for post- office purposes; the second floor is for customs, internal revenue, sub-treasury, commissioner of pensions, and special mail agents; and the third for courts, and offices connected with the Interior Department.
The approaches are from each of the four streets, the entrance to the courts, customs, and sub-treasury being by grand stairway from Adams and Jackson streets.
The interior finish is exceedingly rich and fine, and is well worth a visit from the stranger. (See page 103.)
River Tunnels.
Chicago has under her rivers two immense tunnels, com- pleted at an expense of a million dollars. The one first constructed is under the South Branch at Washington street, which connects the South and West Divisions of the city. It is known as the Washington Street Tunnel, and may be seen by following that street to the river. It was in this tunnel that the thrilling scene occurred during the great fire elsewhere described in this volume.
The larger and more interesting of the two tunnels is un- derneath the main river at LaSalle street, connecting the North and South Divisions of the city, and known as the LaSalle Street Tunnel. It is a marvelous underground
WALLIS
SECTIONAL VIEW OF LA SALLE ST. TUNNEL, SHOWING MASONRY,
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STORIES AND SKETCHES OF CHICAGO.
highway, containing two passage-ways for vehicles, besides a footway for pedestrians, passing not only under the river but also under several squares on either side, making it of an easy grade and, with its long rows of gas-lights, a very " cheerful tunnel!"
The Union Stock Yards.
[Stock Yards and Transit House.]
The Union Stock Yards, the great live-stock emporium of the world, whose yearly receipts foot up 8,000,000 head, are located in the southwest part of the city, and may be reached by State street cars, or by the Madison and South Halsted line. The business man, at least, who is visiting
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B
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CHICAGO ENG. CO.
THE UNION STOCK YARDS OF CHICAGO.
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STORIES AND SKETCHES OF CHICAGO.
Chicago will be interested in what is to be seen at this wonderful place.
The yards occupy an area of 345 acres, and have a capac- ity of 150,000 head of stock, besides stalls for 500 horses. Eight miles of streets and alleys penetrate every portion of the yards, and three and one-half miles of water troughs and ten miles of feed troughs are in use. There are 2,300
[Water Tanks at Stock Yards.]
gates, 1,500 open stock-pens, and 800 covered pens for hogs and sheep.
There are also enormous water-tanks supplied with water from artesian wells, with thirty-two miles of drainage to facilitate cleanliness, etc. All the railroads have branches entering the yard, and the facilities for " handling stock " are simply wonderful. It is said that as many as 500 cars
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WONDERS AND BEAUTIES.
can be loaded or unloaded at the same time, the whole op- eration occupying only a few moments.
Near the Stock Yards are located the immense packing houses for which Chicago is noted, some of which are capa- ble of transforming 15,000 live hogs into dressed pork in the short space of twenty-four hours! They are really one of the " great sights " of the city, and should be visited in connection with the Stock Yards.
The Grain Elevators.
The grain elevators of Chicago-purely a Chicago inven- tion-rank among the great wonders of the city. They are found at various places along the river and in connection with one or more railway lines. The capacity and facilities of these remarkable institutions may be best given by the following account of one recently built:
" The building is 312 feet long, 84 feet wide, and 130 feet high, and is divided into 150 bins 65 feet deep, with a storage capacity of 1,250,000 bushels. The yard will hold 300 or 400 cars. Two switch engines, when in full opera- tion, are required to put in and take out cars. Two tracks receive each ten cars, unloaded at once, in six to eight min- utes, each car having its elevator, conveying the grain to its large hopper-scale in the top of the building. When weighed, it is spouted to the bin appropriated to that kind and quality. To carry the grain to the several bins renders the elevation necessary. Allowing fifteen minutes to unload each set of ten cars, four hundred are unloaded in ten hours, about 140,000 bushels.
"The shipping facilities equal the receiving, there being six elevators for that work, each handling 3,000 bushels per hour, or 180,000 bushels in ten hours. The grain is run
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THE LUMBER DISTRICT.
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ELEVATOR AND LUMBER YARDS.
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STORIES AND SKETCHES OF CHICAGO.
out of the bins to another set of elevators, which throw it into large hoppers at the top of the building, in which it is weighed, and sent down in spouts into the hold of the vessel.
" The same company have another elevator on the oppo- site side of the slip-for a slip at right angles to the South Branch is cut to lay vessels alongside the warehouse-and ten other large elevators and five smaller afford the same facilities. Any one of thirteen of them, too, will unload a canal boat of 5,000 or 6,000 bushels in an hour and a halfor two hours; an aggregate from 65 canal boats alone of 357,000 bushels in ten hours."
The machinery of this large establishment requires an engine of 400 horse-power. Chicago has 20 similar elevator buildings, with a total capacity of 15,600,000 bushels, and actually handled-including flour reduced to wheat-dur- ing the past year, 137,624,833 bushels of grain.
Chicago Lumber Yards. (See Illustrations on pages 162 and 163.)
Chicago is noted for the greatest lumber market in the world. The principal yards are located on the South Branch, and may be reached by the Madison and South Halsted line of cars.
The number of laborers engaged in this business would populate a respectable city. About three hundred firms are represented, with a capital of many millions. The yards, of course, connect with the river and railroads, and possess facilities for handling lumber that is marvelous. Fifteen hundred million feet is the average annual move- ment.
The greater portion of this lumber is brought from the immense pineries of Michigan and Wisconsin.
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WONDERS AND BEAUTIES
Chamber of Commerce.
BOARD OF TRADE
[Board of Trade Building.]
The Chamber of Commerce, containing the Board of Trade Hall, the finest of its kind in the world, is located on the southeast corner of Washington and LaSalle streets. The gallery, commanding a full view of the " bulls and bears," is accessible to visitors during business hours, and those desiring to know what it is to be " on change " should
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STORIES AND SKETCHES OF CHICAGO.
not fail to look in. The hall is 142 feet long and 87 feet wide, with a magnificently frescoed ceiling 45 feet in height. In the corners are telegraph offices, etc., connecting with the great outside world, which "change " the bulletins with the speed of lightning to the great joy or sorrow-as it hap- pens-of the " longs " or " shorts." Around the walls are tables on which are exhibited samples of grain, bearing the trade nomenclature, "No. 2 Spring," "Rejected," etc., while in the more central parts are the local groupings of members buying and selling the various commodities, the largest of which is generally that devoted to wheat.
This immense building was completed and occupied just one year after the great fire, and, aside from the terrific buzz of its twenty-five hundred board of trade men, is noted for always getting the best speeches out of such men as Dom Pedro, the King of Siam, and other like potentates, when they come around.
Trotting Park.
The Chicago Jockey and Trotting Club, a view of whose magnificent ground and buildings is given herewith, was established in the summer of 1878, the projectors of the enterprise being Messrs. Lawrence & Martin, a couple of well-known business men, who determined that Chicago should have the the best-appointed race-course in the country.
In sixty days from the time their plans were formed the track and buildings were completed, and in October of the same year the inaugural trotting meeting, the great event of which was the handicap race between Rarus, Hopeful, and Great Eastern-the former going to harness, Hopeful to wagon, and Great Eastern under saddle. Thirty thou-
CASO ENG.LO
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TROTTING PARK, LOCATED NEAR WESTERN LIMITS OF CITY,
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STORIES AND SKETCHES OF CHICAGO.
sand people witnessed this race, and two days later Hopeful exceeded all previous performances at that way of going by drawing a wagon in three heats in the unprecedented time of 2:162, 2:17, 2:17.
Last summer the running and trotting meetings over this track were among the most successful in the country, and on July 25 the blind pacing horse Sleepy Tom lowered the pacing record by doing a mile in 2:124.
The Jockey and Trotting Club has for officers some of the best men in Chicago, the list of them being as follows:
Persident, S. K. Dow ; Vice President, B. H. Campbell; Treasurer, H. V. Bemis ; Secretary, N. Rowe ; General Man- ager, J. H. Haverly ; Superintendent, D. L. Hall.
A Laughable Story of an Early Horse Race on the Ice.
Judge Caton told the following laughable story to the "Old Settlers " at their recent " May meeting " in Chicago:
Let me ask Silas B. Cobb if he remembers the trick Mark Beaubien played on Robert A. Kinzie to win the race on the ice? See now how Mark's eye flashes fire and he trembles in every fiber at the bare remembrance of that wild excitement. (Mr. Beaubien was present.) This was the way he did it:
He and Kinzie had each a very fast pony, one a pacer and the other a trotter. Mark had trained his not to break, when he uttered the most unearthly screams and yells which he could pour forth, and that is saying much in that direction, for he could beat any Pottawatomie I ever heard, except Gurdon S. Hubbard and John S. C. Hogan.
The day was bright and cold. The glittering ice was smooth as glass. The atmosphere pure and bracing. The start was about a mile up the South Branch.
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WONDERS AND BEAUTIES.
Down came the trotter and the pacer like a whirlwind, neck and neck, till they approached Wolf Point, or the junction, when Kinzie's pony began to draw ahead of the little pacer, and bets were two to one on the trotting nag as he settled a little nearer to the ice, and stretched his head and neck further and further out, as if determined to win if but by a throat-latch.
It was at this supreme moment that Mark's tactics won the day. He sprang to his feet in his plank-built pung, his tall form towering above all surroundings, threw high in the air his wolf-skin cap, frantically swung around his head his buffalo robe, and screamed forth such unearthly yells as no human voice ever excelled, broken up into a thousand accents by a rapid clapping of the mouth with the hand. To this the pony was well trained, and it but served to bring out the last inch of speed that was in him, while the trotter was frightened out of his wits, no doubt thinking a whole tribe of Indians were after him, and he broke into a furious run, which carried him far be- yond the goal before he could be brought down.
Hard words were uttered then, which it would not do to repeat in a well-conducted Sunday-school, but the winner laughed with a heartiness and zest which Mark alone could manifest.
The Bridges and a Bridge Story.
Chicago has thirty-six bridges, each of which is made to " swing " on tables in the center of the channel by means of a simple mechanism manipulated by the bridge-tender. It not unfrequently happens that, in the hurry to turn a bridge, a foot passenger is "caught " on the boards and
CARDEN CITY.
TURNER
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VIEW ON CHICAGO RIVER WITH TURNING BRIDGE.
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WONDERS AND BEAUTIES.
" necessarily detained " until shore connections are made. When, in the hot days of summer, and the Chicago River at its worst, this is a serious matter to the olfactories. For example:
In the summer of 1879 a gentleman who had an office on the North Side had occasion to pass the State street bridge on his way home, where the odors arising from the river are very strong; and arriving at the bridge just as it was being turned he determined not to run the risk of standing so near the deadly stench, but run over the bridge and thus escape it. But he was too late, and was obliged to remain on the bridge while some half dozen vessels passed through the draw. He hardly dared to draw a full breath for fear of inhaling the poisonous miasma.
He was unable to escape, and began to calculate what his chances were of escaping the terrible disease likely to be engendered by the poisonous vapors which he was obliged to breathe.
To obtain some data upon which to found his calcula- tions, he thought he would inquire of the two bridge-tenders to ascertain, if possible, about how long a man could live in such an unhealthy situation. Not deeming it prudent or expedient to make the question direct, and ask how long they expected to survive, or, what was equivalent, how many of their predecessors had died during the last five years, he concluded to make indirect questions, and the following colloquy ensued:
" Pretty bad smell from the river to-day."
" Yes," answered the elder of the two, Martin Casey, "it is so bad it nearly makes me sick."
" Must be rather unhealthy to breathe such an atmo- sphere," said our friend, who stood trembling in his boots for fear the odor which nearly made the tender sick would fill his system with the poisonous virus of that odor.
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STORIES AND SKETCHES OF CHICAGO.
" Yes," replied Casey, " I guess it is not very healthy to breathe till one gets used to it; but I have got used to it."
" Got used to it? What do you mean? How long have you breathed this terrible odor?"
" I have not breathed it all the time, of course, for I am here only half of the time during the day and night; and then in 1854 I was sick-or got hurt and was off a week or two-but I have breathed this kind of air ever since I com- menced being bridge-tender, which was in 1853."
" You don't say you have breathed this air during the last 26 years and not been sick?"
" Yes, sir," said Casey, " I have worked on these bridges for 26 years, and the river has been awful sometimes, but it never made me sick, only to be a little sick at the stomach."
The bridge turned and our friend walked off, and wisely concluded that the odors from Chicago River were decidedly more disagreeable than dangerous.
The Douglas Monument.
This beautiful and appropriate monument, erected in honor of the gifted citizen of Illinois, and the liberal donor of the Chicago University grounds, is located on the lake shore at the eastern terminus of Douglas avenue, in the southern part of the city. It is built of granite from Hol- lowell, Me., at an expense of about $100,000. It is 104 feet high, surmounted with an excellent bronze statue of Douglas, executed by Leonard Volk, a Chicago artist. The residence of Senator Douglas was in this immediate vicinty. A neat little park surrounds the mausoleum, which adds much to the beauty and significance of the final resting place of the great Senator.
DOUGLAS MONUMENT.
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STORIES AND SKETCHES OF CHICAGO.
The Industrial Exhibition Building.
This is said to be the largest building in the world with- out interior roof supports, its present dimensions being 1,000 by 225 feet; all of which was completed within ninety-six days, at an expense of $400,000. It is purely a Chicago production, and for exposition purposes is without a parallel in the history of human industries.
Its convenience of location-on the lake front, just east of the business center --- together with its agreeable and popular manager, J. P. Reynolds, who in all cases carefully consults the public interest, make the building an important factor of Chicago.
It is within this building that some of Chicago's largest assemblages convene, and not unfrequently as many as ten, twenty, forty, and fifty thousand people come together.
The great Republican Convention of 1880 convenes in the south end of this immense structure, in June, open- ing on the 2nd day of that month.
Seven successful annual exhibitions have been held, and the next opens, at the usual time, September 8th, and closes October 23.
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WONDERS AND BEAUTIES.
The Hotel Buildings of Chicago and a Laughable Hotel Story --- Where Horace Greeley got his "Go West Young Man."
Chicago may justly boast of its many magnificent hotels, some of which are not surpassed by any similar build- ings in the world. The Grand Pacific and Palmer, each cost about two millions, while the Tremont, Sherman, and Gardner possess, respectively, nearly an equal capacity. There are also about forty other hotel buildings in Chicago, many of which would be an ornament in any city. The Lake House (burned out Oct. 1871), was Chicago's first. hotel that aspired to first-class pretensions.
The Hon. John Wentworth tells an amusing story con- cerning this early " stopping place" of Chicago: There was. an elegant party given at the Lake House one evening, when one of the most fashionable men on the North Side, who was a candidate for office, thought he would throw an anchor to the windward by dancing with a South Side dressing-maid, while he supposed his wife was being enter- tained at the supper-table. But she entered the ball-room while the dance was going on. At once a proud heart was. fired. Quicker than thought she spoke to a carriage-driver who stood at the door looking in:
" Can you dance, Mike?"
" It's only for the want of a partner," was the response.
Seizing him by the hand, she said, "Come on!" and, turning to the crowd, she said, "This is a game that two. can play at!" and immediately the dance went on, amid the applause of the whole room-the man with the South Side dressing-maid, and his wife with the South Side: driver.
And thus free suffrage began its work against artificial social position.
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