Cook County IL Archives History - Books .....History Of Chicago, 1876, Part 2 1876 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com October 2, 2007, 10:36 pm Book Title: History Of Chicago LIST OF MAYORS. 1837—W. B. Ogden. 1838—B. S. Morris. 1839—Benj. W. Raymond. 1840—A. Lloyd. 1841—Francis C. Sherman. 1842—Benj. W. Raymond. 1843—Augustus Garrett. 1844—A. S. Sherman. 1845—Augustus Garrett. 1846—John P. Chapin. 1847—James Curtiss. 1848—James H. Woodworth. 1849—James H. Woodworth. 1850—James Curtiss. 1851—Walter S. Gurnee. 1852—Walter S. Gurnee. 1853—C. M. Gray. 1854—L. L. Milliken. We left the history of the Illinois and Michigan canal at the laying out of the town of Chicago in 1829, by the Canal Commissioners. Nothing effectual was clone till the special session of the Legislature in 1835-6, when the canal board was reorganized, and an act was passed authorizing a loan of half a million of dollars to construct the canal. Ground was broken at Bridgeport, on the fourth of July, 1836. At the session of the Legislature in 1836-7, the State entered upon a splendid scheme of "internal improvements." The State was completely chequered with railroad projects, and many millions were squandered. The total length of the roads to be at once completed was some thirteen hundred miles, and five millions of dollars were expended in locating and grading them. Amid the general financial embarrassment which followed those years of madness and folly, the credit of the State went down, and bankruptcy and a general suspension of the public works were the consequence. In 1841 the total State indebtedness amounted to fifteen million's of dollars. It is worthy of remark, however, that the only mistake the statesmen of that period made, was to embark the State in a general system of internal improvements, and in addition to this, their plans were in advance of the times in which they lived. Twenty years will accomplish by private enterprise for the State of Illinois much more than the statesmen of 1836-7 expected to realize. Extravagant as their schemes then appeared, in another year we shall have more than twice as many miles of railroad in operation as their plan embraced. They deserve, therefore, more credit than they have been accustomed to receive, for the result has shown that their calculations were based upon a proper appreciation of the immense resources of our glorious Prairie State. But to return to the canal. The funds borrowed for the purpose of completing the canal were kept separate; but it shared the fate of being in bad company, and all work was abandoned in 1842. The contractors had large claims against the State, and in 1843 a law was passed to settle the claims of the contractors and liquidate the damages, provided the sum should not exceed two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The summit level of the canal, extending from Bridgeport to Lockport, a distance of twenty-eight miles, is only from six to eight feet above the level of the Lake, and as originally planned, this level was to be fed from the Lake, thereby practically making a southern outlet to Lake Michigan by the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. The depth and width of the canal gave it a capacity sufficient to admit the passage of large sail vessels. About one-half of the summit level was completed in accordance with these plans before the work was abandoned in 1842.* ----------------- * It should have been stated in the text that the summit was supplied with water in the spring and wet seasons, mainly from the Calumet through the "Sag," by damming the river near Blue Island. To provide for any deficiency, pumping works of great capacity were built at Bridgeport, which, when the supply from the Calumet failed, not only furnished the canal with water, but pumping the stagnant liquid from the river rendered it pure, for its place was supplied from the lake. By 1865 the population of Chicago had increased to 178,900; the city had inaugurated and completed an extensive system of sewers, most of which emptied into the river. For perhaps nine or ten months of the year it had no current, and hence it became the source of the foulest smells that a suffering people were ever forced to endure; and, besides, it was evident that something must be done effectively to cleanse it, or the city would soon become so unhealthy as to be uninhabitable. Accordingly, on the 15th and 16th of February, 1865, the Legislature passed Acts authorizing the city of Chicago to lower the summit of the canal, as originally proposed, so that the pure waters of Lake Michigan would flow south, thus cleansing the river and dispensing with the dam on the Calumet and the pumping works at Bridgeport. Authority was granted to borrow $2,000,000 to do this work, and with Col. R. B. Mason, of this city, and Wm. Gooding, of Lockport, added to the Board of Public Works, the work of lowering the summit of the canal was commenced, and it was completed June 15th, 1871. On that day the hoisting of the gates at Bridgeport was made known throughout the city by the merry ringing of the bells, and joy pervaded all circles and all classes of citizens. Thenceforward Lake Michigan has contributed a portion of its waters to the Illinois river, and thence it has flowed on to the Gulf of Mexico. On Tuesday, July 25th, the Common, Council, with a large number of guests, made an excursion to Lockport—other fluids besides pure Lake Michigan water contributing largely to the hilarity of the party. The South Branch, except in exceptional cases, has since been filled with pure water; and the North Branch is to be made so, by the Fullerton Avenue conduit. The State reserved the right to resume control of the canal at any time, by paying, the city the money. -------------------------- In the session of the Legislature of 1843-4, a bill providing for the completion of the canal on the "shallow cut" was passed, the substance of which was, that the holders of the canal bonds should advance $1,600,000 to complete the work. The canal lands yet remaining unsold, and the canal itself, with the revenue to be derived from it, were placed in the hands of three trustees, two of whom were chosen by the, bondholders, and one by the State. There were in all about two hundred and thirty thousand acres of land, and several hundred lots in the cities of Chicago, Ottawa, LaSalle, and the towns along the line placed in the hands of the trustees. The money was advanced by the bondholders, and the canal was completed and went into operation in the spring of 1848. It gave an impetus to the commerce and prosperity of Chicago far beyond the anticipations of its most sanguine friends, and since then Chicago has grown very rapidly, having more than trebled her population in the short space of six years. These lands have been offered for sale every six months, and owing to the enhanced value which the rapid increase of population in this part of the State has given them, the loan of one million six hundred thousand dollars was all paid off last fall, and quite a large amount is still due on the lands sold, and no inconsiderable portion of them is still in the hands of the Trustees. The finances of the State, as shown in the recent message of His Excellency, Governor Matteson, are in a very prosperous condition. Though the debt is still large, without imposing any ----------------------------------- it had expended in deepening the canal. In accordance with that noble spirit which seemed to pervade the whole world, immediately after our great fire on the 9th of October, 1871, the Legislature, on October 20th, passed a law to refund to the city the amount she had expended, (in all, $2,955,340 principal and interest,) and to again assume the control and ownership of the canal. In her dire necessity after the fire, this was a great boon to the city. It need only be added here that the National and State Governments are building a series of locks and dams on the Illinois river, which, when completed a very few years hence, will give us one of the finest water lines of transit in the world. The connection between the Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico, and also with the Mississippi and all its tributaries, will be complete. ----------------------------------- additional burdens upon our citizens, it will all be paid off in a few years. It is worthy of special remark, that when the New Constitution was formed in 1847, a clause was introduced in it by which, if approved by the people, a special tax of two mills upon the dollar was levied, and was to be applied to extinguishing the principal of this debt. The people in 1848 voted upon this provision separately, and adopted it by ten thousand majority. This, so far as we know, is the first instance in which the people of a State deliberately taxed themselves in order to pay an old and burdensome debt. It is a fine compliment to the integrity of the citizens of Illinois, and has done much to establish her character in commercial circles, both in this country and in Europe. There are some interesting facts in reference to the topography of Chicago, only a few of which we have space to give. On the south side of the river there were two sloughs between the Garrison and "the point." The first emptied into the river at the foot of State street. It ran a little north of the Sherman House, crossing Clark street near the Post Office, thence crossing Lake street nearly in front of tbe Tremont House. The "old Tremont House" was on the northwest corner of Lake and Dearborn streets, and as late as 1834 sportsmen would sit in the door of the "Tremont" and shoot ducks in the slough. The other slough entered the river at the foot of LaSalle street. The store built in 1831-2 by P. F. W. Peck, Esq., at the southeast corner of LaSalle and Water streets, was situated on a "high point of land," formed by a bend in this slough. Poles were laid across these sloughs, on which the people going east and west crossed for want of a better bridge. The dwelling now occupied by Mrs. Wright, at the corner of Michigan avenue and Madison street, was built by John Wright, Esq., in 1839. Then it was "way out of town in the prairie." Randolph and Washington streets were not even "turnpiked," and there was nothing to indicate their "local habitation" save only here and there a few stakes driven eight years previous by Surveyor Thompson and his assistants. There were a few scattered houses along Lake and South Water streets. The first deed on record is made by Governor Reynolds, in behalf of the State, to Robert Kinzie, assignee of B. B. Kercheval, and conveys lots 5 and 6, block 29, Original Town, for the sum of $109. It is recorded December 2,1831, by R. J. Hamilton, Recorder. The first will on record is that of Alexander Wolcott, filed April 27, 1831, before R. J. Hamilton, Judge of Probate. It is a feature of our city, more noticed by strangers than by ourselves, who are accustomed to it, that we are a community of workers. Every man apparently has his head and hands full, and seems to be hurried along by an irresistible impulse that allows him neither rest nor leisure. An amusing evidence of this characteristic of Chicago occurs in connection with the first census of the city, taken July 1st, 1837, when the occupation, as well as names and residences of every citizen were duly entered. In the record of the population of four thousand one hundred and seventy, among the names of professors, mechanics, artisans and laborers, appears, in unenviable singularity, the entry, "Richard Harper, loafer," the only representative of the class at that time in the city. From this feeble ancestry the descendants have been few and unimportant; and we believe there is not a city in the Union where the proportion of vagabonds and loafers is so small as in Chicago.* We might extend our sketches at pleasure, but we have already greatly exceeded the limits we at first assigned them. It is not yet quite seventeen years since the city government was first organized. Then it contained only four thousand one hundred and seventy inhabitants; now it has over sixty thousand. Then there was not a canal, railroad or plank road leading out of ------------------------------- * It gives me pleasure to state, that I have since learned that Harper was very respectably connected in the city of Baltimore; that he made his way back to his native place, and that he was one of the six Washingtonian reformers who started the great temperance reformation which spread all over the country sometime about the year 1840, and subsequently. A great many inebriates were reformed, and a great deal of permanent good was the result. ------------------------------- the city, and only three years previous there was but one mail from the East per week, and that was brought from Nileson horseback. The changes which have been wrought in seventeen years are truly amazing. The question naturally arises, what will the next seventeen years accomplish? With less than the ratio of her past increase of population from the time she first became a city, she will, in 1871, contain more than half a million of people. Few, perhaps, would dare to predict such a result; but let us look at a few facts, and leave each one to draw his own conclusion. We are now in direct railroad connection with all the Atlantic cities from Portland to Baltimore. Five, and at most eight years, will extend the circle to New Orleans. By that time also we shall shake hands with the rich copper and iron mines of Lake Superior, both by canal and railroad; and long ere another seventeen years have passed away, we shall have a great National Railroad from Chicago to Puget's Sound, with a branch to San Francisco. Situated in the centre of one of the most extensive and the richest agricultural regions in the world; at the head of our magnificent inland seas, and holding the key to their commerce on each side for fifteen hundred miles; with the certainty that she must become the great central city of the Continent, where the productions of Asia, Europe and America must concentrate for exchange and distribution throughout the Mississippi Valley, with unrivalled facilities for manufactories of all kinds; and with railroads centering here from every principal city upon the Continent—he must be dull indeed who can predict anything but a glorious future for the Garden City. We have given but the outlines of the picture; time, we are satisfied, will fill it up with colors more vivid and glorious than the most sanguine imagination would dare now to contemplate. The results of the past seventeen years are now matters of history, and we leave the editors of the Democratic Press in 1871 to prepare the record—may be we be spared to do it—of what the next seventeen years shall accomplish. 1853. HISTORICAL AND COMMERCIAL STATISTICS, MANUFACTURES, BANKING, ETC. The River and Harbor Convention, which commenced its sessions in this city on the 5th of July, 1847, gave the second great and permanent impulse to Chicago. After the disastrous speculating mania of 1836—7, the city gradually sunk in public favor till 1842, when the lowest point was reached, and business began to revive. The progress of the city, however, was slow, till its advantages were in some measure appreciated and made known by the intelligent statesmen and business men from every part of the Union, who were present at that Convention. To the editors who were present is Chicago specially indebted for extending a knowledge of her commercial position. The opening of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, in the spring of 1848, gave a marked impetus to our trade, and tended still farther to attract the attention of the country to the Garden City. On the 22d of January, 1850, the Galena Railroad was opened forty-two and a half miles to Elgin, and in a very few months demonstrated the important fact that, owing to the cheapness with which railroads could be constructed in Illinois, they would pay a large dividend to the stockholders. Eastern capitalists saw that the Mississippi Valley was the place to make profitable investments, and in 1851 the charter of the Illinois Central Railroad turned the attention of the whole Union to Chicago, and made her future pre-eminence no longer doubtful. The completion of the Michigan Southern and Michigan Central Railroads in 1852, added much to the prosperity of the city; and the commencement of the Rock Island Railroad in the spring of the same year, its rapid progress and immense business, and the fact that Chicago is one of the greatest railroad centres in the country, have all tended to increase our population at the rate of fifty-seven per cent, during the past year—a ratio never before witnessed in the United States, except in California. With these improvements there has been a corresponding change in the business of the city. In the fall of 1847, when we first saw Chicago, the business of our merchants was confined mainly to the retail trade. The produce that was shipped from this port was all brought to the city by teams. Some of them would come a hundred and fifty miles. Farmers would bring in a load of grain and take back supplies for themselves and their neighbors. Often has it happened that they would get "sloughed," or break their wagons; and between the expense of repairs and hotel charges, they would find themselves in debt when they got home. During the "business season" the city would be crowded with teams. We have seen Water and Lake streets almost impassable for hours together. The opening of the canal in 1848 made considerable change in the appearance of the city, and when the Galena Railroad was finished to Elgin, the difference was very striking. The most of those old familiar teams ceased to visit us, and we heard some few merchants gravely express the opinion that the canal and railroads would ruin the city. The difference they have made is simply that between a small and a large business; between a retail and a wholesale trade. One of the principal Jewelry and Gold and Silver establishments in the city in 1845 did a business of $3,000; last year the same house sold goods to the amount of $120,000. Drug stores, whose sales eight years ago were from five to six thousand dollars, now do a business of from fifty to a hundred thousand. The Hardware, Dry Goods and Grocery business will show similar, and some of them still more remarkable results. We have made repeated efforts to get at the exact figures in each department of trade, that we might make comparisons between the last and preceding years, but we are sorry to say that many of our merchants are very reluctant to give us any figures, lest the extent of the commerce of Chicago should become known, and merchants from other cities should come here and divide their profits. A more narrow-minded, injurious policy, in our judgment, could not be adopted. The transactions in produce, since the opening of the canal and railroads, make but little show in the streets, but they are immense. We can name five houses, each of whose business foots up to from eight hundred thousand to a million and a half of dollars per year. To see these gentlemen in the evening, quietly chatting on the state of the markets, at the Tremont, one would hardly suspect that their purchases for the day had amounted to five or ten, and sometimes perhaps to fifty thousand dollars. We have some interesting facts and figures to present, and commence with REAL ESTATE. The appreciation in the value of real estate in Chicago is truly amazing. To those who have always lived in towns and cities on the seaboard, that were "finished" before they were born, the facts we are about to give will be scarcely credible. They are, however, plain, sober truths, which, if any one doubts, he can verify at his leisure. Real estate in Chicago now has a positive business value, below which it will never be likely to sink, unless some great calamity should befall the whole country. Like all Western cities, Chicago has had her reverses. In 1835-6, real estate had a fictitious value. The whole country was mad with the spirit of speculation. When the crash came, in the latter part of 1837, hundreds in this city found themselves bankrupt. Real estate went down to a very low figure, reaching "bottom" in 1842. Since then, it has been steadily rising with the increasing prosperity of the country, and if the judgment of our most cautious, far-seeing business men can be trusted, it will never be any less. That judgment is based upon an array of facts, the accuracy and influence of which, upon the growth of Chicago, eannot be doubted. In only one year from the first of January next, we shall have four thousand miles of railroad centering in this city, counting in most cases their extension only in a single State beyond our own; and what is of more importance, they penetrate one of the finest agricultural regions that can be found in any country. By that time the Sault Ste. Marie Canal will be done— opening to our commerce the rich mines of Lake Superior. The iron and the copper of that region will here meet the coal from our State, and build up the most extensive manufactories upon the Continent. One of the finest canals in the world connects us with the Illinois and Mississippi rivers; and in addition to- all this, Chicago holds the key to the commerce of our magnificent lakes, giving us a coasting trade, when Lake Superior is opened to us by the Ste. Marie Canal, of three thousand miles. The most sagacious statesmen, and the ablest commercial men in this country and in Europe, have, therefore, a broad basis for the opinion that Chicago is soon to take rank among the three largest cities, and ere long as the second city upon the American Continent. The rise in real estate, and the prices at which it is now sold in view of such facts, are easily explained. The following table, made up from the records of the original sales in this city, will be found very interesting. The last column, showing the present value of property, is the average of the prices at which they would now sell, as given us by three of our oldest and most reliable real estate houses in this city. Many of the owners, we presume, would not sell at these figures, and we have no doubt should any of this property be put in the market, it would readily command at least the estimated value given in the table. The price of "the lands" may appear enormous, but four of the parcels are now in the thickly inhabited parts of the city, and the valuation is probably below rather than above the mark. DESCRIPTION ORIGINAL PRESENT FIRST PURCHASER OF LOTS. BLK PRICE. VALUE. Sept. 27, 1830. B. B. Kercheval. Nos 5 and 6 29 $109.00 $ 21,300 Mark Beaubien. 3 and 4 31 102.00 108,000 Thos. Hartzell. 1, 8 21, 29 115.00 62,700 do 7 29 35.00 10,000 Edm'nd Roberts & Peter Menard 4 29 100.00 13,000 Edm'nd Roberts 2 18 45.00 40,000 William Jewett 5 and 6 28 21.00 17,000 James Kinzie. 5,6,7 and 8 12) do 2,3,5,7&8 21) 418.00 131,000 do 8 and 5 41) J. B. Beaubien. 7 16) do 1,2,7 and 8 17) do 1 18) 346.00 450,000 do 6 35) do 3 and 4 36) John Kinzie. 8 20) do 5 and 6 32) 119.00 163,000 do 2 2) do 2,7 and 8 5) Alex. Wolcott. 12345678 1 685.00 128,000 Thomas Ryan. 2 10 42.00 30,000 Sept. 29, 1830. Stephen Mack. 7 and 8 43 53.00 57,000 April 3, 1832. Thos. J.V. Owen 5 9 39.00 40,000 Oliver Newberry 4 16 78.00 39,000 do 4 17 100.00 46,000 Jesse B. Browne 3 20 50.00 28,000 James Kinzie. 8 11 34.00 18,000 P. F. W. Peck. 4 18 78.00 42,500 April 5. 1832. T. J. V. Owen & 5 10) R.J. Hamilton 8 11) 170.00 83,300 John Noble. 1 56 60.00 18,000 do 6 18) do 3 10) 80.00 100,000 Hugh Walker. 5 31 61.00 35,000 Sept. 3, 1832. O. Goss, Washington Co Vt 2 56 70.00 18,000 Dec. 4, 1832. Calvin Rawley. 4 38 53.00 50,000 FIRST PURCHASER ORIGINAL PRICE PRESENT VALUE Sept 12, 1830. NO. ACRES. Thos. Hartzell, W. Hf. N.E. qr. Sec. 9, T. 39 N., Range 14 E: 80 124.00 800,000 Edmund Roberts and Benj. B. Kercheval, W. hf. N.W. qr. Sec. 9, T. 39, R 14 E: 80 100.00 400,000 Sept 28, 1830. James Kinzie, E. hf. N.W. qr. Sec. 9, T. 39 N., R. 14: 80 140.00 600,000 Sept 29, 1830. J. B. Beaubien, N. hf. N.E. qr. Sec. 9, T. 9N. R.14 E: 84 98- 100 424.90 85,000 J. B. Beaubien, N.W. frac. N.W. qr. Sec. 9, T. 39 N., R. 14 E: 107 66- 100 638.30 132,000 $4,490.20 $3,765,800 There is, we believe, but one of the above lots, and only a fraction of that, which is now in the hands of the original purchaser. That is the lot owned by P. F. W. Peck, Esq., and in reality he was not the first purchaser, for it is the same lot bought by Mr. Peck of Mr. Walker—the receipt for which was quoted in the "History of Chicago." That receipt was recognized by the Commissioner, and the deed was made directly to Mr. Peck. Our citizens have all noticed the splendid drug store of J. H. Reed & Co., No. 144 Lake street. The day it was opened, October 28, 1851, we stood in front of the store, conversing with the owner of the building, Jeremiah Price, Esq. Pointing to one of the elegant windows, said Mr. Price: "I gave $100 in New York for that centre pane of French plate glass. That is exactly what I paid Mr. J. Noble for this lot, eighty feet front, on a part of which the store stands, when I purchased it in 1833." That lot cannot now be bought for $64,000. Wolcott's Addition, on the North side, was bought in 1830 for $130. It is now worth considerably over one and a quarter millions of dollars. Walter L. Newberry, Esq., bought the forty acres which forms his addition to Chicago, of Thomas Hartzell, in 1833, for $1,062. It is now worth half a million of dollars, and what is fortunate for Mr. Newberry, he still owns by far the largest part of the property. So late as 1834, one-half of Kinzie's addition, all of Wolcott's addition, and all of block 1, Original Town, were sold for $20,000. They are now worth, at a low estimate, $3,000,000. Any number of similar instances might be given of the immense appreciation of real estate in Chicago. From the great appreciation which these figures show, many may be led to suppose that no more money can be made on real estate in Chicago. Exactly the reverse is true. As compared with their original cost, lots near the centre of the city can not be expected to appreciate so rapidly as in years past; but that they will steadily advance, there can scarcely be a doubt. Let any business man study carefully the facts contained in these articles; let him remember that within the lifetime of thousands who read these pages Chicago will contain her hundreds of thousands of people; and then let him calculate, if he has the courage, what real estate will then be worth in the commercial centre of the Mississippi Valley. The following table exhibits the total valuation of real and personal property in Chicago, as taken from the Assessor's books, for a series of years. It must be remembered, however, that property is assessed at far below its real value: YEAR. VALUATN 1839 $1,829,420 1840 1,864,205 1841 1,888,160 1842 2,325,240 1843 2,250,735 1844 3,166,945 1845 3,669,124 1846 5,071,402 1847 6,189,385 1848 9,986,000 1849 7,617,102 1850 8,101,000 1851 9,431,826 1852 12,035,037 1853 22,929,637 The following shows the assessed value of the different kinds of property for the last year. The lands are within the city limits, but are not yet divided into lots: Lands $ 5,481,030 Lots 12,997,977 Personal Property 4,450,630 Total $22,929,637 It will be noticed that the value of property has nearly doubled in the year 1853. This fact corresponds very well with the increase of population, that being fifty-seven per cent. CHURCHES. We stated in our History that the Methodists were the pioneers among all religious sects in Chicago. They were represented here in 1831-2-3, by the veteran Missionary preacher, Jesse Walker. The first quarterly meeting was held here in the fall of 1833, in Watkins' school-house. The building stood on the southwest corner of Clark and Old North Water streets. There were present at that meeting—John Sinclair, presiding elder; Father Walker, missionary; William See and William Whitehead,-local preachers; Chas. Wisencraft, Mrs. R. J. Hamilton and Mrs. Harmon. In the spring of 1834 the first regular class was formed. Father Walker had previously built a log church at "The Point," which had been occupied for holding meetings for a year or two. Soon after the class was formed in the spring of 1834, a small frame church was built upon North Water street, between Dearborn and Clark streets. The lot on which the church now stands, corner of Clark and Washington streets, was purchased in 1836, and in the summer of 1838 the church was moved across the river on scows, and placed upon the lot. It was enlarged several times, to accommodate the increasing congregation. The present church was built in the summer of 1846. The First Presbyterian is the oldest church in the city. It was organized on the 26th of June, 1833, by its first pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Porter, now of Green Bay. Mr. Porter was chaplain of a detachment of U. S. troops, who came here from Green Bay early in that year. When organized, it consisted of twenty- five members of the Garrison. The names of the citizens who united with it were: JOHN WRIGHT, PHILO CARPENTER, ELDERS Rufus Brown. Mrs. Elizabeth Brown. John S. Wright. Mary Taylor. J. H. Poor. E.Clark. Mrs. Cynthia Brown. Ten churches have since been organized in whole or in part from this church. It is now in a very flourishing condition under the pastoral care of Rev. H. Curtis. The first Catholic church in Chicago was built by Rev. Mr. Schoffer, in the years 1833-4. It was located somewhere in State street. It now stands in the rear of St. Mary's Cathedral, and is used by the Sisters of Mercy as a school room. St. Mary's is the oldest Catholic church in the city. It was opened for divine service on the 25th of December, 1843. Its pastors then were Rev'ds Fischer and Saint Pailais, now Bishop of Vincennes. The house was completed by the late Bishop Quarter, and consecrated by him December 5th, 1845. St. James is the oldest Episcopal church in the city. It was organized in 1834. The following were the first members: Peter Johnson. Mrs. P. Johnson. Mrs. Juliette A. Kinzie (wife of J. H. Kinzie, Esq.) Mrs. Francis W. Magill. Mrs. Nancy Hallam. Mrs. Margaret Helm. The first Baptist church was organized by Rev. A. B. Freeman, on the 19th of October, 1833. The following were its first members: Rev. A.B. Freeman. Willard Jones. S. T. Jackson. Ebon Crane. Martin D. Harmon. Samantha Harmon. Peter Moore. Lucinda Jackson. Nath'l Carpenter. Betsey Crane. John K. Sargents. Hannah C. Freeman. Peter Warden. Susannah Rice. The first church erected by this society was built on North Water street—the precise time we cannot give. In 1843-4 the society built a large brick house on the lot now owned by them on the south side of the public square. It was burnt down in October, 1852. A new church is now in process of erection, which will cost at least $25,000. The first Sunday School in Chicago was established by Philo Carpenter, Esq., and Capt. Johnson, in August, 1832. Mr. Carpenter, in company with G. W. Snow, Esq., arrived here on the 30th of July, 1832. The school was first held in a frame, not then enclosed, which stood on ground a short distance northeast of the present residence of Mrs. John Wright, on Michigan avenue. It is now washed away. The school consisted of thirteen children. It was held during the fall of that year and the next season above the store of P. F. W. Peck, Esq., at the southeast corner of LaSalle and Water streets. Rev. Mr. Porter also preached in the same place. In the fall of 1832, Charles Butler, Esq., of New York, presented the Sunday School with a library, and it soon increased to forty or fifty members. The first Congregational church was organized on the 22d of May, 1851, on the west side of the river. The following is the present list of churches and ministers in Chicago: PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL. TRINITY CHURCH—Madison, near Clark street; Rev. W. A. Smallwood, D.D., rector. ST. JAMES' CHURCH—corner of Cass and Illinois streets; R. H. Clarkson, rector. CHURCH OF THE ATONEMENT—corner of Washington and Green streets, West side; Dudley Chase, rector. ST. PAUL'S FREE CHAPEL—Sherman, near Harrison street; J. McNamara, rector. GRACE CHURCH—corner of Dearborn and Madison streets; C. E. Swope, rector. ST. ANSGARIUS CHURCH—corner of Indiana and Franklin streets; Gustavus Unonius, rector. PRESBYTERIAN. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH—corner Clark and Washington streets; Harvey Curtis, pastor. SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH—corner Wabash Avenue and Washington streets; R. W. Patterson, pastor. THIRD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH—Union street, between Randolph and Washington streets, West side; E. W. Moore, pastor. NORTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH—corner Illinois and Wolcott streets, North side; R. H. Richardson, pastor. REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH—Fulton st., corner Clinton street, West side; A. M. Stewart, pastor. CONGREGATIONAL. FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH—Washington street, between Halsted and Union streets, West side. PLYMOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH—corner Dearborn and Madison streets; N. H. Eggleston, pastor. NEW ENGLAND CHURCH—corner Wolcott and Indiana streets; J. C. Holbrook, pastor. SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH—There is preaching regularly by Rev. E. F. Dickenson, at the church near American Car Company's Works, at half past 10 o'clock A. M., every Sabbath. Also at 3 P. M., at the New Congregational Meeting House, corner of Clark and Taylor streets, near the Southern Michigan Railroad Depot. LUTHERAN. NORWEGIAN CHURCH—Superior, between Wells and LaSalle streets; Paul Andersen, pastor. GERMAN CHURCH—LaSalle, between Indiana and Ohio streets; J. A. Fisher, pastor. GERMAN CHURCH—Indiana street, near Wells; Augustus Selle, pastor. BAPTIST. FIRST CHURCH—Burned down, now worshipping in the old Presbyterian Church, on Clark, near Madison street; J. C. Burroughs, pastor. TABERNACLE CHURCH—Desplaines, between Washington and Madison streets, West side; A. Kenyon, pastor. METHODIST EPISCOPAL. CLARK STREET CHURCH—corner Clark and Washington streets; J. Clark, pastor. INDIANA STREET—between Clark and Dearborn streets; S.Bolles, pastor. JEFFERSON STREET—between Madison and Monroe streets, West side; E. H. Gammon, pastor. OWEN STREET—corner Owen and Peoria streets, West side; S. Guyer, pastor. CLINTON STREET—between Polk and Taylor streets, West side. HARRISON STREET—near State street; F. A. Reed, pastor. GERMAN—Indiana street, between Wells and LaSalle streets; C. Winz, pastor. GERMAN—Van Buren street, corner of Griswold, A. Kellener, pastor. METHODIST PROTESTANT. METHODIST PROTESTANT—corner of Washington and Jefferson streets; Lewis R. Ellis, pastor. CATHOLIC. CATHEDRAL OF ST. MARY'S—corner of Madison street and Wabash avenue; Patrie Thomas McElhearne and James Fitzgerald, pastors. ST. PATRICK'S—corner Randolph and Desplaines street; Patrick J. McLaughlin, pastor. HOLY NAME OF JESUS—corner Wolcott and Superior streets, North side; Jeremiah Kinsella, pastor. ST. PETER'S—(German)—Washington, between Franklin and Wells street; G. W. Plathe, pastor. ST. JOSEPH'S—(German)—corner Cass street and Chicago avenue, North side; Anthony Kopp, pastor. ST. LOUIS—(French)—Clark, between Adams and Jackson streets; I. A. Lebel, pastor. ST. MICHAEL'S—corner North avenue and New Church street; E. Kaiser, pastor. ST. FRANCIS ASSISIUM—West side; J. B. Weicamp, pastor. NEW JERUSALEM-SWEDENBORGIAN. PLACE OF WORSHIP corner of Dearborn and Randolph streets; J. R. Hibbard, pastor. UNITARIAN. UNITARIAN CHURCH—North side of Washington street, between Clark and Dearborn streets; R. R. Shippen, pastor. UNIVERSALIST. UNIVERSALIST CHURCH—South side of Washington street, between Clark and Dearborn streets; L. B. Mason, pastor. JEWISH. SYNAGOGUE—Clark street, between Adams and Quincy streets; G. Schneidacher, pastor. COLLEGES, SCHOOLS, ETC. The Common Schools of Chicago are the pride and the glory of the city. The school fund is ample, and every child in the city can obtain the elements of a good English education free of charge. We have now six large Public School edifices, two in each division of the city. From three to seven hundred children are daily gathered in each. Besides these, we have a large number of private schools and seminaries, where those who wish can educate their children. We have an excellent Commercial College, at the head of which is Judge Bell. The Catholics have a College, and the Methodists are also about to establish and endow a University. We have also a most excellent Medical College. The educational facilities of Chicago may therefore be regarded as of a very high order. BANKS, BANKING, ETC. Had we space to write out the history of Banking in Illinois, and especially in Chicago, it would present some interesting topics for the contemplation of the financier. We have had two State Banks. The first was established early in the history of the State, and though the most extravagant expectations were entertained of its influence for good, its bills soon depreciated very rapidly, and for the want of silver change, they were torn in several fragments and passed for fractions of a dollar. It soon became entirely worthless. The second State Bank was chartered by the session of the Legislature in the winter of 1834-5. In July of 1835, it was determined to establish a branch here; but it was not opened till December of that year. In the financial embarrassments of 1837, the bank stopped specie payment, but continued business till 1841, when it finally suspended. For the ten succeeding years we had no banks of any kind in the State. These were dark days for Illinois. She annually paid banking institutions of other States immense sums of money in the shape of interest for all the currency she used. Tired of this system, a general banking law, modeled after that of New York, was passed, and on the 3d of January, 1853, the Marine Bank in this city commenced business. The law is regarded as rather too stringent by our bankers, and hence they do not procure bills for a tithe of the capital they employ. The following table shows the number of banks in this city, and the amount of bills they have in circulation: BANKS, BILLS IN CIRC'N. Exchange Bank of H. A. Tucker & Co, $50,000 Marine Bank, 215,000 Bank of America, 50,000 Chicago Bank, 150,000 Commercial Bank, 55,000 Farmers' Bank, 50,000 Union Bank, 75,000 Merchants' and Mechanics' Bank, 54,700 City Bank, 60,000 The capital of these banks is, in some instances, half a dozen times the amount of their circulation. The banking capital actually employed to do the business of the city must amount to several millions, and yet so rapid is the increase of trade, that money within the last six years has never borne less than ten per cent, interest. This is the legal rate established by the laws of Illinois. Most of the time money can be loaned from one to two per cent. per month, by those who are willing to take advantage of the opportunities which are constantly offering. We presume that hundreds of thousands of dollars could be safely invested at any time within a week or two, at the legal rate of interest. We have never seen the money market of Chicago fully supplied at the regular legal rate, viz: ten per cent, per annum. The following is a list of the private bankers and brokers doing business in Chicago: R. K. SWIFT. J. M. ADSIT. JONES & PATRICK. F. G. ADAMS & Co. SHELDON & Co. N. C., ROE & Co. DAVISSON, McCALLA & Co. E. H. HUNTINGTON & Co. GEO. SMITH & Co. Several of these firms are doing a large business. R. K. Swift is doing a very extensive business in foreign exchange, and has arrangements to draw on every principal city in this country and Europe.* We have tried to obtain the figures showing the actual amount of exchange drawn on New York and other American cities, and the cities of Europe; but some of our bankers, like a portion of our business men, are unwilling to furnish such facts, lest, as we infer, other capitalists should send their money here for investment. Their narrow policy, we trust, will be of no avail in that regard, for they will always have as much business as they can possibly do; and the fact that the legal rate of interest is ten per cent., and that the money market has never yet been fully supplied, together with the certainty that Chicago will not be "finished" for the next century at least, will induce a still larger number of Eastern capitalists to invest their money in Chicago. There is not in the wide world a city that furnishes opportunities for safer investments than Chicago—whether the money is employed in banking operations, or is loaned on real estate security. PRICE OF LABOR. In a city growing as rapidly as Chicago, labor is always in demand. Especially is this true where every department of business is equally active and increasing. In dull times, and in cities which have passed the culminating point of their prosperity, master mechanics can select their journeymen, and do somewhat as they wish. For ---------------- *It is a significant commentary upon the risks and instability of banking, that of all the banks and private bankers in Chicago in 1853, only one, J. M. Adsit, is now, March 1876, here, and doing the same business. ---------------- the last year or two, so great has been the demand for labor, that those who worked by the day or week were the real masters, for good mechanics could command almost any price they chose to ask. The following table, carefully prepared, shows the price now usually paid to journeymen in this city. The range is large, but is not wider than the difference in the skill and capacity of different men in every occupation: EARNINGS PER WEEK AND OCCUPATION. WAGES PER DAY FOR PIECE & JOB WORK Blacksmiths & Iron wkrs $1.25 @ $2.00 ----- Blowers and Strikers .88 @ 1.00 ----- Butchers 1.00 @ 3.00 ----- Choppers and Packers 1.25 @ 2.00 ----- Carpenters 1.50 @ 2.00 ----- Cabinet Makers 1.00 @ 2.00 $ 9 00@ftl8 00 Upholsterers ----- 9.00® 18 00 Coopers ----- 9 00®. 12 00 Day Laborers 1.00 @ 1.50 ----- Hatters ----- 12.00 @ 20.00 House Painters 1.25 @ 1.75 ----- Harness Mkrs & Saddlers ----- 6.00 @ 15.00 Masons and Plasterers 1.50 @ 2.00 ----- Marble Cutters 1.75 @ 2.00 ----- Machinists 1.00 @ 2.00 12.00 @ 18.00 Printers, comp 30c_1,000 1.67 12.00 @ 18.00 Rope Makers 1.50 ----- Ship Carpente's & Joiners 1.50 @ 2.25 ----- Ship Caulkers 2.25 @ 2.50 ----- Stone Cutters 1.75 @ 2.00 ----- Shoemakers ----- 6.00 @ 12.00 Trunk Makers ----- 8.00 @ 15.00 Tailors ----- 7.00 @ 11.00 Cutters ----- 10.00 @ 16.00 Tanners 1.00 @ 1.25 ----- Curriers ----- 9.00 @ 12.00 Wire Workers & Weavers 1.00 @ 1.50 14.00 @ 15.00 Wagon & Carriage Mak'rs 1.25 @ 2.00 ----- Wagon & Carriage Painters 1.2 @ 2.00 ----- CHICAGO WATER WORKS A supply of pure water is essential to the health, and therefore to the prosperity of any city. The citizens of Chicago have great reason to congratulate themselves upon the near completion of one of the finest specimens of engineering that can be found in any city. The Chicago Water Works will very soon be the pride of all our citizens. No better water can be found than Lake Michigan affords; and increased health and blessings without number will attend its introduction throughout the city. We are indebted to E. Willard Smith, Esq., resident engineer, for the following description of the works: The water is taken from Lake Michigan at the foot of Chicago avenue. A timber crib, twenty by forty feet, is sunk six hundred feet from shore. From this crib a wooden inlet pipe, thirty inches interior diameter, laid in a trench in the bottom of the lake, conveys the water to the pump-well. This well is placed under the Engine House. The end of the inlet pipe is of iron, and bends down to the bottom of the well, which is twenty-five feet deep, and at ordinary stages of the water in the lake contains fourteen feet of water. The pipe acts as a syphon. The water flows by its own gravity into the well, whence it is drawn by the pumping engine and forced into the mains, and thence into the reservoir in the South Division, from which it is distributed into the distribution pipes in the various parts of the city. ENGINE. The engine is located in the main building. It was built at the Morgan Iron Works, in New York, and is a first class engine, low pressure, of two hundred horse power. Its cylinder is forty-four inches in diameter, and has a piston with a nine-foot stroke. The fly wheel is an immense casting of iron, twenty- four feet in diameter, and weighing 24,000 pounds. The working beam is of cast iron, thirty feet long and four feet deep. It is supported by a hollow iron column instead of the usual gallows frame, four feet in diameter, and forming also an air vessel for the condenser. There are two water pumps, one on each side of this centre column, of thirty-four inches bore, six-foot stroke. These pumps are furnished with composition valves. The boiler, which is located in the north wing of the building is a marine boiler of the largest size, being thirty feet long and nine feet in diameter, furnished with an admirable arrangement of flues, and possessing an extraordinary strength of draught. The consumption of coal by the boiler is very small, and it proves very economical. The engine was put up under the care and direction of Mr. DeWitt C. Cregier, the steam engineer of the company. The cost of the engine was only twenty-five thousand dollars. This engine is capable of furnishing over three million gallons daily, which is a supply for one hundred thousand persons. DUPLICATE ENGINE. At the opposite end of the main building is a duplicate engine, of about one- half of the power of the other, which is kept in reserve in case of any breakage or accident happening to the other. This engine was manufactured by H. P. Moses, of this city; it is a non-condensing or high-pressure engine. The engine pump works horizontally, on a heavy cast-iron bed plate, supported by masonry. The steam cylinder is eighteen inches internal diameter, with a piston of six-foot stroke. The pump is double-acting, and of the same diameter and stroke as the steam cylinder and piston; it is placed behind the steam cylinder. The steam piston passes through both heads of the steam cylinder, one end connecting with the pump, and the other with the crank or fly wheel. The fly wheel is an iron casting, twelve feet in diameter. ENGINE HOUSE. The engine house is built of brick masonry, in the modern Italian style. The main building is fifty-four feet front and thirty-four feet deep, with a wing on each side, each forty-four feet front and thirty-four feet deep. The main building is carried up two stories high, making an elevation of thirty feet above the principal floor. The wings are one story high. The roof is composed of wrought iron trusses covered with zinc plates. In the centre of the front of the main building a tower is constructed, fourteen feet square at the base, and one hundred and forty feet in height, surrounded by an ornamental cornice of metal. This tower forms a striking feature of the building. It also serves as a chimney for both boilers, and also has a chamber in the centre, separated from the smoke flues, in which is placed the standing column. RESERVOIR BUILDING. This building is two stories high. The principal floor is placed three feet above the surface of the street. The exterior for the first story, (fifteen feet, above the principal floor,) is made of cut stone, with rustic joints, surmounted by a cut stone string course. The second story is faced with pressed brick and rustic quoins of cut stone. The architraves of the doors and windows are of cut stone. The main cornice is of cast iron, projecting four feet from the face of the wall, and supported by ornamental cast-iron consoles. This cornice forms a balcony, which is surrounded by an ornamental iron railing. The tank is supported by a brick column and brick arches, and is capable of holding five hundred thousand gallons of water. The building when completed, with the tank, will be about ninety feet in height. This tank is designed to hold only a night supply for fifty thousand inhabitants. As the population of the city increases, it is proposed to erect similar reservoir buildings, with tanks, etc., in each division. The surface of water in the tank will be eighty-three feet above the lake. The reservoir is situated immediately south of Adams street and west of Clark. RIVER PIPES. The river pipes conveying the water across the river are made of boiler iron plates, riveted together, and are twelve inches in interior diameter. About thirty miles of distribution and main pipes are laid in the streets, extending over a large portion of the city—connecting with one hundred and sixteen fire hydrants at the corners of the streets. STANDING COLUMN. The standing column is a cast-iron pipe, twenty-four inches in diameter, placed vertically in the engine house tower. It is connected with the pumps and main pipes, and serves as a regulator in keeping up a uniform head of water in the reservoirs. OFFICERS. The present Board of Water Commissioners consists of John B. Turner and Alanson S. Sherman, Esqrs. Horatio G. Loomis, Esq., has lately tendered his resignation of the office of Water Commissioner, and his successor is John C. Haines, Esq. William J. McAlpine, Esq., is the Chief Engineer of the Water Works, and Mr. E. Willard Smith, Resident Engineer; Mr. Benjamin F. Walker, Superintendent; Mr. Henry Tucker, Treasurer; and Mr. De Witt C. Cregier, Steam Engineer. It is proper to say in this connection that the plans for the Water Works were furnished by Mr. McAlpine, and the architectural designs for the several buildings above described, by Mr. Smith. The cost of the work will be three hundred and sixty thousand dollars. The same work would now cost four hundred and twenty thousand dollars. The works are now calculated to supply a population of fifty thousand persons with thirty gallons of water each, every twenty-four hours, which is equal to one million five hundred thousand gallons daily. The work is so planned as to be easily extended to meet the wants of one hundred thousand population by laying more pipe, and building more reservoirs. BREAK-WATER AND DEPOT BUILDINGS OF THE ILL. CENTRAL R.R. This great work commences at the South Pier, four hundred feet inside of its extreme east end and extends south one thousand two hundred and fifty-seven feet into the lake; thence west six hundred and seventy-five feet on the north line of Randolph street; thence southwest one hundred and fifty feet; thence to a point opposite the American Car Factory, making fourteen thousand three hundred and seventy-seven in all sixteen thousand four hundred and fifty-nine feet. From the Pier to the engine house the breakwater is twelve feet wide; thence down to the Car Company's works half that width. The upper portion of the crib work is built of square timber twelve by twelve, locked together every ten feet, and the intermediate space filled by stone, piles being driven on the outside to keep it in place. The first piece of crib work sunk, in building the break-water, has a very stout plank bottom. The water line of the crib work, south of Randolph street, is six hundred feet east of the east side of Michigan avenue, and the outer line of the crib work, between Randolph street and the river, is one thousand three hundred and seventy-five feet. The area thus enclosed and rescued from the dominion of the lake, is about thirty-three acres. Upon this area the Illinois Central Railroad proposes to erect, first, one passenger station house, four hundred and fifty feet long, by one hundred and sixty-five wide, including a car shed. The northwest corner of this building will be occupied exclusively for offices and passenger rooms, and will be forty by one hundred and twenty feet, and three stories high. A freight building six hundred by one hundred feet; grain house one hundred by two hundred, and one hundred feet high, to the top of the elevators, calculated to hold five hundred thousand bushels. Three tracks will run into the freight house; eight tracks into the passenger house, and two tracks into the grain house. The basin lying between the freight and grain houses will be five hundred by one hundred and seventy-eight feet and will open into the river. All these buildings are to be constructed of stone, obtained from Joliet. The cost of the breakwater will be not far from five hundred thousand dollars, and of the buildings not far from two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The work was commenced in December, 1852, and will be finished during the year 1854. Mr. Mason having been detained as much by legal difficulties as natural obstacles. The extreme length of the pile bridging for the railroad track is two and a half miles. Of this, one and a half miles, parallel with Michigan avenue, is double track, and the remainder is single. For the single track, two rows of piles are driven inside the breakwater, and four for the double track. These piles are well braced and bolted together, and form a very substantial structure for the railroad track. It will be impossible to give anything like an accurate description of the Company's works until they are completed; for as day by day the great commercial promise of Chicago brightens, the extent and breadth of the Company's works will be increased in proportion, or at least so far as their depot accommodations will allow them. What was estimated to be sufficient a year since, has now been found inadequate. And the next six months will develop further change and increase. The Michigan Central Railroad either rent the privilege of using the road of the Illinois Central in entering the city, or, what is more probable, share the expense of building the breakwater. The works are planned on a magnificent scale, but they will not do more than accommodate the vast business of the two companies which occupy them. We have very indefinite ideas of the amount of business which the opening of the Illinois Central R. R. will bring to Chicago. As soon as it is finished, a daily line of magnificent steamers will be put on the Mississippi river to run regularly between Cairo and New Orleans. Till the roads crossing the Illinois Central are completed east to Cincinnati, almost the entire travel between New York and New Orleans will pass through Chicago—and it will always be a favorite route between the North and the South. MICH. SOUTHERN & ROCK ISLAND R. R. DEPOT. These Companies are preparing to build a splendid depot between Clark and Sherman streets, near Van Buren street. All the plans and arrangements for the building are not completed, and we therefore are obliged to omit a description in detail. It will cost at least sixty thousand dollars. GALENA & CHICAGO UNION RAILROAD DEPOT. This Company within the next week or two will put under contract a new freight building north of the present depot and east of Clark street. Its dimensions will be three hundred and forty by seventy-five feet, and two stories high. It is expected to cost twenty-five thousand dollars. Still another freight building is to be immediately erected east of the present freight depot. It is to be two hundred and fifty by sixty feet, and two stories high. The upper part of the building is especially designed for storing grain. It is to be finished in the best style, and will cost about fifty thousand dollars. The Company are also preparing to enlarge their engine house and machine shops, at an estimated cost of twenty thousand dollars. Several of our other roads are maturing their plans to erect depots; but they are not sufficiently complete to allow us to make a notice of them. COOK COUNTY COURT HOUSE. This fine building stands on the public square. It was completed during the last summer, and is an ornament to the city. One hundred and ten thousand dollars, expended in building it, were borrowed on the bonds of the county having from seven to eighteen years to run, at ten per cent, interest, payable semi-annually. Sixty thousand dollars of these bonds were taken by Col. R. K. Swiff, of this city, and the balance of the money was furnished by Eastern capitalists. TELEGRAPHS. We might present a large number of statistics in regard to our Telegraph lines, but it is sufficient to say that we are in telegraphic communication with all the principal towns and cities in the Union. The important incidents that occur in Washington, New York and New Orleans, up to six o'clock in the evening, or the foreign news when a steamer arrives, may be found the next morning in the columns of the Democratic Press. OMNIBUS ROUTES. The two principal omnibus proprietors in the city are S. B. & M. O. Walker, and Parker & Co. There are in all eight routes, on several of which each company has a line of omnibuses. The total length of the different routes is twenty-two and one-half miles. The number of omnibuses now running is eighteen, making four hundred and eight trips per day, and eight hundred and two miles run by the different omnibuses. The proprietor of the Bull's Head Hotel, also runs an omnibus regularly to State street market. During the summer several other lines are to be established, and many more omnibuses will be employed. Parker & Co. have eleven omnibuses engaged in carrying passengers from the hotels to the different railroad depots. BRIDGES, SIDEWALKS, ETC. There are bridges across the Chicago river at the following streets: Clark, Wells, Lake, Randolph, Madison, Van Buren, North Water Railroad Bridge, Kinzie and Chicago Avenue. A new and elegant pivot bridge, similar to that across the river at Lake street, is to be built at Clark street during the present season. It will be a great and much needed improvement. The total length of the sidewalks within the city is one hundred and fifty- nine miles, and of planked streets twenty-seven miles. There are four miles of wharves, and six miles of sewers already put down. We think these facts show a laudable degree of enter prise in a city not yet quite seventeen years old. These improvements will be greatly extended during the present summer. CHICAGO GAS COMPANY. We have a very efficient Gas Company, and now that the city is well lighted during the night, our citizens would be very unwilling to plod along in darkness, as in former years. From the recent report; of the company it appears that during the last year there has been laid in the city twenty-one thousand two hundred and sixty-five feet of four inch, four thousand two hundred and ninety-nine feet of six inch, and three thousand eight hundred and fourteen feet of ten inch pipe, making, in all, five miles two thousand nine hundred and seventy-eight feet; and the total amount laid throughout the streets of the city is thirteen miles six hundred and thirty-eight feet, the whole cost of which has been eighty thousand seven hundred and thirteen dollars and three cents. Up to January 1st, 1858, there had been placed with all the necessary connections, five hundred and seventy-four meters, at a cost of fourteen thousand four hundred and eighty dollars and ninety-seven cents. During the last year, two hundred and seventy-nine have been set, at a cost of seven thousand three hundred and thirteen dollars and twenty-six cents—making the total amount twenty-one thousand seven hundred and ninety-four dollars and twenty-three cents. January 1st, 1853, there were five hundred and sixty-one private consumers, during the last year two hundred and seventy-nine have been added, making a total of eight hundred and forty, with an aggregate of seven thousand five hundred and thirty-two burners. There are two hundred and nine public lamps, which have consumed during the year, one million three hundred and sixty-six thousand one hundred and forty cubic feet. Extensive improvements have been and are being made at the works. The new gas holder will be finished in the spring. The tank is one hundred and four feet in diameter, twenty feet deep, and constructed of heavy masonry. The holder will be telescopic, in two sections, and will hold three hundred and fifteen thousand cubic feet. The amount expended during the year in enlargements and improvements at the station is forty-two thousand eight hundred and nineteen dollars and eleven cents, and the total expenditure on account of station works to date is one hundred and thirty-five thousand seven hundred and seventy-four dollars and twelve cents. The total amount expended for real estate to date has been twenty-six thousand one hundred and five dollars and forty-seven cents, of which twenty-one thousand five hundred and forty-two dollars and seventy-five cents have been expended within the last year. The amount of coal used last year exceeds that of the preceding by six hundred and fifty-eight tons one thousand and ninety-four lbs. In 1852, eight million nine hundred and eleven thousand one hundred cubic feet of gas were made, and in the last year fourteen million four hundred and twelve thousand three hundred and eighty feet, showing an increase of five million five hundred and one thousand two hundred and eighty feet. The receipts for the year have been as follows: Private Consumers $39,991 45 Public Lamps 3,963 94 Coke and Tar 2,311 49 Rent and Sundries 175 94 Making a total of $46,442 82 Which sum exceeds the receipts of the former year sixteen thousand and twelve dollars and sixty-four cents. At the beginning of the last year, the stock issued amounted to four thousand two hundred shares ($105,400); since then four thousand one hundred and thirty- six shares ($103,400) have been added to the capital stock—making a total of eight thousand three hundred and thirty-six shares ($208,400). The number of stockholders is sixty-six, of whom thirty-three reside in Chicago, holding three thousand four hundred and sixty-nine shares ($86,725). The funded debt of the Company is seventy thousand dollars, in bonds bearing interest at the rate of seven per cent, per annum. HEALTH OF CHICAGO. Till within a few years it has generally been supposed that Chicago was a very unhealthy city. There never was a more unfounded assertion. Before the streets were thrown up, it was very wet and muddy at times; but since our main streets were planked we suffer no more from this cause than most other cities. The ground on which the city stands is nearly level, and but a few feet above the lake, yet there is sufficient slope to drain the streets, and if an efficient system of sewerage is adopted, as we trust it soon will be, this objection, which has done so much to injure Chicago, will not have even a shadow of foundation. The following table shows the comparison of deaths with the population since 1847, from which it appears that the past year has been one of remarkable health: NO. OF DEATHS. POPULATION. 1847 520 16,859 1848 560 19,724 1849 1,509 22,047 1850 1,335 28,620 1851 843 1852 1,649 38,733 1853 1,207 60,662 The diseases proving most fatal during past year are given as follows: Consumption, 198 Teething, 111 Scarlet Fever, 34 Diarrhoea, 30 Dysentery, 59 Typhoid Fever, 27 Deaths by accident or design: Drowned, 26 Killed, 20 Suicide, 5 Poisoned, 1 Found dead, 1 Total - 53 We are willing that these figures should be compared with those of any other city in the Union. It should be remembered that in the years 1849 and 1850 we had the cholera in Chicago, and to that cause must be attributed the increased bills of mortality for those years. The statistics of the last year show a mortality but a very small fraction above one in sixty. It will be observed that here, as in Eastern cities, that terrible disease, the consumption, claims the largest number of victims; but we think facts will bear us out in the statement that it is not a disease indigenous to this part of the country. Most of those who die with it in this city, come here with it from the Eastern States, or have a hereditary taint in their constitution. We heard Dr. Mott, of New York, then whom there is no higher authority in this or any country, express the opinion that in the centre of a continent this, disease does not generally prevail. Our observation since residing in Illinois, confirms this opinion. The pure invigorating breezes, sweeping over the broad bosom of our magnificent lake for hundreds of miles, are a never-failing source of energy and health to those who make homes in the Garden City. PLANK ROADS. We have several plank roads leading out of the city. The Northwestern commences near the Galena Railroad Depot on the West Side, and extends to the town of Maine, seventeen miles. Seven miles from the city the Western road branches off and is completed seventeen miles from the city. It is intended to extend this road to Elgin. The Southwestern Plank Road leaves the city at Bull's Head, on Madison street, and passes through Lyonsville to Brush Hill, sixteen miles. From Brush Hill the Oswego Plank Road extends fourteen miles to Naperville. The Southern Plank Road commences on State street, at the south line of the city, and is finished to Comorn, ten miles south of the city. We believe it is to be extended south to Iroquois county. THE BLUE ISLAND AVENUE PLANK ROAD Is a more recent, and on many accounts a very important, improvement, and therefore merits a description more in detail. It extends from the village of Worth, or Blue Island, due north on the township range line between ranges 13 and 14 east of the third principal meridian, to the southwestern corner of the city; thence on the diagonal street of the same name, ordered planked by the City Council, it is continued to the heart of the city on the west side of the river. It will be but about thirteen miles from Worth to the city limits by this road, and being on a direct line, it must command the travel coming to Chicago from the south, nearly all of which concentrates at Worth. This road is rapidly progressing toward completion, and as it runs through a region of country heretofore without a road, it will have the effect to add another rich suburban settlement to Chicago. The lands upon the line of this road are the most fertile in the vicinity of the city, and to facilitate this improvement for gardening purposes, the owners of many of them have cut them up into ten and twenty acre lots, and are selling them to actual settlers and others very low, and on good time. This arrangement will secure a dense population on the line of the road, and make all of the lands along it very valuable, as it must be one of the gardening sections of the Garden City. The very large ditches cut by the drainage commissioners along this road, furnish a very high and splendid grade, made of the earth excavated, six miles of which cost ten thousand dollars for ditching alone. These ditches render the lands at all times dry and arable. The avenue, on the prairie is to be one hundred and twenty feet wide; on either side of which trees are to be planted by the owners, so as to make it a most beautiful "drive" from the city. The town of Brighton, at the crossing of this and the Archer road, is to be improved this spring by the erection of a fine hotel and other buildings. As by this road, cattle can be driven to the city without danger of fright from locomotives, and as two of the principal roads entering the city meet at Brighton, with abundant water at all times, and pasture and meadow lands in almost unlimited quantities beyond, no one can doubt its favorable position for becoming the principal cattle market of Chicago. Additional Comments: 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,) By WILLIAM BROSS, Ex-Lieut. Governor of Illinois. CHICAGO: JANSEN, MCCLURG & Co., BOOKSELLERS, PUBLISHERS, ETC. 1876 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/cook/history/1876/historyo/historyo97nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/ File size: 72.2 Kb